How to recover files from portable HDD on XP?

 

What if a disaster were to strike your computer like data loss, corruption or a virus attack??? No doubt, some files like digital pictures would be extremely difficult to replace and some other files like documents, reports are impossible to reconstruct. Even though Windows XP has provided an inbuilt utility to backup and restore, your data is not safe from logical failures if you save backup on the same drive. For this reason, you must have wished to use external hard drives to store backups of all your important files. External hard drives make your data portable i.e. you can carry your data anywhere at any time. These portable hard drives are also a convenient way to share files and folders with your friends and family. Nevertheless, there are some chances of losing your files from a portable hard drive in Windows XP.

You just took a backup of all essential files and stored on portable hard drive. But, when you try to restore data from an external HDD to your laptop, your portable HDD displays an error message like “The disk in the drive is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?” What does this error message indicate??? This error message indicates that the VBRs (Volume Boot Records) of portable hard drive is corrupted or lost. Your External hard drive appears in Windows Disk Management as having a drive letter. But, the Windows XP thinks that the drive has not been formatted due to lost or corrupt VBRs. However, your data is not lost, it exists on the hard drive. If you click on “Yes” option then your drive gets formatted by deleting all data. Therefore, it will be better if you select No to prevent formatting the drive. Or else, the problem will become much more severe!!! Apart from this, there are some other reasons due to which you may lose your essential files stored on portable hard drive. Whatever be the reasons with the help of this recovery software you can easily recover Toshiba external hard drive, Seagate external hard drive and many more. To get more detail how to recover data from Toshiba external hard drive https://www.externalharddrivefilerecovery.com/data-from-toshiba-external-hard-drive.html.

Virus attacks: Viruses, malware, Worms are a constant threat. This malicious code can destroy your data. These viruses can corrupt files and render all your data inaccessible. Only a single infected file can cause the entire loss of data.

Improperly disconnecting portable HDD: You must use “Safely Remove Hardware” icon from the system tray to safely disconnect your portable drive. If you simply remove it without using “Safely Remove Hardware” icon then there may be a chance of losing your essential data. This is because, when you remove the drive abruptly, the file system which is being accessed by Windows XP gets corrupted resulting in data loss.

Sudden power failure while transferring files: You must be transferring files from your portable hard drive to your laptop. During the process, your system suddenly loses power. When you turn on after it gets electric power then you are shocked to see that some files are missing. This is mainly due to sudden power failure while transferring the files.

Do not worry!!! Here is an efficient External Hard Drive Recovery Software that can recover files lost or deleted from portable hard drives on Windows XP. It can also retrieve lost files from portable hard drives on Windows Vista and Windows 7 OS. If you are getting IO error due to bad sectors or file system corruption on Seagate Slim drive then this software perform effecient data recovery on Seagate Slim portable drive after IO error. It is also available, in case you need to recover various types of files like audio, videos, images, documents, spreadsheets from external hard drive. If you have lost data while transferring from some Western Digital hard drive to your system then you can use this software. This software easily restore data lost during transfer from WD My Passport drive to PC or vie versa. You can view recovered files using “Preview” option. This feature helps you in estimating trustworthiness of the software..

Quick Steps to recover files from portable HDD on Win XP

Step 1: Download and install the free demo version of the External Hard Drive Recovery software on your system and launch it by double clicking on the desktop icon. Select the "Recover Files" option from the main screen and then according to respective scenario, select either "Recover Deleted Files" or "Recover Lost Files" option from the next screen

External Hard Drive File Recovery - Main Window

Step 2: After this, select the affected portable HDD from where you have deleted or lost the data. Click on "Next" button in order to start the recovery process.

External Hard Drive File Recovery - Drive Selection Window

Step 3: As the recovery process gets over, you can use the "Preview" option to view the files recovered from portable hard drive on Windows XP

External Hard Drive File Recovery - Preview Window

Simple Tips:

  • Maintain a regular backup of essential files so that if you lose or accidentally delete any files then you can easily restore those files back using backup copy.
  • Do not shutdown the system while the data transfer process is still in progress.
  • Use antivirus programs and update it regularlyto avoid data loss due to virus attacks.

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