Windows 10: How do I revert an external hard drive after converting to ESD-USB?

I used my 500 GB external hard drive to externally install Windows on a computer. I didn't know that would reformat all my files on the hard drive and make them disappear.


Using EaseUS Data Recovery, I got my files back and they are safety saved.


However, my external hard drive is still trapped in ESD-USB mode. And for some reason, it says that there is only 31.9 GB of free space, even though it's a 500 GB device. I even tried to reformat back to "default" through properties, which cleared all the data on the hard drive, but it still says there is only 31.9 GB of free space.


How do I get my hard drive back to normal?

:)

 

External hard drive changed to esd-usb

While performing window media creation I have converted my external hard drive as bootable usb device (esd-usb). I couldn't recover my files in the hard drive . Need help

 

Restore previous data before external harddrive was made ESD-USB bootable drive

Hi Ashish,

ESD-USB is only the name of windows installation file and it is on its own disk partition.
Your data and files are still on the disk but windows can´t see them. When you open the
Disk Manager you should see empty space behind your ESD-USB. We have found a thread with the same issue as yours, we suggest that you follow the steps given by

Jimzamjimmyyon the second page:
Accidentally Converted External Hard Drive to "ESD-USB". His response was created on
December 31, 2016 and helped 17 people.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

 

Accidentally converted my 1TB external hard drive to a ESD-USB

If that's the case, then here's what you can do instead. Please follow the steps below:

• Make sure that the external drive is connected to the computer and check if the drive shows up in
  File explorer.
  
• Press the Windows logo + X keys on the keyboard and select
  Command prompt (Admin) from the context menu.
• Type the command line: chkdsk X: /f (where x is the external drive letter) and press
  Enter. This checks the drive for the errors and fix it automatically.
• After the check disk is complete, check for the errors and missing components of the drive from the window.
• Type the command line: convert X: /fs:ntfs and press
  Enter key on the keyboard for starting the conversion process. Wait until the drive is converted to NTFS file format.
• Close the window and check if the external hard drive storage has been reverted back to its manufacturer size.

Keep us updated with the status of the issue and we'll be glad to assist you further.

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