Windows 10: For my external HDD, should I do "chkdsk /r" or do I just Long format and Restore contents...

Hello,I have a 5TB external HDD that I was creating a hash for all the files. I left it overnight and came back the next morning to see it completed. I then click the option to save the hash file and got an error saying "the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable", which I find weird given how it just scanned all files in that drive and computed a hash successfully, I restarted PC and on boot up windows said it was repairing the drive.I used seatools to scan it but aborted the scan because it was taking to long. I then heard it was bad to abort and I might have corrupted something. I th

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diagnose external HDD

Thanks to all for our suggestions. I'm still working on this, but need to bow out for a day or two. Here's what I've tried so far:

• downloaded crystaldiskinfo and the HDD doesn't show there either.
• Tried jumanji suggestion #8and get "about:blank#blocked". could be my firewall but haven't gotten that message for a while
• My HDD is not in a case
• I can't use a UDB c cable on this drive. It has one of those long mini connectors with a long and short side
• Device Driver shows no yellow triangles (see image)
• I have a Windows 10 laptop but haven't tried the drive there (yet) Yes, my desktop is the Acer mentioned in my profile

 

How to delete contents of a Linux formatted external disk?

I assume you want to delete the entire HDD and use in Windows


in Windows CMD (elevated)

simply DISPART
LIST DISK get list of HDD's you can see the one with Linux system on it

then type DISK nn where nn is Disk nr selected from List Disk
CLEAN

create partition primary
format fs=ntfs quick


Job done

Another way if you have access to a Linux system is to simply delete the contents but that will still leave a Linux fs on the HDD. If the HDD is on a NAS you can simply delete from Windows if the HDD is shared.

The simplest way is just use the command line in windows like I've described.

Now if you want to use the HDD again on a Linux system just create a new fs on it with a command like mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdx or wherever it's mounted (that will create an EXT4 fs but you can create XFS or whatever).

Cheers
jimbo

 

Write access denied on External HDD

When I try to copy anything to my WD passport external HDD, it says "You'll need to provide administrator permission to copy this file" and when I click continue, it just asks me to try again. But this does not happen when I boot in safe mode.

Here's what I've tried so far:

• Formatting drive with NTFS and exFAT file systems
• Deleting partition and creating a new one with NTFS/ext3/exFAT file systems
• Formatting the drive on a MacBook with exFAT file system, I'm able to write on the HDD using the MacBook though.
• Check for errors from the properties menu, earlier it said "There is some problem with this drive, click repair drive" but there was no repair option. After formatting, it says not error found.
• Checked for errors using chkdsk F: /F /R /X, still no errors found

None of these things work. Any help would be appreciated.