How to Recover Deleted Files from an External Hard Drive

With a high-capacity external hard drive, you can store essential data such as music, images, and videos or transfer large amounts of information to another PC or laptop. The only problem is that the more data you store on a single external hard drive, the higher the chances of losing it. Sometimes, an unexpected data disaster can make you lose all your important files within seconds, owing to several reasons.

But don't worry. With the full guide in this tutorial, you can easily recover deleted files from an external hard drive with ease.

Data on an external hard drive can be lost due to various reasons, including accidental deletion of files, formatting the external hard drive, unexpected file system corruption, or a virus attack. File deletion is the most common issue. Here, we provide multiple methods to recover deleted data from an external hard drive.

1. Recover Permanently Deleted Files from External Hard Drive

The Data Recovery Wizard Pro tool can recover deleted files from USB flash drives, pen drives, SD cards, external hard drives, SSDs, HDDs, and other storage devices in many scenarios.

• Recover deleted data from an external hard drive in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
• Restore files from a corrupted external hard drive.
• Retrieve lost data from external drives of various brands, including Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, Sandisk, and more.

Download and install the Data Recovery Software on your computer, and then follow three steps to recover deleted files from an external hard drive.

Step 1: Connect the external hard drive to your computer.

Step 2: Launch Disk Drill and select the disk you want to scan under External Drives.

Step 3: The tool will automatically start a quick and deep scan to look for all lost data. You can stop and resume the process anytime you want.

Step 4. Preview the found files. The recovered data will be neatly categorized into Images, Videos, Documents, Audio, and Others. Select the files you need and restore them to a secure location.

The data recovery tool software remains compatible with the macOS version. You can use it to search for lost data from an external disk on your Mac.

Please provide the English content you would like translated, and I will do my best to translate it into Chinese.

How to Recover Deleted Files from an External Hard Drive on Mac

You have four ways to recover deleted data from an external hard drive: restore from the Trash and backup files, use Mac data recovery software... Read More >>

The following video tutorial will show you how to use the tool to perform an external hard drive recovery. Learn more here.

This is an embedded YouTube video player. It allows for accelerometer and autoplay functionality, clipboard writing, encrypted media playback, gyroscope support, and picture-in-picture mode. The video is set to play in full screen by default and has a frame size of 700 pixels wide by 500 pixels tall. The iframe also disables scrolling for a seamless viewing experience.

Please share this article in your networks to help others avoid losing data on their external drives.

2. Recover Deleted Files from External Hard Drive Trash

When you delete files from an external hard drive, they go to a built-in Recycle Bin folder on the drive. Just like on your system, this Recycle Bin folder is hidden by default in the root directory of the disk. You can check the Recycle Bin on your external hard drive to look for the lost data.

To access the Recycle Bin on an external hard drive and recover files, follow these steps: 1. Connect the external hard drive: Make sure the external hard drive is properly connected to your computer using a USB, Thunderbolt, or another applicable interface. 2. Power on your computer: Ensure that your computer is turned on and recognizes the external hard drive. 3. Open File Explorer: On Windows, click the folder icon on the taskbar or press `Win + E`. On a Mac, click the "Finder" icon in the Dock. 4. Navigate to the external hard drive: In File Explorer or Finder, find and double-click the icon representing your external hard drive. 5. Locate the Recycle Bin or Trash: In the Windows partition of the external hard drive, you'll typically find a Recycle Bin icon. On a Mac, the Trash is located at the root of each volume, including the external hard drive. 6. Check deleted files: After opening the Recycle Bin or Trash, you'll see the deleted files and folders. Browse through them to locate the file you want to restore. 7. Restore the file: Right-click the file you wish to recover and select "Restore" (Windows) or "Put Back" (Mac). This will place the file back in its original location. On a Mac, you can also directly drag the file from the Trash back to the appropriate location on the external hard drive. 8. Safely eject the external hard drive: After completing the recovery, remember to safely disconnect the external hard drive from your computer to avoid data loss. On Windows, right-click the hard drive icon in the taskbar and choose "Eject." On a Mac, find the hard drive icon in Finder and select "Eject." Please note that if the files have been permanently deleted (i.e., emptied from the Recycle Bin/Trash), you may need to use data recovery software to attempt to restore them.

