Search
  • For Individuals
      « Back
    • Windows Data Recovery

      Recovers lost or deleted Office documents, emails, presentations & multimedia files.

      Free Standard Professional Premium

    • Mac Data Recovery

      Recovers deleted files, photos, videos etc. on Mac.

      Free Standard Professional Premium

    • Photo Recovery

      Recover photos, videos, & audio files from all cameras and storage on Windows or Mac.

      Free Standard Professional Premium

    • Video Repair
    • Photo Repair
    • iPhone Data Recovery
  • For Business
      « Back
    • Email Repair & Converter

      Repair for Exchange Converter for EDB Converter for OST Converter for NSF Converter for OST MBOX Repair for Outlook

    • Database & File Repair

      Repair for MS SQL Repair for Access Repair for QuickBooks Software Repair for Excel Extractor for Windows Backup Repair for MySQL

    • Data Recovery & Erasure

      Data Recovery Professional Data Recovery Technician Mac Recovery for Technician Virtual Machine Recovery File Erasure Software Mobile Erasure Drive Erasure File Eraser Software File Eraser Software for Mac

    • Toolkit

      Exchange Toolkit Outlook Toolkit File Repair Toolkit MS SQL Toolkit Data Recovery Toolkit

    • Forensic

      Email Forensic Exchange Auditor Log Analyzer for MySQL Log Analyzer for MS SQL

  • Store
  • Partners
  • Services
  • Offers
  • Support

 

  • For Individuals
    DIY software for anyone who works with data.

    Windows Data Recovery Recovers lost or deleted Office documents, emails, presentations & multimedia files

    Free Standard Professional Premium

    Mac Data Recovery Especially for Mac users to recover deleted documents and multimedia files from macOS

    Free Standard Professional Premium

    Video Repair Windows Mac Repair multiple corrupt videos in one go. Supports MP4, MOV & other formats.

    StandardPremium

    Photo Recovery Windows Mac Recover photos, videos, & audio files from all cameras and storage on Windows or Mac.

    Standard Professional Premium

    iPhone Data Recovery Windows Mac Recover deleted photos, videos, contacts, messages etc. directly from iPhone & iPad

    Recover Erase Toolkit

    Photo Repair Windows Mac Repair multiple corrupt photos in one go. Supports JPEG & other formats.

    Standard Professional Premium


  • For Business
    • Email Repair
    • Email Converter
    • File Repair
    • Data Recovery & Erasure
    • Toolkit
    • Forensic

    Exchange Repair Repair corrupt EDB file & export mailboxes to Live Exchange or Office 365

    Outlook PST Repair Repair corrupt PST & recover all mailbox items including deleted emails & contacts

    OLM Repair Repair Outlook for Mac (OLM) 2011 & 2016 backup files & recover all mailbox items

    Exchange Toolkit Repair EDB & Exchange backup file to restore mailboxes, convert OST to PST, & convert EDB to PST

    Active Directory Repair Repair corrupt Active Directory database (Ntds.dit file) & extract all objects in original form

    EDB to PST Convert online & offline EDB file & extract all mailbox items including Public Folders in PST

    OST to PST Convert inaccessible OST file & extract all mailbox items including deleted emails in PST

    NSF to PST Convert IBM Notes NSF file & export all mailbox items including emails & attachments to PST

    MBOX to PST Convert MBOX file of Thunderbird, Entourage & other clients, & export mailbox data to PST

    OLM to PST Convert Outlook for Mac Data File (OLM) & export all mailbox data to PST in original form

    GroupWise to PST Convert GroupWise mail & export all mailbox items - emails, attachments, etc. - to PST

    EML to PST Convert Windows Live Mail (EML) file & export mailbox data - emails, attachments, etc. - to PST

    Office 365 to PST Connect to Office 365 account & export mailbox data to PST and various other formats

    DBX to PST Convert Outlook Express (DBX) file & export all mailbox data - emails, attachments, etc. - to PST

    SQL Repair Repair corrupt .mdf & .ndf files and recover all database components in original form

    Access Repair Repair corrupt .ACCDB and .MDB files & recover all records & objects in a new database

    QuickBooks Repair Repair corrupt QuickBooks® data file & recover all file components in original form

    MySQL Repair Repair MyISAM & InnoDB tables and recover all objects - keys, views, tables, triggers, etc.

    Excel Repair Repair corrupt Excel (.XLS & .XLSX) files and recover tables, charts, chart sheet, etc.

    BKF Repair Repair corrupt backup (BKF, ZIP, VHDX and .FD) files and restore complete data

    Database Converter Interconvert MS SQL, MySQL, SQLite, and SQL Anywhere database files

    PowerPoint Repair Repair corrupt PPT files and restore tables, header, footer, & charts, etc. like new

    File Repair Toolkit Repair corrupt Excel, PowerPoint, Word & PDF files & restore data to original form

    Data Recovery Windows Mac Recover lost or deleted data from HDD, SSD, external USB drive, RAID & more.

    Technician Toolkit

    Tape Data Recovery Retrives data from all types and capacities of tape drives including LTO 1, LTO 2, LTO 3, & others.

