Due to several reasons, an external hard drive shows up as “Unallocated.” You’re on the right page if you want to fix your hard drive without losing your data.
This article shows you how to restore and repair an unallocated hard drive. We have also suggested tips to prevent a hard drive from becoming unallocated.
You may wonder why a healthy external hard drive shows up as “Unallocated” suddenly. Here are the possible causes of this issue:
- Internal device error
- Virus attack
- Outdated driver
Now, let us move into the solutions.
RESTORE YOUR DATA
We usually save our important data on external hard drives. But, if it becomes “Unallocated” all of a sudden, recovering the data will become our top priority. This section shows you how to restore your data with the recovery software. You can find several recovery software applications on the Internet. Choose the software you prefer the most and install it on your computer. Then, follow these instructions to recover your data.
- Using a USB cable, connect your hard drive to your computer.
- Run the recovery software. Locate your hard drive under the External drives section.
- Now, choose your external hard drive (from which you want to recover your data) and click Scan.
- After the scanning process gets over, it’ll show you the recovered data.
- Pick the files you want to retrieve and then click the Restore button. When you save these files, select a different destination other than the original hard drive.
- That’s it. You have successfully restored your data from your external hard drive. Proceed with the following section to repair your unallocated external hard drive.
REPAIR YOUR UNALLOCATED HARD DRIVE
To fix your unallocated external hard drive, you need to create a new partition and set your file system. Follow the procedure provided below to know the detailed steps.
- Connect your unallocated external hard drive to your computer.
- Open the Run command dialog box (Windows + R).
- Type diskmgmt.msc and click OK.
- When you are directed to the Disk Management section, right-click on the unallocated space of your hard drive and select the “New Simple Volume” option.
- Specify the partition size, drive letter, and file system (NTFS/exFAT) for your hard drive.
- Go ahead with the instructions on the wizard, and once the process gets completed, click Finish.
- Hereafter, you can use your external hard drive to store your essential data.
HOW TO PREVENT YOUR HARD DRIVE FROM BECOMING UNALLOCATED
- Keep the driver of your hard drive updated.
- Clean up your computer by running a trusted antivirus software.
- Always eject your hard drive before removing it physically.
The above tips can help you to some extent in preventing the hard drive from becoming unallocated.
In this manner, you should fix your unallocated external hard drive without losing the data. For more details, get back to us.
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