Step 1: Open File Explorer on your computer.

Click “View,” then “Options,” and then “Change folder and search options.”

Click the “View” tab.

Step 3: Click “View,” then select “Show hidden files, folders, and drives” and uncheck “Hide protected operating system files.” Apply these settings.

Step 4: Open your external hard drive. You should now see the $RECYCLE.BIN folder.

Step 5: Open the Recycle Bin folder and locate the lost file that you want to restore.

Please provide the content you want translated into English, and I'll do my best to translate it for you.

3. Recover Deleted Files from External Hard Drive using CMD

The Windows Command Prompt offers more granular control over your computer, allowing you to perform certain tasks via text commands. Many users resort to the attrib command to recover deleted files from an HDD or external hard drive. However, this command line doesn't actually restore deleted data; it's only used to show hidden files on Windows. If your files on the external disk are hidden and lost, you can use this command.

Step 1. First, connect the external hard drive to your computer or laptop.

Step 2: Press the Win + R keys to open the “Run” tool. Type cmd, then click “OK.”

Step 3. Type the following command, then press Enter: attrib -h -r -s X:\*.* /s /d. Replace X with the letter of your external drive.

4. Restore from a previous version of the external hard drive

Previous versions can be either a copy of files and folders that were created with Windows Backup or files and folders that were automatically saved as part of a restore point by Windows File History. You can use previous versions to restore files or folders on an external drive that were accidentally modified, deleted, or damaged.

Note: Before applying this solution, make sure you have backed up your data. Otherwise, you'll need to use data recovery software to restore permanently deleted files from the external drive.

Step 1: Connect the external hard drive to your computer. Locate the folder where the missing files were originally stored.

Step 2: Right-click the folder and select “Properties.”

Step 3: Click the “Previous versions” tab.

Step 4: Choose the version you want to restore.

5. Recover deleted files using a data recovery service

Can deleted files from an external hard drive be recovered? Most deleted files can be restored using a data recovery wizard tool. If you're unable to successfully recover deleted files from the external hard drive, you might want to try using a data recovery service tool.

Please provide the English content you want translated, and I'll translate it into Chinese for you as soon as possible.

Tool Data Recovery Service

Contact our experts for a free evaluation now.

Consult with our Tool Data Recovery specialists for one-on-one manual recovery service. After a free diagnosis, we offer the following services:

• Repair damaged RAID structures, unbootable Windows OS, and corrupted virtual disk files
• Recover/repair lost partitions and repartitioned drives
• Unformat hard drives and repair raw drives (including Bitlocker encrypted drives)
• Fix disks converted to GPT protective partition

Conclusions

Lost data can often be recovered from an external hard drive because deleted files aren't truly deleted, just hidden until they're overwritten by new content. You may be able to recover your deleted files quickly.

In this article, we'll introduce you to several methods to help you recover files from an external hard drive. If the files haven't been permanently deleted, you can restore them from the Recycle Bin folder. Alternatively, you can use a data recovery tool to retrieve permanently erased files from the external disk. You can also recover deleted files without using software with the Windows Backup or File History feature, but make sure you have a backup beforehand.

If you found this tutorial helpful, remember to share it with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram!

How to Recover Deleted Files from an External Hard Drive? - Frequently Asked Questions

Get more guidelines on how to recover deleted files from an external hard drive.

1. What are the reasons for data loss from an external hard drive?

• Hard drive failure
• Hard drive formatting
• Software corruption
• Viruses or malware
• User error...

How to recover deleted files from an external hard drive?

Recover Deleted Files from External Hard Drive:

Step 1: Run hard drive recovery software.

Step 2: Scan all lost files from the external hard drive

Step 3. Retrieve all lost files.

Where do files go when they are deleted from an external hard drive?

There is a Recycle Bin folder on an external hard drive that stores deleted files. To get rid of these deleted files, we first need to access the Recycle Bin on the external hard drive.

4. Can I recover data from my external hard drive for free?

Yes, you can use the free version of Data Recovery Wizard to recover up to 2 GB of data for free from an external hard drive.

Why Can Deleted Files Be Recovered?

Deleting a file doesn't really erase it – even after you empty the recycle bin, it remains on your hard drive, making data recovery possible.