Home PC Recovery Full Guide on How to Recover Data from Crashed Hard Drive

Full Guide on How to Recover Data from Crashed Hard Drive

A crashed hard drive can be frustrating. Thankfully, this guide offers hope and practical solutions. Learn about common causes of crashes and methods for crashed hard drive recovery. Walk through the step-by-step guide to follow the steps easily. Also, learn about some tips that can help you fix the crashed hard drive. Or let you retrieve your data at least.

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Joy Taylor | Last Updated: Mar. 22, 2024
1797 words|6minute

Recover Data from Crashed Hard Drive Did your hard drive crash? Have you lost your important photos or documents? Are you unaware of crashed hard drive recovery? Don’t worry! You are not alone.

The life span of a hard drive is usually three to five years. However, it also depends upon how a hard drive is handled and cared for. Several reasons can lead a hard drive to crash. They may include software corruption, system crashes, or human errors.

Whatever the reasons, this article is going to explore about crashed hard drive recovery. It will walk you through different solutions along with their step-by-step guides.

What Causes Hard Drive to Crash

As discussed, a hard drive can get damaged due to logical errors or physical. Understanding the root cause can help prevent data loss. This section will list some of the common reasons behind the crash of a hard drive.

 An illustration of a crashed hard drive

An illustration of a crashed hard drive

Common Reasons

So, understanding these reasons can help you keep your hard drive safe. This means if you don’t let the above reasons happen, you can prevent it from crashing. However, if you already have crashed it, let’s find the solution for crashed hard drive recovery.

Can A Crashed Hard Drive Be Recovered?

You might wonder if there’s any hope for your crashed hard drive. Well, the good news is, yes, it’s often possible to recover data from a crashed hard drive! There are a few ways to go about it. You can use manual methods to get it done. Moreover, there are some professional tools available. They help you with crashed hard drive recovery without any hassle.

But remember, it’s always a good idea to back up your important files regularly. That way, even if your hard drive crashes, you’ll still have a copy of your data somewhere safe.

So, while recovering data from a crashed hard drive can be tricky, it’s usually possible with the right tools and know-how. Now, we’ll shed some light on the methods you can try to recover your precious files.

How to Recover Data from Crashed Hard Drive

Now that you know it is possible to recover a crashed hard drive, let’s see how. In this section, you will discover ways for crashed hard drive recovery. You can follow the step-by-step guide given with each method to get the job done.

Way 1. Recover Data with Disk Management Utility

The disk management utility is one way to recover data from your crashed hard drive. This solution works if your hard drive faces logical errors such as “Disk Unknown Not Initialized,” “The Device is Not Ready,” and more. These errors make the data on your hard drive inaccessible. In that case, you can use the in-computer methodologies to recover your data.

Steps to Use Disk Management Utility:

Step 1: Press the “Windows + X” buttons, and you will see a menu. Select the “Disk Management” option.

Select the Disk Management option

Select the Disk Management option

Step 2: Now, identify which hard drive within the Disk Management panel is damaged.

Select the damaged hard drive

Select the damaged hard drive

Step 3: If the hard drive is visible, format it to rectify errors. Then, you can recover files from the formatted hard drive.

Using the Disk Management utility can be simple for crashed hard drive recovery. However, if this method doesn’t work, don’t worry. There are other methods we’ll explore next.

Way 2. 1-Click Recover Data from Crashed Hard Drive with Professional Tool [Safe]

If you are looking for an easy and reliable way to recover your files from a damaged hard drive, then Glarysoft File Recovery is what you need. It is one of the amazing file recovery softwares that can do wonders. It allows you to recover essential data from platforms, including HDDs, USBs, SSDs, and SD cards.

Moreover, Glarysoft supports multiple file types. It helps you recover audio, video, images, documents, and more. No matter, what was the cause of data loss, Glarysoft File Recovery could be of use. However, before downloading it, ensure that your system meets the requirements.

Key Features of Glorysoft File Recover Tool

Now that it has captured your attention, let’s move forward to the steps of using this too.

Steps to Use Glorysoft For Data Recovery

Step 1: Download and install the Glorysoft software on your PC/laptop. Once the installation is completed, launch the Glorysoft software. Then select your damaged drive from the options and click “Scan”.

scan the folder where the lost files were stored

Scan the folder where the lost files were stored

Step 2: Once the scan is completed, filter the files the available files that you want to recover. Click on the file you want to recover and select Preview” to see it.

Select and preview the files

Select and preview the files

Step 3: Now, click “Recover” to retrieve your lost files. You can save them to your desired location.

restore the recovered files

restore the recovered files

Glarysoft File Recovery is the easiest and best way to recover data from crashed hard drive and it’s a powerful tool that can find many types of files.

3 Tips to Fix Corrupted Hard Drive

When faced with a corrupted hard drive, it’s essential to take action to resolve the issue. Here are some tips to help you fix a corrupted hard drive:

Way 1. Try to Run A Disk Check to Fix the Crashed Hard Disk

Running a disk check can help identify and repair errors on your hard drive. It can be used to repair logical errors on your drive. You can use parameters to instruct CheckDisk to scan your drive for errors. It will not only scan them but also fix them. 

Not only that, it can also locate bad sectors and mark them as unavailable, so no data is saved there accidentally.

Steps to Run a Disk Check

1: Right-click Start to open the menu. Select Windows PowerShell (Admin) in Windows 10 or Terminal (Admin) in Windows 11.

Select Windows PowerShell (Admin)

Select Windows PowerShell (Admin)

Step 2: Now, type the command chkdsk /f /r D:. Replace D: with the letter of your own drive. Hit Enter.

Enter the chkdsk /f /r D: command

Enter the chkdsk /f /r D: command

Once you run the command, the drive scanning won’t take long to complete. Once the process is finished, see if the damage is repaired.

Way 2. Fix Crashed Hard Drive Using CMD

The Command Prompt (CMD) can be a powerful way to repair a corrupted hard drive. You can use this method to assess problems in the drive. Although this method is quite technical to follow, it can help repair your hard drive.

Steps to Use Command Prompt

Enter the command chkdsk F: /f /r /x

Enter the command chkdsk F: /f /r /x

If you are unable to fix a corrupted hard drive using this method, you can try the next one.

Way 3. Fix the Crashed System Drive Using the Control Panel

If the crashed hard drive is your system drive, you can use the Control Panel to attempt repairs. It can also help you regain access to your essential files. This repair is offered by Windows. Therefore, it should work effectively. Well, you can see after trying it.

Steps to Fix the Crashed System Via Control Panel

  1. Press the “Windows key + X” and select “Run.” Type the command “Control Panel” to open it.

    Search Control Panel in Run

    Search Control Panel in Run

  2. Click “System and Security” and then select “Security and Maintenance.”
  3. Under “Maintenance,” click on “Start maintenance to initiate a scan and repair process for your system drive.
Click Start maintenance

Click Start maintenance

So, apart from the crashed hard drive recovery, these tricks can help fix your damaged hard drive. You can use these methods to retrieve your essential data from your hard drive.

Conclusion

So, recovering data from a crashed hard drive is not a challenging task anymore, it’s possible. By following the steps in this guide, you can tackle the crashed hard drive recovery effectively.

Act fast, and try different recovery methods like Glorysoft Recovery Tool. You can also use other tricks to fix the damaged hard drive. Also, remember to back up your data regularly to prevent any kind of data loss in the future. With determination and the right tools, you can retrieve your important files. Stay strong, and you’ll succeed in your data recovery journey.

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Joy Taylor

Senior writer of the iMobie team as well as an Apple fan, love to help more users solve various types of iOS & Android-related issues.

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