How To Recover Data From A Dropped External Hard Drive

Dropping a hard drive can be a disastrous experience for one to have. A small fall from your hand or your PC table may cost you a lot of money, including the loss of valuable data that you might never recover from the dropped hard disk. However, there are some methods that can help you to repair and retrieve your dropped external hard drive. So without wasting any time, let’s begin.

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Brief Overview
It is possible to recover data from your dropped external hard drive but first examine your hard disk by connecting it to your PC. If you hear any clicking or whirring sounds from your fallen hard drive then disconnect it from your PC and consult with a professional hard disk data recovery expert. However, if you are lucky and your dropped drive did not suffer any physical damage then you can retrieve data from your dropped hard drive using third-party data recovery software.

Understanding Key Parts And Functions Of A Hard Disk

Before you think about how to repair and recover your important data from a dropped hard drive, let’s understand some important parts of a basic hard disk and its functions. This will help you to identify the damage to your fallen external HDD.

1.  Platter 

A platter is a rotating disk coated with magnetic material that stores all data. Your hard drive may have one or more platters depending on the storage capacity.

2. Spindle  

The Spindle is the motor that rotates the Platter(s) at high speed.

3. Actuator Arm 

The Actuator arm is the mechanism that supports the read/write head.

4. Read And Write Head

The read/write head is the most delicate part of the hard drive. It stays a few Nano Meters(NM) above the Platter disks and reads and retrieves data from the platter(s).

Moreover, all hard drives are fitted with a protective casing to keep these delicate parts together and safe but a small drop may damage the read/write head. At the same time, a severe fall may bend the Platter disk(s) or damage the Spindle.

What Happens If You Drop An External Hard Drive?

In most cases, when you accidentally drop your hard disk (HDD), the impact of the fall may damage the read and write head. If the drive was dropped on a hard surface or you threw it away in frustration then such actions may result in severe damages and cost you a lot of money.

How To Check Disk Damage In Dropped Hard Disk?

Here are some methods that can help you to identify the damage to your dropped hard drive:

Method 1: If You Accidentally Dropped Hard Drive 

First of all, if your HDD falls from a short height then try to reconnect it to your PC and listen to it properly. In case you hear clicking or whirring sounds then disconnect your hard drive from your PC and contact a Hard Drive Recovery Specialist to repair your dropped physical hard disk.

Method 2: If You Intentionally Threw Away Your Hard Drive

Similarly, throwing your physical HDD out of frustration may result in severe damage to your hard drive, such as broken Platter(s), Spindle, Read/write head(s), Actuator arm, etc. You can connect the hard drive to your PC to check whether your hard disk survived the crash or not.

If you hear any whirring, beeping, and clicking noises then disconnect the drive immediately and think, do you want to get back that data? If yes, then contact the Stellar Data Recovery Lab-Services and send it for repair and data extraction.

Note: Remember that there will be fewer chances to recover data from a dropped external hard drive.

How To Repair Fallen Hard Disk?

The cost of repair and data restoration depends on the extent of damage. First, examine your dropped HDD using above explained methods. If your drive did not sustain physical damages then follow the below-mentioned methods to repair your fallen hard drive:

Note: If you have detected any internal or external damage or malfunctioning from your dropped HDD then do not repair it yourself. Because a small mistake may result in permanent loss of your valuable data and you will never be able to get back data from a fallen external hard drive.

Method 1: Run CHKDSK Comand Prompt On Your PC 

Windows PC has a built-in command prompt feature that can help you to find out and fix the bad sectors from your damaged hard drive. However, this process poses the risk of losing all recoverable data from your fallen hard drive. If you still want to try the CHKDSK command prompt then follow the below steps:

1. First, connect your dropped hard drive to your PC and open Windows Comand Prompt using the Window+R shortcut key. Then type cmd and press enter.

2. Next, type chkdsk X(Drive letter of your fallen HDD): /f /r /X and press enter button.

3. Now, wait for the command to execute the process and then enter the drive letter of your dropped external hard disk.

4. Finally, enter attrib -h -r -s /s /d *.* and again press enter.

Method 2: Contact A Hard Drive Recovery Specialist 

If Windows Comand Prompt does not work then send your dropped external hard drive to a professional hard drive recovery specialist.

How To Recover Data From A Dropped External Hard Drive?

We also have a video demonstrating the process of recovering data from a damaged hard drive on our YouTube channel.

In case, your hard disk survived the fall and did not suffer any physical damage then you can use reliable data recovery software to get back your data from a fallen external HDD. To do this, you can install Stellar Data Recovery Professional on your PC. This data recovery tool can repair a corrupted or failed hard drive and easily recover data from your accidentally dropped hard disk.

Note: Remember, if the hardware of your HDD is damaged from the fall then data recovery software will not work. 

Stellar Data Recovery Professional

Steps To Create A Disk Image For Your Fallen External Hard Disk

1. First, download and install the Stellar Data Recovery Professional on your PC. The installation process is simple like any other data recovery app.

2. Then connect your dropped physical hard drive to your PC.

3. Now, launch Stellar Data Recovery Professional and enter the activation key by selecting the Key icon. If you do not have an activation key then you can buy it from Stellar’s official website. Once you have made a successful purchase, the activation key will be sent to your registered email address.

