Files Disappeared from External Hard Drive: How to Recover Your Data?

In this article, we’ll first help you figure out why files disappeared from your external hard drive. Then, we’ll cover the appropriate methods to recover missing files and fix the underlying problem.

Why Do Files Disappear From an External Hard Drive?

Files can disappear from an external hard drive for several reasons, and they don’t always involve actual data loss. Sometimes the files are still stored on the drive but Windows can’t display or access them. In other cases, the files have been deleted, the drive was formatted, or damage to the file system or partition prevents Windows from finding them.

The most common causes include:

• 🗑️ Accidental deletion: Files or entire folders can be deleted unintentionally, and it isn’t always immediately obvious that this has happened. If deletion is a possibility, stop copying new data to the external hard drive because new writes may overwrite the deleted data and reduce your recovery chances.
• 🧹 Accidental formatting: Formatting a drive removes access to the files through the existing file system. After a quick format, some of the previous data may still be recoverable because the entire contents of the drive aren’t necessarily overwritten. Don’t format the drive again if you want to recover missing files from it.
• 👻 Hidden file or folder attributes: Windows files and folders can be marked as hidden, in which case they remain on the external hard drive but don’t normally appear in File Explorer. Attributes can be changed manually, by software, or by malware. In Windows 11, you can display hidden files by opening File Explorer and selecting View > Show > Hidden items.
• 🔍 Files were moved or renamed: If only a few files or folders have disappeared, they may simply have been moved or renamed. Before assuming they’re lost, search the external hard drive by filename or, if you don’t remember the exact name, by file extension.
• 💥 File-system corruption: Damage to NTFS, exFAT, or FAT file-system structures can make individual files and folders inaccessible or prevent Windows from accessing the entire volume. Unsafe removal, interrupted write operations, I/O errors, and failing storage hardware are among the possible causes.
• 🧩 Lost or damaged partition: If an entire partition disappeared rather than a few files, its partition information may have been deleted or damaged. Disk Management may show the affected space as Unallocated or show that a volume that previously existed is now missing. Don’t create a new volume in the unallocated space before attempting recovery.
• 🔤 Missing drive letter or mounting problem: Sometimes the files haven’t disappeared at all – the volume simply no longer has a drive letter or isn’t being mounted correctly by Windows. In this case, it may be visible in Disk Management even though it doesn’t appear in File Explorer.
• 🦠 Malware infection: Some malware can hide, rename, modify, or delete files. Malware shouldn’t be assumed to be the cause just because files are missing, but it’s worth considering if you notice other unusual behavior on the computer or drive.
• 🔌 Hardware or connection problems: A bad USB cable, USB port, enclosure, insufficient power, bad sectors, or a failing HDD or SSD can make files or entire volumes inaccessible. Repeated disconnects, extremely slow access, I/O errors, clicking sounds from an HDD, or an incorrect drive capacity are more serious signs. If the drive is unstable, avoid repeated scans and repair attempts and prioritize imaging or recovering the important data.

The symptoms you see can help narrow down what happened before you start changing anything on the drive

Check Whether the Files Are Actually Missing

Before you attempt data recovery or repair the drive, it’s worth checking whether the files are actually gone. When files disappeared from external hard drive storage, what you see in File Explorer can provide some useful clues about what happened.

Start by opening the external hard drive in File Explorer and look at what’s missing. Is only one folder empty? Are several folders gone? Does the entire drive appear empty even though it previously contained data? Or has the external hard drive itself disappeared from File Explorer? These situations can point to different problems, so don’t treat them all as accidental deletion.

Next, right-click the external hard drive and select Properties. Compare the amount of used and free space with roughly how much data you expect to be stored on the drive. If Windows reports significant used space but you can see only a few files, the missing data may still be present but hidden or inaccessible because of damaged file-system metadata. However, used space alone isn’t proof that the missing files are recoverable or even still present.

You should also search the drive before moving on to recovery. Use the File Explorer search box to look for a filename you remember or search by file type. For example, you can try:

• *.jpg for JPEG images
• *.docx for Word documents
• *.mp4 for MP4 videos

You can do the same with any other file extension you expect to find on the drive. This simple check can reveal files that were moved to another folder or help confirm that only certain types of files are missing.

