correct errors on a USB stick or external drive Sometimes you connect a USB stick or external drive to a PC and not being able to read it as corrupt. This problem occurs more often with FAT32 and NTFS disks, it is usually the fault of Windows, but let's leave the blame, rather think how to solve the problem and recover almost all data apparently lost (often manage to recover all).
Under Windows, access the command prompt.
For Windows Vista and higher, remember to launch the command prompt with administrator privileges (right-click mouse icon
the Command Prompt and select Run as administrator
).
At this point we identify the letter that distinguishes the media to recover (from My Computer
), suppose that we have here restores the external drive E.
we type chkdsk / f / r E:
The procedure of verification and automatic error correction, and the attempt to recover the corrupted data will be initiated.
not have to wait.
Usually (I am not aware of different cases) at the end of operations required the support no longer be damaged and will be ready for use.
If you want to prevent potential problems can also be monitored regularly as a precaution: The command also works with disks and devices that have not yet been recognized as damaged by the operating system.
COUNCIL: Do a repair operation suggested by Windows immediately after connecting the device to your PC. Usually does not work because the operation launched by the operating system corresponds to the above command without the option
/ r and instead allows you to correct their errors more serious (probably the ones that caused the malfunction that we are trying to solve).
WARNING: this may take several hours to complete, especially if the external drive to several gigabytes, so it is perhaps advisable, if possible, to effect the recovery during the night (no user interaction). For example, once restored in a disk of 500 GB on my newer computer took approximately 7 hours.