How to Fix a Corrupted Hard Drive on Windows PC (2026)

Is Windows constantly displaying errors when you try to access your data? Or perhaps your hard drive isn’t appearing in File Explorer because it has turned RAW.

We’ll provide you with the tools and processes necessary to recover your data and restore the hard drive to working condition.

Our team has researched this topic, gathering cases from all over the internet, and conducted real-world tests to weed out the good fixes from the bad. The solutions outlined in this guide are proven to be the most effective when you need to fix a corrupted hard drive.

How to Identify and Properly Address Corrupted Hard Disk Issues

Before we start, it should be noted that in any instance where your drive has suffered data loss (this includes existing data that has become inaccessible), recovering your data is the first priority. Why? Because any action taken on the drive, including fixes, has a risk of making the data permanently unrecoverable. So, if you value the data on the drive, recover it first and then fix the drive.

During our research on this issue, we found a myriad of causes behind it. However, there were some that cropped up more than others. We put together this list, and article as a whole, with corrupted internal hard drives in mind, as we already have a guide for repairing corrupted external hard drives, along with one for fixing corrupted hard drives on Macs. However, most of these problems, and their respective recovery methods, apply just as well to external drives.

❗️ Here are some of the most common scenarios, along with our recommendation of what to do in each case:

The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable. Often displayed when trying to open, copy, or move specific files or folders due to file system corruption, and is also presented as Error 1392. Recover the data first, then run CHKDSK to repair file system errors. If the affected files are on the system drive, use SFC and DISM to repair damaged Windows files.
The partition has converted to RAW, and Windows wants to format. Another indication of file system corruption. Windows reads it as RAW because it cannot detect a working file system. Recover the data with data recovery software, then restore the partition with TestDisk or format the drive with a new, healthy file system.
The drive appears as “Unknown, Not Initialized” with 0 bytes in Disk Management. This means Windows cannot read the drive’s reported capacity, usually due to a hardware or connection issue. Check the cable, port, or system first. If the drive is then detected correctly but still inaccessible, it may be partition table corruption. Recover the data with a data recovery tool capable of reconstructing the layout or file-signature carving, then initialize the disk, choose a partition style, and then format it.
The drive is displaying CRC errors. Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) errors occur when data read from a drive doesn’t match what was expected. They can be triggered by faulty SATA/USB cables, ports, or enclosures, so you should start there. If they persist, it can indicate bad sectors or physical degradation of the drive. In this case, you should create a byte-to-byte image of the disk for later recovery, or consult a data recovery service.
The message “The parameter is incorrect.” appears. The drive may appear in File Explorer with a drive letter, but any access attempts are blocked behind “The parameter is incorrect”, and CHKDSK may mislabel the drive as RAW. This is often a hardware or connection issue, but it can also be software-related. Confirm the connection is secure, and if the problem persists, repair the partition with TestDisk, or recover the data and format the drive.
The disk is reporting the incorrect capacity. This could be the result of partition table corruption, or worse, physically damaged sectors or hardware failure. Backing up the drive and recovering the data should be done immediately. In cases where this is obviously linked to physical damage, reach out to a data recovery service.

The next section will guide you through backing up the drive and recovering its data.

Recover Data Before You Fix a Corrupted Hard Drive

In any instance where your data is lost or deleted, your first step is to either recover the data or back it up to prevent further loss. Any attempts at fixing the drive can result in the data being lost permanently. Hard drive recovery software can recover or back up the data even if it’s deleted or inaccessible due to errors. Even if you suspect it was a physical issue and plan to consult a professional, it’s free to download the software, scan the drive, and see what it can pull up. We’ll demonstrate what recovery looks like with Disk Drill.

Download, install, and open Disk Drill. If your system drive was corrupted, you’ll need to work from another PC, connecting the corrupted system drive to that system.

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Go to the Byte-to-byte Backup module in the left pane. Note that creating a backup is highly recommended, but not absolutely essential. It can be skipped if you do not have enough free space to create a backup image, and you can scan the disk directly instead.
Select the corrupted hard drive, then click Create backup.
Give the backup a name, choose where it will be stored, then click OK.
Return to the Storage Devices and add the disk image using the Attach disk image option.
Select the backup image (or drive, if you opted to skip the backup) and click Search for lost data.
Click Universal Scan. Advanced Camera Recovery is reserved for the recovery of fragmented videos from cameras and drones.
Click Review found items. Alternatively, if you simply want to recover everything on the corrupted HDD, click Recover all.
Preview and select the data you wish to recover. Data that can be previewed can be recovered. If the results are too cumbersome to browse, refine them using the filter options. When you’re ready, click Recover.
Choose where the recovered data will be stored and click Next to recover the data. The free version of Disk Drill allows up to 100 MB of free recovery, which is usually enough for critical documents, photos, and videos. It may not be enough for an entire drive’s worth of data, but it is useful to scan and see what data is recoverable before making any investment.