If the entire external hard drive is missing from File Explorer, open Disk Management. Check whether Windows detects the physical disk, whether its reported capacity looks correct, and whether its partitions are still present. Also look at the file system, drive letter, and whether the affected space is shown as RAW or Unallocated.

How to Recover Files That Disappeared from an External Hard Drive

The right way to recover missing files from an external hard drive depends on what happened to them. Data recovery software is the best place to start when files were deleted, lost after formatting, made inaccessible by file-system or partition damage, or are still present on the drive but can no longer be accessed through the normal file system. If the files are simply hidden but otherwise accessible, you don’t need to recover them in the same sense—you just need to make them visible again.

Regardless of the recovery method you use, save recovered files to a different physical storage device. Writing them back to the same external hard drive can overwrite other data you’re still trying to recover.

Method 1: Recover Missing Files Using a Data Recovery Tool

Data recovery software is the right option when files have actually been deleted, lost after formatting, or become inaccessible because of file-system or partition damage. It can also help when the files are still physically present on the external hard drive but Windows can no longer access them through the normal file system.

There’s a large number of highly-rated data recovery tools you can choose from, with each tool offering a slightly different mix of recovery performance, usability, and features. The data recovery tool we recommend the most to Windows users whose external hard drive isn’t showing some or all files is Disk Drill.

For this particular scenario, it’s useful because it can find deleted files, reconstruct files when the original file-system metadata is no longer available, access existing files that Windows can’t normally reach, and create a byte-to-byte image of a problematic drive before recovery. Disk Drill for Windows also lets you recover up to 100 MB for free, while its byte-to-byte image feature can be used for free.

To recover missing files from an external hard drive using Disk Drill:

1. Connect the affected drive to your computer, along with another physical storage device where you can save the recovered files. Don’t use the affected external hard drive as the recovery destination.
2. The next step is to download Disk Drill from its official website. The free Windows version lets you scan and preview recoverable files and recover up to 100 MB of data before you need to upgrade for larger recoveries.
3. If the external hard drive repeatedly disconnects, becomes unusually slow, freezes, or reports read errors but is still readable, select Byte-to-byte Backup in Disk Drill and create an image on another healthy drive. You can then scan the image instead of repeatedly reading the original device. This feature is available for free.
4. Select the affected physical disk or volume in Disk Drill and click Search for lost data.
5. For a normal external hard drive recovery, choose Universal Scan. Disk Drill will combine its available recovery methods to look for files that can still be recovered.
6. Once the scan starts producing results, review the Deleted, Existing, and Reconstructed sections. Existing results are particularly useful when the file system is damaged, but Disk Drill can still access its data, while Reconstructed contains files identified from their signatures when the original metadata is no longer available. You can search and filter the results by filename, folder, file type, size, date, and recovery.
7. Preview important files whenever possible before adding them to your recovery queue. A successful preview is a much stronger indication that the file is intact than its filename or file type alone. Disk Drill supports a large number of file formats, but format support doesn’t mean that every deleted or damaged file remains recoverable.
8. Click Recover and choose the other physical storage device you connected earlier as the destination. Don’t save recovered files back to the external hard drive you’re recovering from because new writes can overwrite data that hasn’t been recovered yet.
9. Once recovery is complete, open several important files from the destination drive to confirm that they can be read normally and that their contents are intact.

As explained in detail in our Disk Drill review, Disk Drill combines strong recovery performance with features that are particularly relevant to external hard drive recovery, including file previews, recovery-chance estimates, support for damaged file systems, and byte-to-byte imaging. The Windows version provides 100 MB of free recovery, while larger recoveries require Disk Drill PRO. Current licensing includes both annual and lifetime options.

If you want to see how other tools stack up against Disk Drill, you can check our in-depth comparisons or compare up to three Windows tools of your choice side by side. There’s also our interactive data recovery picker, which can automatically recommend the most suitable solution for you.

Method 2: Check the Connection and Drive Detection

If your external hard drive has disappeared from File Explorer, the problem may be with the connection or the way Windows detects and mounts the drive rather than with the files themselves. A faulty USB port, cable, hub, enclosure, or missing drive letter can all make an otherwise accessible drive disappear.