Recover data from a dropped external hard drive

4. Next, click on the Hamburger icon on the top left side and select Create Disk Image.

Hamburger icon

5. After this, select the dropped HDD and click on the Start Imaging Button.

Start Imaging

6. Or you can click on the Advanced Settings option to create a custom disk image for your fallen HDD.

Advanced Settings

7. Next, a small window will appear on your PC’s screen. You can adjust the range by selecting the Starting & Ending Sector boxes or clicking on the Range scale below. Then click on the Close button.

Starting and Ending Sector

8. Now, click on Start Imaging and select the destination. Finally, click on the Save button and wait until the scanning is done.

Save button

Note: Save your Disk image in a different location on your PC and make sure you have sufficient free space on your PC.

Steps To Recover Data From The Disk Image

1. Once you have created a Disk image of your damaged external hard drive, click on the Hamburger icon and select the Recover from Disk Image option.

retrieve data from dropped external hard disk

2. Then select the Image name and click on Scan. Now, wait till the scanning is completed.

select Image name

Note: Turn off the preview option to increase the scanning speed. 

3. Once the scan of your disk image is done, click on OK.

click on OK

4. Now, you will be able to see the preview of all scanned data from your dropped physical hard disk. Select the files you want to extract and click on the Recover button.

Recover button

5. After this, click on the Browse button to select the destination for your recoverable files.

select the destination

6. Finally, click on the Start Saving button and wait till your data is restored on your PC’s hard drive. The restoration of your data may take hours depending on the size of your saved disk image.

Start Saving

Click Here to Try Stellar Data Recovery Professional

How To Get Professional Hard Drive Data Recovery Service?

Stellar Data Recovery Lab Services is a reliable data repair and recovery service. You can get a free consultation to recover data from your dropped external hard drive by following the below-explained steps:

1. First, go to Stellar’s Data Recovery Lab Services official website to get in touch with Stellar’s data recovery consultant.

2. Then click on the Ask a Free Quote button from the official website.

Ask a Free Quote

3. After that, select the type of storage device you wish to retrieve your data from and click on Get FREE Quote.

How to fix a dropped hard drive

4. Now, select the storage size of your dropped external hard disk and again click on the Next Button.

select the storage size

5. After this, choose the type of damage for your external hard drive. In your case, the hard disk was dropped so click on the Physical Damage option and select the Next button.

Physical Damage

Note: If you do not know what happened to your external HDD then select the I don’t know option.

6. Next, select the option Tried recovery by using some software and click on Next.

click on Next

7. Finally, provide your contact details such as your name, email address, cell phone number, etc, and submit the request by clicking on the Get FREE Quote button. By doing this, a Stellar data recovery consultant will contact you during working hours.

Get back data from a fallen external hard disk

Bonus Tips For The Safety Of Your HDD

Here are some valuable tips and tricks to keep your hard drive safe from accidental damage:

1. Use An External Protective Case

Always use an external cover case to keep your hard drive safe from accidental falls.

2. Handle With Care

HDDs are delicate storage devices and should be handled with proper care. A sudden fall on a hard surface may damage the Read/write head(s) or Platter disk(s).

3. Check For Damages 

In case, you have unintentionally dropped your hard drive then first make sure to check for any external dents. After that, connect it to your PC and look out for any internal damage.

4. Do Not Repair It On Your Own

Don’t try to fix your dropped physical HDD on your own. If the recovery of your data is not very important and you are willing to take the risk then follow the above-explained methods to repair your external hard disk.

5. Contact Professional Hard Disk Recovery

In case, you wish to recover your essential data from an external hard disk then seek out professional help. You can use Stellar Data Recovery Lab Services.

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Final Verdict

Recovery of data from a dropped external hard drive is easy if you do know how to deal with it. In this article, I have explained some easy and simple methods to retrieve data from a fallen external hard disk and I hope this guide will be useful to repair and extract valuable data from a dropped HDD.

Additionally, do not forget to practice the above-mentioned tips to protect your hard disk from accidental damage.

FAQs

Can An External Hard Drive Survive A Fall?

There are 1 out of 10 chances that your physical HDD will withstand the impact of a fall. However, you can increase the survival chances of your external hard disk by using a good HDD cover case.

How Much Does It Cost To Fix A Dropped External Hard Drive?

Normally, the cost of a damaged external HDD ranges between 100$ to 1000$ but the actual cost of repair and data restoration will depend on the extent of damage taken by your hard drive.

Can You fix A Dropped External Hard Drive?

You should avoid repairing a dropped HDD by yourself because a small mistake may result in permanent disk failure and data loss.

Can You Recover Data From A Dropped Hard Drive?

Yes, you can retrieve your data from a fallen external HDD by examining the damage and then sending it to a hard disk recovery specialist like Stellar Data Recovery Lab-Services.

About Me

I’m Satyam Pandey, a fellow data hoarder who keeps accidentally deleting files from time to time. I decided to start this blog after recovering all of my deleted high school photos from my old hard drive. With a knack to test data recovery software and see how well they perform I decided to create this blog.

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