how to fix external hard drive without formatting

To regain your drive's full capacity, you'll need to run Windows' 'clean' command, which will return the drive to a completely unformatted state. This is extremely common with SD cards formatted with Linux distributions for the Raspberry Pi, for example. In some more specific cases, the drive will appear in Disk Management, but merely formatting the drive won't work. If you're lucky, one of these simple steps should get your new drive up and running. Be warned that formatting it will erase any data on the drive, so only continue if you're sure you don't need anything from it.įinally, if your drive is online and formatted, but doesn't show a drive letter next to its name, right-click the volume and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths to add a drive letter. This will also solve the problem if the drive is formatted for another operating system, as described above. If the disk hasn't been formatted (it'll say 'Unallocated' under a black bar), right-click it and choose New Simple Volume. If it's offline, right-click the disk's name (e.g. If it does, make sure it's online and formatted. Once Disk Management loads, scroll down to see if your disk appears in the list. Open the Start menu and type 'disk management,' and press Enter when the Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions option appears. If your drive is powered on but still isn't appearing in File Explorer, it's time to do some digging.

How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.

How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.

How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.

How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.

How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.

How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.

How to fix external hard drive without formatting