Start with the simplest connection checks:

1. Disconnect and reconnect the external hard drive. If the drive is visible in File Explorer, eject it safely before disconnecting it. If it isn’t detected there, disconnect it after making sure no read or write operation is in progress.
2. Try another USB port. Connect the drive directly to a port on the computer instead of using a USB hub or dock.
3. Test another compatible cable. A damaged or unreliable USB cable can cause intermittent connections or prevent the drive from being detected correctly.
4. Try another computer. This can help determine whether the problem is specific to your PC or follows the external hard drive.
5. Consider the enclosure. If you’re using an HDD or SSD inside an external enclosure, the enclosure itself or its USB-to-SATA/NVMe bridge can fail even when the drive inside is still functional.

If the external hard drive still doesn’t appear in File Explorer, open Disk Management and check whether Windows detects the physical disk and its volume. If the volume appears healthy and has a recognized file system but no drive letter, right-click it, select Change Drive Letter and Paths, and assign an unused drive letter. It should then become accessible through File Explorer.

Don’t use a new drive letter as a generic fix if the volume appears as RAW or the space is shown as Unallocated. Those states can indicate file-system or partition damage. In such cases, you should first attempt to recover external hard drives and their important data before making changes to the affected storage.

Method 3: Show Hidden Files and Restore Their Attributes

As we’ve explained earlier in this article, files and folders in Windows can have certain attributes, including the Hidden attribute. When this attribute is enabled, the files remain on your external hard drive but are omitted from the default view in File Explorer.

Here’s how you can show hidden files and folders in Windows 11:

1. Launch File Explorer and open your external hard drive.
2. Click View in the toolbar.
3. Select Show > Hidden items.
4. Check whether the missing files or folders have appeared.

Enabling Hidden items only makes hidden files visible. It doesn’t remove the Hidden attribute. If your missing files appear and you want them to remain visible under the normal File Explorer view:

1. Select the affected file or folder.
2. Right-click it and select Properties.
3. In the General tab, clear the Hidden checkbox.
4. Click Apply and then OK.

If many personal files or folders unexpectedly became hidden at the same time, malware may be responsible. In that case, scan your computer and external hard drive for malware before changing attributes in bulk. Otherwise, active malware could simply modify them again.

You can also use the attrib command to change file attributes, but it’s best to apply it only to the affected files or folders where practical. Windows treats Hidden (-h), System (-s), and Read-only (-r) as separate attributes, so avoid commands that blindly remove all three from every item on the external hard drive. Doing so changes more than what’s required simply to make hidden files visible.

Method 4: Check and Repair File-System Errors

If you suspect that files have disappeared from your external hard drive because of file-system corruption, Windows Error Checking and CHKDSK can help detect and repair logical file-system errors. However, repair operations can modify the affected volume, so you should use them only after recovering or backing up any important inaccessible data.

To check your external hard drive using the Windows Error Checking tool:

1. Launch File Explorer.
2. Navigate to This PC.
3. Right-click your external hard drive and select Properties.
4. Switch to the Tools tab.
5. Under Error checking, click Check.
6. Follow the prompts to scan the drive and, if Windows finds errors, repair them.

Windows users who are comfortable with terminal commands can also use CHKDSK. We recommend checking the file-system status first and running a repair only if the drive is stable and your important data is already safe:

1. Open Terminal or Command Prompt as administrator.
2. Enter the chkdsk E: command, replacing E: with the actual drive letter of your external hard drive. 
3. Press Enter and wait for CHKDSK to finish. Without repair parameters, CHKDSK checks the file system and reports its status but doesn’t fix the errors it finds.
4. If CHKDSK reports file-system errors, make sure any important data has already been recovered or backed up.
5. To repair logical file-system errors, enter chkdsk E: /f.
6. Press Enter and let CHKDSK complete the repair. The /f parameter allows CHKDSK to fix detected errors and therefore modifies the file system.

CHKDSK also supports the /r parameter. It includes the functionality of /f, checks for bad sectors, and attempts to recover readable information from them. Because /r performs additional reads across the drive, it shouldn’t be the default command when you only need to repair logical file-system errors.

