Windows 10: Why did formatting an external hard drive make it break??

I really need your guys' help. I quick formatted an external hdd and it won't let me copy files into it. It says fatal hardware error. I tried testdisk and easeus but no progress even after 10 minutes so I gave up automatically since I am in a hurry. I really need to fix this since it worked literally when it was completely full and now it's not working for idk why. A quick format shouldn't do this. I should've just deleted the files instead of formatting. Please help ;_;

submitted by /u/pleasehelpme69000
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:)

 

Formatting External hard drive.

1. Launch the Disk Manager with diskmgmt.msc
2. Use right-clicks to delete all partitions on the external disk
3. Create one or several new partitions
4. Format them

 

External Hard Drive

Hi,

Just to verify, did you mean, your back up files used to be on your external hard drive, but now it's no longer there? If this is true, kindly provide more answers to the questions below, so we can further assess the issue:

• When did the files start to disappear?
• What are the troubleshooting steps you have done so far?
• Did you make nay changes on the settings of your PC or hard drive prior to this issue?
• Are you getting any error messages when trying to plug in your external drive?
• Does your external drive shows that the space is consumed?

Please advise. We'll keep an eye out to your response.

 

external hard drive

Hi GeoffGray_008,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

1. What is the make and model of the External hard drive?
   

The easiest way to format an external hard drive is through File Explorer or through Disk Management.

Method 1: Format the external hard drive from File Explorer.

• Press Windows key and X key and select File Explorer.
  
• Click on This PC and check if the external hard drive is detected.
  
• Right click on the external hard drive and click on Format.
  
• Select the format (NTFS, FAT32) and click on Start.
  
• Click on OK once the format is complete.
  

Method 2: Format using Disk Management.

- Open Computer Management by selecting the
Start button.

- Select Control Panel > System and Security
> Administrative Tools, and then double-click on
Computer Management.

- In the left pane, under
Storage, select Disk Management.

- Right-click the volume that you want to format, and then select
Format.

-
To format the volume with the default settings, in the
Format dialog box, select OK, and then select OK again.

Note: By formatting the external hard drive, all the data will be lost. You may take back up of the data before formatting the external hard drive.

Hope this helps.

Let us know if you got the help you needed by clicking on Yes or No.

Regards,

Gowrish S

Microsoft Community –Moderator