Steps – How Do I Run CHKDSK on an External Hard Drive in Windows OS
The Chkdsk is a Windows inbuilt tool that is executed from the command line or in Windows. This will scans disk drives (external or internal) for errors and it will try to correct the error if any is found. So in this blog, we will address the users who search ‘How do I run chkdsk on an External hard drive’.
An External hard drive can end up with bad sectors and lost clusters over a period of time. Since External drives typically have a high level of storage capacities, a small issue can result in data loss. These hard drive errors or flaws may badly affect the performance and efficiency of the computer. Bad sectors in a disk, is a physical fault on the hard drive. And the concept of the lost cluster is that it is an orphan bit of information (data) that does not have a proper reference point (or links) to any of the files. Now follow the steps to run chkdsk on an external hard drive from Windows Explorer.
How Do I Run CHKDSK on an External Hard Drive? – Steps
- Double-click on This PC or My Computer icon in the desktop. When the folder opens, you can see all the external drives.
- Now right click on your external Drive icon and click on Properties.
- In the Properties Window, press on Tools option. Hit on Check Now option to scan the external drive issues in Windows OS. For Windows latest version, click on Check Option.
- For Windows 8 & 10 OS, if there are no errors found, you will get a dialogue box as shown below. You can choose Scan Drive option to scan it.
- Scanning process will take some time according to the size of the disk.
- If there is no error is detected after Windows completes its scanning process, then you can close it by clicking on the Close button.
- For Windows 7, The Check Now option in the Properties >> Tool will provide 2 other options; One for Automatically fix file system and second option to scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. Press on Start option to begin the scanning process.
- If your disk is an issue, Windows won’t be able to perform this scan.
How to Run CHKDSK on an External Hard Drive Using Command Prompt
- To run CHKDSK command on an external Hard Drive, you need administrative privileges. So Hit on Start and type Command Prompt and choose the option Run as administrator.
- Now the Administrator Command Prompt will be opened at your end. Now type command: chkdsk E: /f
chkdsk [Drive:] [parameters]
See Chkdsk Repair Commands:
- /f – to resolve Hard drive disk errors
- /r – to locate bad sectors in the disk
- /x – to force the drive to dismount before disk checking
- The command chkdsk F: /f will provide the following result if there is no issues in the external disk.
- The command chkdsk F: /r will provide the following result if it does not locate any bad sectors in the external disk.
- The command chkdsk F: /x will force the external drive to dismount before disk checking
Do You Find these Steps Difficult to Follow?
Have you tried to run chkdsk on an external hard drive? Is it a difficult task to perform or it didn’t help you to fix the issues in your drive, then the best solution is to relay on a trustable and reliable third-party application. While considering an efficient application to resolve issues in Hard Drive without losing data, the only solution that can be suggested is SysTools Hard Disk Recovery Software. It is one of the best application available in the market to recover and repair corrupted data in a hard drive. It provides a 100% guarantee in data safety while running the software.
Conclusion
Are you a Windows OS user? Do you use an external hard drive to store your data? Have you ever thought about having damages in those drives and chance of losing data? Do you know how to run chkdsk on an external hard drive? Basically, chkdsk command can fix errors in the drive. It also helps to locate bad sectors and lost clusters in the hard drive. The blog discusses two different methods to run chkdsk on the hard drive efficiently. We also suggest an alternative method, in case manual chkdsk method fails to fix the issues in the external hard drive effectively. GO through the blog and understand the steps.