There are other recovery options out there, but we prefer Disk Drill for a few reasons. One huge benefit is that you can back up the drive and recover data from it all within the app. In addition to its support for corrupted hard drives, it can also recover data from drives that are crashed, formatted, or showing as RAW. Even if you don’t want to pay for the full version, you can still run unlimited scans and backups, preview recoverable data, and utilize its disk monitoring features (some of which can warn you about future corruption) all without paying a cent.

Keep in mind this method (along with any other logical fix you can implement yourself) is only possible when the drive is both appearing in Disk Management and reading the correct capacity. If the drive isn’t showing up at all, and you’ve ruled out external factors, you’ll need to consult a recovery professional.

5 Proven Methods to Fix a Damaged Hard Drive Safely

Once your data is recovered, or at least backed up, you can proceed to address the issue without concern for data loss. Even if you end up contacting a recovery service, having a backup image on hand is beneficial in the event of unforeseen circumstances. We’re going to start out with some simple diagnostics to exclude external factors and physical damage, and then go through some proven repair options for how to fix a corrupted hard drive on Windows 11/10.

Method 1. Exclude External Factors

Because any of the fixes we mention below will not work for physical issues, like shock damage, connection issues, or damaged PC ports, it’s important that we confirm this is software-related. Start with these preliminary steps:

Confirm the physical connection is well-seated. More specifically, check both the power and data cables (e.g., SATA) connected to your drive. Loose cables and bent pins lead to intermittent or complete connection failure.
Check that the disk is visible in Disk Management and reading the correct size. If it drops in and out, it’s likely still a connection or hardware issue.
Test the drive on another PC. Where possible, test the drive on another PC by connecting it internally or externally via a drive enclosure.
Listen for strange noises. Clicking, grinding, or repeated spin-ups indicate mechanical failure. In this case, the drive will likely fail soon, and so it should be replaced. If it contains data, consider professional recovery.

If everything’s looking like it’s a software-related problem, move to the next step where we try to fix basic issues using CHKDSK.

Method 2. Use CHKDSK to Fix Errors

CHKDSK is a Windows utility that runs in CMD that’s designed to scan and repair file system corruption. With the additional /r parameter we’ll be using, CHKDSK will also check every sector of the drive to locate bad sectors. It can attempt to repair soft bad sectors and mark bad sectors so they’re not used again. Due to the nature of CHKDSK, however, it’s important you recover data before running it.

Keep in mind CHKDSK can take hours to repair a hard disk, depending on the size and state of the disk. Although Microsoft states in its documentation that interrupting CHKDSK shouldn’t leave the volume any more corrupt, it’s generally not recommended that you interrupt the scan. However, if it’s looking like it will take days, cancel it and move on to the next solutions which are more expeditious.

Follow these steps to repair a corrupted hard disk with CHKDSK:

Right-click Start and click Terminal (Admin).
Type chkdsk *: /r. Replace * with your own drive letter. Press Enter.

CHKDSK is good for relatively minor issues, but isn’t enough to restore the partition in place. For that, you’ll need something like TestDisk, which we look at next.

Method 3. Use TestDisk to Fix Drive Partition

TestDisk is a partition recovery tool, often considered a more effective alternative to CHKDSK – especially when the drive is showing as RAW, as CHKDSK doesn’t work on partitions without a file system. It’s able to restore the partition, data intact, by repairing the underlying damage that’s caused the partition to become lost or deleted.

Follow these steps to uncorrupt a hard drive with TestDisk:

Download and extract the contents of TestDisk. Open testdisk_win.exe.
Press Enter to create a new log file.
Highlight the corrupted disk, then press Enter.
Choose your partition table type, then press Enter.
On the Analyse option, press Enter.
Press Enter to begin a Quick Search.
Press Enter.
Go over to the Write option and, if the partition was found, press Enter. If the partition wasn’t found, perform a Deeper Search instead.
Press Y to confirm the changes, and then restart your computer.

When it’s not a lost or deleted partition causing the issue, it may be due to a damaged or corrupted system file that Windows is unable to access. To address that, we’ll be looking at SFC and DISM next.

Method 4. Run SFC/DISM Scan

SFC and DISM are commands that, when run together, check for and replace damaged or corrupted system files. Put simply, SFC replaces missing or damaged system files from the system image, a repository of backup system files. If data in the system image is corrupted instead, then DISM is used to repair the image.

You will need to run SFC and DISM from WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment). To get here, boot from installation media (like a bootable USB) or turn your PC on and force shut it down 3 times in a row (by holding the power button) and it will automatically initiate.

This is usually needed when corruption appears while booting or servicing Windows. To fix a corrupted drive with SFC and DISM, follow these steps:

Click Advanced options.
Click Troubleshoot.
Click Advanced options.
Click Command Prompt.
Type sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows and press Enter.
Type dism /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /restorehealth and press Enter.

