Windows me propose de formater le disque, dois-je accepter ?

Non, jamais si le disque contient des données que vous voulez garder. Cette proposition apparaît quand la table de fichiers est endommagée, alors que les données sont encore présentes.

Mon disque externe fait du bruit, est-ce grave ?

Un cliquetis régulier indique une panne mécanique en cours. Débranchez-le et ne le rebranchez pas : chaque tentative réduit les chances de récupération.

Peut-on récupérer un disque externe tombé par terre ?

Parfois, mais l'intervention relève alors du matériel et non du logiciel. Ne le rebranchez pas pour tester, cela aggrave souvent les dommages.

My external hard drive is not detected

File Explorer only shows drives that have a letter assigned. A drive the machine recognises but has not lettered stays completely invisible, while working perfectly. That is the first thing to check, and it costs nothing.

1. The basic checks

Change the cable. Many supplied cables are for charging only and carry no data at all. It is a frequent cause, and often overlooked.
Change the port, and plug straight into the machine rather than into a hub, a monitor or a keyboard.
Listen. A mechanical drive starting up makes a light, steady sound. Total silence suggests a power problem ; a repeated clicking is an alarm signal, see below.
On a 3.5-inch drive, check the external power supply : it is what fails most often, ahead of the drive itself.

2. The drive is there but invisible

Open Windows Disk Management, reached by right-clicking the Start button. It shows every connected drive, lettered or not.

The drive appears with its size and a file system, but no letter: right-click, Change drive letter, assign one. It appears immediately, with all its contents.
It appears as "Unallocated" or "RAW": the partition table is damaged. Whatever you do, do not accept the offer to format it. The data is almost always still there, and formatting greatly reduces the chances of recovery.
It does not appear at all: the problem is electronic or mechanical.

Clicking : stop everything

A regular click, an unusual buzzing or repeated start-up cycles signal a mechanical failure in progress. Every fresh attempt to connect it makes the damage worse, sometimes permanently. Unplug it, do not plug it back in "just to see", and have it diagnosed. This is the case where persistence costs the most.

3. The Mac-formatted drive

A drive prepared on a Mac uses a format Windows cannot read natively. It then appears in Disk Management but stays inaccessible in File Explorer. That is not a fault : the data is intact and recoverable, it simply needs a suitable tool or a Mac.

4. The enclosure rather than the drive

An external drive is an ordinary drive inside an enclosure with a circuit board. That board fails far more often than the drive does. In that case, taking the drive out and connecting it directly to a computer gives access to all the data, with nothing lost.

That is statistically good news : a large share of "dead" external drives are nothing of the sort.

What not to do

Do not run a disk repair utility on a medium holding important data that is not backed up : these tools write to the drive and can compromise recovery. The rule is always the same - recover first, repair afterwards.

Having it diagnosed

We test the drive, separate an enclosure failure from a drive failure, and recover the data when it is reachable. See data recovery and recovering deleted files.

Frequently asked questions

Windows offers to format the drive, should I accept ?

No, never if the drive holds data you want to keep. That offer appears when the file table is damaged, while the data itself is still there.

My external drive is making a noise, is that serious ?

A regular clicking means a mechanical failure in progress. Unplug it and do not plug it back in : every attempt reduces the chances of recovery.

Can a dropped external drive be recovered ?

Sometimes, but the work is then a hardware matter, not a software one. Do not plug it back in to test it, that often makes the damage worse.

An external drive gone silent ?

We separate an enclosure failure from a drive failure before quoting anything.

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