External hard drives are important as they store all your data, such as photos, documents and audio files, and so on. External hard drives are useful as they can free up space on your computer. When the external hard drives stop working or get accidentally deleted, don’t be panic, it’ possible for you to recover files from the external hard drive.

Use free software to recover files from an external hard drive.

EASEUS

Download EASEUS onto your computer. Install EASEUS and connect your external hard drive. From the drive-selection menu, choose the external hard drive. Then the program generates thumbnail pictures of your deleted files, making it easy to find the files you want. Click the data you need and press “Restore” to recover them.

Recuva

Download Recuva onto your computer. Connect your external hard drive and open the Recuva programe.  Located at the top of the program is the drive selection tool. Choose your drive from the available drives drop-down list and press “Scan.” Then a list of deleted files will appear in the white screen below. Check the files you want in the white box below the selection box and left-click “Restore” to recover the files.

Restoration
Download Restoration onto your computer. Connect your external hard drive and open Restoration. Select the external hard drive you want to scan. Choose any search criteria and press “Search.” Choose the files you want to restore and select “Restore by copying.” Choose the new location for the restored files.

Try the built-in tools on your computer to recover files from an External Hard Drive.

1. Connect the external hard drive to your computer.
2.  Open the “Start” menu, click on “Run,” type in “cmd,” and press “Enter.”
3. Type in “chkdsk x: /f” and press “Enter,” where “x” is replaced by the drive letter of the external hard drive.
4.  Open “My Computer,” double-click on the drive letter of the external hard drive, and drag and drop its contents to another location on your hard drive to recover the files that remains.

Warnings

  • Do not add files, change files or format your external hard drive after discovering that files have been accidentally deleted. The more changes you make to your external hard drive, the less chance you have of recovering the deleted files.
  • Permanently delete files by using Restoration. If you discover files on your external hard drive you want completely erased, use the deletion function.
  • Each recovery program works differently. If you cannot recover your external hard drive  with one type of software, try another one to maximize your chances of recovering files.

If you’re not satisfied with the results of these methords then use the paid software, or send the external hard drive to a hard drive recovery service.