4 Ways to Recover Data from Damaged/Corrupted Hard Drive [2024]

Indeed, a hard drive is one of the great storage devices, but it can stop working suddenly. I think you must be wondering how to restore files from corrupted hard drive at that moment. It’s the top thing when there are important files there without any prior backup. When facing this issue, you should calm down, making clear what to do first.

Make clear what the status of the hard drive. Is it corrupted or damaged?

• Physical damage. If you’re sure the hard drive is physical damaged, it’s very likely you can’t do anything. There isn’t any solution for how to recover data from a physically damaged hard drive unless you send it to the seller to fix it or go to a local data recovery service shop to trying your luck.
• Hardware issue. When the hard drive or its sector gets corrupted or damaged, that sector prohibits the PC from reading or accessing that sector. And most of the time, you can hear noises from the computer. In such a case, the PC refuses to recognize the data of that part, and thus you may not see files stored in that sector. Contact the seller to fix it.
• Software issue. If the drive system is not updated, get a conflict with your computer OS, virus attack, etc, then you can’t access to the hard drive at all, let alone accessing the data there. In this case, to recover data from corrupted hard disk, you should fix the software issue first. After then, you can see the data there directly or using iBeesoft Data Recovery to get back lost files from the hard drive.

Can we retrieve data from corrupted/damaged hard disk?

Let me put it in a word, you can’t find data from a physically damaged hard drive. However, you can recover data from a corrupted hard drive if its software issue caused the corruption.

4 Ways for How to Restore Files from a Corrupted Hard Drive

The following 4 ways are introduced to recover data from a corrupted hard drive, covering how to get files back from corrupted hard drive using CMD and how to resume data from corrupted laptop hard drive with data recovery software. Here is the logic, if you can fix the corruption, then you may access to the files on the hard drive again. If you still can’t access to the files, try professional data recovery software for help. The following are ways for how to recover data from corrupted hard drive on Windows PC. If you’re a Mac user, please learn how to recover files from corrupted/failed hard drive.

Way 1. How to Recover Files from Corrupted Hard Drive Using CMD (Fix Corrupted Hard Drive with CHKDSK)

The Windows OS comes with the built-in CHKDSK scan. It’s specially designed for users to fix issues on hard drives. The CHKDSK command highlights the bad sectors of the hard drive and fixing the system errors. Here are the instructions to run the CHSDSK command on your PC to fix a corrupted hard drive.

1. Click the search button and type "cmd" in the input box.
2. Select run Command Prompt as an administrator.
3. In the window, type "chkdsk" followed by a space. then, type the "corrupted hard drive letter + :" followed by a space and the type /f and press the "Enter" button.

After the CHKDSK command is finished, you can type "Exit" to shut down the Command Prompt window. Now, you can check if the data of the hard drive is accessible or not.

Way 2: How to Recover Data from Corrupted Hard Drive (Fix Corrupted Hard Disk with Windows Startup Repair)

Another way to recover data from corrupted hard drive is by using the Windows Startup Repair option. However, to use Windows Startup Repair, you are required to have a Windows recovery or repair disk. In case if you don’t have it, here’s how you can create a Windows recovery USB/repair disk:

1. Connect the bootable USB drive to the PC and boot the Windows PC.
2. Press "F12" to enter the Boot Menu. Now, use the "Up/Down" navigation keys to select the bootable system repair disk or USB drive and press the "Enter" button.
3. Click on the "Repair your computer" on the Windows setup interface. Click on Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Repair.

Now, restart the PC and check if you can access the lost data of the hard drive.

Way 3: How to Recover Data from Corrupted Hard Drive Using CMD (Fix Corrupted Hard Disk by Running SFC Scan)

SFC scan will help you in fixing the damaged or missing Windows system files that can lead to hard drive failure/corruption. The scan monitors the system file integrity and substitutes the damaged or corrupt system file with a cached copy stored in the system. To run the SFC scan on your PC, follow these steps:

1. Open the Command Prompt as an administrator.
2. Once the window is opened, type "sfc /scannow".

Note: If the hard drive is external, then type "sfc /SCANNOW /OFFBOOTDIR=c:\ /OFFWINDIR=c:\windows" and replace the letter c: with your hard drive letter.

Way 4: How to Restore Data from a Corrupted Hard Drive with Hard Drive Recovery Software

If you are still struggling with the data loss situation and none of the above ways have helped you, then you can try the drive recovery software, iBeesoft Data Recovery, an effective best hard drive recovery software for help. It’s one of the most reliable hard disk recovery software, offering one-stop solutions to get back data from hard drives, external hard drives, USB flash drives, and more.

You are not required to have the expert knowledge to use this professional tool, the smart functions of the software will make everything easy for you. Here are some of the features of iBeesoft Data Recovery that makes it the number one choice of millions of users:

Step-by-step tutorial for how to recover files from corrupted hard drive

To initiate the process, download and install the iBeesoft Data Recovery for your Windows PC and connect the hard drive to it. Then, follow the below-mentioned instructions to use this hard drive repair software to find files from a corrupted hard drive.

1. Launch the hard drive data recovery on your PC. Select the hard drive from which you want to restore files and click on the "Scan" button to initiate the scanning process.
2. After the scanning is completed, preview the files from your hard drive and select the files you want to restore. Now, click on the "Recover" button.

Note: If you cannot locate all the lost files, click on the “Deep Scan” option to find all the lost data. It will enable the intense scanning process.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers for Corrupted Hard Disk Data Recovery

Q:How to recover data from corrupted hard drive on Mac?

A: Basically, there are 2 ways you can apply for data recovery from corrutped hard drive on Mac.

#1. Use Disk Utility to fix corrupted hard drive on Mac.

1. Run Terminal on your Mac. You can find it in Apps folder.
2. Type in: diskutil repairVolume /Volumes/[Drive Name] and press Enter. [Drive Name] is the name of the corrupted hard drive on your Mac.
3. Later, wait for the fixing process to finish. After then, restart your Mac and check whether the corrupted hard drive is fixed or not. If fixed, then you can view the files there.

#2. Use iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover files from corrupted hard drive on Mac.

1. Download and install the data recovery software on your Mac.
2. launch the data recovery software and click "Start" in the first window.
3. Select the corrupted hard drive from the hard drive list and click "Scan".
4. Wait for the scanning process to finish. After then, you can preview found files. Select needed ones and click "Recover" to save them on your Mac again.

Q:How to recover data from corrupted seagate external hard drive?

A: You can make use of the above mentioned ways to fix the corrupted Seagate external hard drive.

If you have a PC, then connect Seagate with your PC, run CHKDSK, Windows Startup Repair, or SFC Scan to fix the corruption.

If the corrupted hard drive is on Mac, then run diskutility to fix it.

If you failed to fix the corrupte Seagate external hard drive, the last resort is recovering files from it.

1. Connect the Seagate external hard drive with your computer.
2. Download and install iBeesoft Data Recovery on your computer.
3. Select the Seagate external hard drive as the target hard drive to scan.
4. Previe found files and select needed files to recover.

Q:How to recover data from a physically damaged hard drive?

A: Sorry to tell you that it's impossible to recover data from a physically damaged hard drive. The only way to fix it is by returing it to the official seller, asking them for help.