Method 5: Recover a Missing Partition With TestDisk

TestDisk is an open-source tool that can recover lost partitions by finding and restoring damaged or deleted partition-table information. This method is relevant when an entire partition has disappeared, not when only individual files or folders are missing.

Before using TestDisk, open Disk Management and check how the external hard drive appears there. TestDisk may help if the space where your partition used to be is now shown as Unallocated, the expected volume has disappeared, or you have reason to believe that the partition-table information was damaged or deleted.

To recover a missing external hard drive partition with TestDisk:

1. Go to the official website of TestDisk and download the latest version of the software.
2. Extract the downloaded archive and launch testdisk_win.exe as administrator from the extracted folder.
3. Choose No Log using the arrow keys and press Enter to proceed.
4. Select the physical external hard drive that contained the missing partition and press Enter.
5. Select the appropriate partition-table type. TestDisk usually suggests one automatically, but verify that the suggested type is correct before proceeding.
6. Select Analyse to examine the current partition structure.
7. Select Quick Search and wait while TestDisk searches for lost partitions.
8. Inspect the partitions TestDisk finds. Highlight the partition you believe is missing and use the file-listing option to check its contents. Make sure the expected files and folders are actually present.
9. If Quick Search doesn’t find the expected partition, return to the search screen and run Deeper Search. This takes longer but can locate partitions that the initial search missed.
10. Once you have identified the correct partition and confirmed that it contains the expected files, return to the partition screen and choose Write to save the recovered partition information.
11. Confirm the operation and restart the computer if TestDisk asks you to do so. Then check whether the recovered volume is accessible again in File Explorer.

Besides Windows, TestDisk can also be used to recover files from an external hard drive on Mac and Linux. You can read more about its recovery capabilities, supported file systems, features, and limitations in our TestDisk review.

Method 6: Run Anti-Malware Software

Malware is another possible cause to consider if many files on your external hard drive suddenly became hidden, suspicious shortcuts or executable files appeared, Windows Security detected a threat, or you noticed similar changes on several removable drives.

In this case, scan Windows for active malware before changing file attributes or attempting other fixes:

1. Open the Start menu and launch Settings.
2. Navigate to Privacy & security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection.
3. Run a scan to check Windows for active threats.
4. If you specifically want to scan the external hard drive, select Scan options > Custom scan, start the scan, and select the affected drive.
5. If Windows Security detects malware, follow its recommended actions for the detected threats.
6. Once the threat has been removed, return to File Explorer, enable Hidden items, and check the affected files and folders again. If necessary, restore their attributes as described in the previous method.

Removing malware doesn’t automatically restore files that were deleted or repair file-system corruption caused by an infection. If the files are still missing after the threat has been contained and you have reason to believe they were actually deleted, use data recovery software to scan the external hard drive.

Method 7: Use a Data Recovery Service for a Failing Drive

The methods above are intended for external hard drives that remain stable enough to read. If the drive itself appears to be failing, continued DIY recovery attempts can put additional stress on it and make the situation worse.

Consider a professional data recovery service if the hard drive:

• clicks, makes other unusual mechanical sounds, or repeatedly spins down;
• disappears while files are being read;
• causes Windows to freeze when you try to access it;
• reports severe or repeated I/O errors;
• shows an incorrect capacity;
• isn’t consistently detected by Windows;
• repeatedly fails during byte-to-byte imaging;
• has suffered physical or electrical damage.

In these situations, don’t run repeated CHKDSK scans in an attempt to find files, and don’t format or initialize the drive. These actions are unlikely to solve a physical problem and may complicate subsequent recovery.

A professional recovery lab can work with failing storage devices using hardware-level tools and techniques that aren’t available in normal consumer data recovery software. Depending on the type of failure, this may include stabilizing the device, working around damaged components, or reading the storage media with specialized equipment. However, even professional recovery can’t guarantee that all (or any) of the missing data can be recovered.

Before sending your hard drive to a lab, check its evaluation fees, shipping requirements, security and privacy policies, and whether it offers a no-data/no-fee arrangement.