Method 5. Format Your Drive

The final, and most effective solution for fixing logical hard drive corruption is through formatting. This is basically a factory reset for the drive, deleting all data from the drive. There are two formats to be aware of: quick format, and full format.

Quick format deletes all data but leaves traces of that data that can be used to recover it before it’s overwritten for good.
Full format goes sector-by-sector and zeros each one, effectively overwriting the data and any chance of recovery. The added benefit of a full format is that it performs a surface scan, mapping out all the bad sectors that shouldn’t be used.

If the corrupted drive in question is your system disk, you will need to either (1) boot from installation media and delete the existing partition(s) before reinstalling, or (2) connect the drive to another system and format it from there.

Either way, the drive itself should be considered unstable now, and so continuing to use it as a system drive is not recommended.

It’s not recommended to full format an SSD with TRIM, as it’s a waste of read/write cycles. See more about how TRIM affects data recovery in our guide on how to recover data from an SSD.

Follow these steps to fix a corrupted HDD by formatting:

Open File Explorer.
Right-click the corrupted drive and click Format.
Specify a volume label, keep Quick Format checked if you want to perform a quick format, then click Start.
Click OK to confirm the format.

What Else Can You Do to Repair Hard Disk Issues & Improve Stability

Once everything’s sorted, it’s a good idea to run a health check to get an understanding of the drive’s vitals. Certain tools, like Disk Drill, can run in the background and monitor your drive’s S.M.A.R.T. data to alert you when values reach concerning levels. Some critical S.M.A.R.T. values are Reallocated Sectors, Pending Sectors, and Uncorrectable Sectors, as these are all indicators of physical deterioration. An increasing number of bad sectors (for HDDs) or blocks (for SSDs) means the drive is no longer stable and should be replaced.

Found that the drive has a lot of bad sectors? Victoria is a tool that can be used to repair logical bad sectors and map out physical ones. Its core functionality includes a complex breakdown of your drive’s info (including S.M.A.R.T. data) and an option to edit the disk’s raw contents, but its Test & Repair feature stands out for its ability to run a surface scan and ignore, erase, remap, or refresh bad sectors. You can choose what portion of the drive is scanned, what actions are taken (verify, read, or write), and the block size used.

If you haven’t been able to fix the corruption or recover the data, hardware damage is the likely culprit. In these cases, you should stop using the drive and consider contacting a data recovery service. This involves physically sending your drive away to a professional team who will recover the data for you, even from seemingly dead hard drives. Some, like the CleverFiles Data Recovery Center, include a ‘No data, no charge’ policy so you only need to pay if something you need is recovered.

Key Takeaways

When dealing with a corrupted hard drive, the steps you need to take to get back up and running can be summarized into a simple checklist:

Recover the data first. In any instance where your hard drive is corrupted, creating a byte-to-byte backup and recovering the data always comes first.
Check for software vs. hardware issues. Make sure all connections and connection points are working and stable, and use CHKDSK, TestDisk, SFC/DISM, and other logical repair tools to address software-related corruption.
Know when to stop. An abundance of bad sectors, persistent CRC errors, or clear physical damage are all indications that DIY repairs are futile. You should consult a recovery professional.
Monitor the drive going forward. Use software to monitor your drive’s S.M.A.R.T. data and maintain an updated backup of your data so it’s protected against this in the future.

Following these steps will minimize the risk of losing the data and help you identify when repairs can be done at home versus when a professional is needed.

FAQ

What is the best way to fix a corrupted system drive?

Before attempting to fix a damaged hard drive, you should create a byte-to-byte backup of the drive with tools like Disk Drill or Clonezilla. The drive will need to be removed from your PC and connected to another system. From there, use CHKDSK, SFC, and DISM to repair file system errors and replace damaged system files. Another option is to use TestDisk to recover the entire partition. Otherwise, the last resort is formatting the drive and reinstalling Windows.

Is it safe to install recovery software on a different partition of the corrupted drive?

No, even if you install data recovery software on a different partition of the same corrupted drive, there is risk of your data, file system remnants, or partition table structures being overwritten and lost for good. Always install it on another disk, or work from another computer. However, until you can perform recovery, keep the drive disconnected to avoid unnecessary disk operations, or only connect it in read-only mode.

Can I still fix a corrupted hard drive if it doesn’t appear in Disk Management?

A drive that isn’t appearing in Disk Management usually indicates a deeper issue, usually (but not always) hinting at a physical issue. In this case, software-based solutions won’t work. Try checking the cables are connected correctly (and working), and see if the drive can be read by another computer. If those checks don’t resolve it, then you should stop using the drive and contact a data recovery service.

How to Repair a Corrupted Hard Disk on Windows 11/10 PC