    Virtual Machine Recovery Recover documents, multimedia files, and database files from any virtual machine

    File Erasure Permanently wipe files and folders, and erase traces of apps and Internet activity.

    Standard Corporate

    Mobile Erasure Certified and permanent data erasure software for iPhones, iPads, & Android devices

    Drive Erasure Certified and permanent data erasure software for HDD, SSD, & other storage media Windows Mac

    Exchange Toolkit 5-in-1 software toolkit to recover Exchange database, convert EDB to PST, convert OST to PST, restore Exchange backup, and reset Windows Server password.

    Outlook Toolkit Comprehensive software suite to repair PST files, merge PST files, eliminate duplicate emails, compact PST files, and recover lost or forgotten Outlook passwords.

    File Repair Toolkit Powerful file repair utility to fix corrupt Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents created in Microsoft Office. It also repairs corrupt PDF files and recovers all objects.

    MS SQL Toolkit 5-in-1 software toolkit to repair corrupt SQL database, restore database from corrupt backup, reset database password, analyze SQL logs, & interconvert databases.

    Data Recovery Toolkit Software helps to recovers deleted data from Windows, Mac and Linux storage devices. Also supports recovery from RAIDs & Virtual Drives.

    Email Forensic Advanced email forensic solution for cyber experts to audit, analyze, or investigate emails & gather evidences.

    Exchange Auditor Exchange Server monitoring solution to automate audits, scans and generate reports ìn real-time.

    Log Analyzer for MySQL Analyze forensic details of MySQL server database log files such as Redo, General Query, and Binary Log.

    Log Analyzer for MS SQL Track & analyze MS SQL Server database transactions log files.

    Email Forensic
    STELLAR EMAIL FORENSIC

    Advanced email forensic tool to analyze and collect the mailbox data of email clients

    Learn More arrow


    All Products arrow

    All Products arrow

    All Products arrow

    All Products arrow

  • Our Partners
  • Lab Services
  • microphone-icon-android

    Trending Searches

    Data Recovery

    Photo Recovery

    Video Repair

    iPhone Data Recovery

    File Erasure Software

    Exchange Repair

    OST to PST

    PST Repair

    Raid Recovery

    MS SQL Repair

  • English Deutsch Français Nederlands Italiano Español 日本語 简体中文
  • Support
Free File Recovery Software 4 minute read

How to Recover Deleted Files from the External Hard Drive For Free?

Updated on May 4th, 2022
Aruna Attri
Written By
Aruna Attri
Rohit Arora
Approved By
Rohit Arora

Summary: In this post, we’ve mentioned different ways to recover deleted files from external hard drive for free. However, the best way to recover deleted files from external hard drive for free is by using a data recovery software, such Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition.

How to Recover Deleted Files from the External Hard Drive For Free?

External hard drives are popular storage devices used to store documents, photos, videos, and other files. Due to their portable nature, these drives allow the users to carry huge amount of data from one place to another.

However, sometimes, users lose files and other data from external hard drives due to accidentally deletion.

In this post, we will be discussing different methods to recover deleted files from external hard drives and that too free of cost.

Contents

  • How to Recover Deleted Files from External Hard Drive for Free?
  • To Wrap Up

How to Recover Deleted Files from External Hard Drive for Free?

Here are some methods that you can use for free external hard drive recovery on Windows.

Note: In case of data deletion, stop using the external hard drive immediately to avoid overwriting.

1. Recover deleted data using Stellar Data Recovery for Windows

This is the most effective and easiest method to recover data from external hard drive for free.

Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition software is an efficient and 100% secure DIY software for data recovery. Follow the steps below to recover your lost files/folders.

Step 1: Download the Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Windows.

Step 2: Install the software and launch it. Connect the external hard drive to your system (if not connected).

Step 3: Select the type of data you want to recover from the user interface of the software and click ‘Next’.

Select What to Recover

Step 4: Select the external hard disk drive shown under the ‘Connected Drives’ section in the ‘Recover From’ screen.

Select the Drive

Step 5: Turn on the ‘Deep Scan’ toggle switch and click ‘Scan’.

Select Deep Scan Option

Step 6: A window showing scan progress would appear.

Preview the Data

Step 7: Once the scan process is complete, the ‘Scanning Completed Successfully!’ message will appear. Click ‘OK’.

Scanning Completed Successfully

Step 8: The software gives you an option to view your recovered files according to File Type, Tree View, or Deleted List.

Step 9: From the Preview section in the right pane, select the files you wish to recover and click ‘Recover’.

Select the file and Click on Recover Button

Step 10: A message box saying, ‘This free version recovers only 1 GB of data’ appears. If you want to recover more than 1 GB data, click ‘Upgrade Now’. Otherwise, click ‘Upgrade Later’.

Upgrade Now

Step 11: Select the destination where you want to save the recovered files and click ‘Start Saving’.

Start Saving

Your files/folders will be saved at the designated destination.

2. Recover deleted files using Command Prompt

The Command Prompt or CMD allows you to give text commands to your system and connected devices.

This is quite useful in the case of malware and virus attacks that affect the attributes of files stored on an external hard drive.

For external hard drive recovery using command prompt, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Connect the external hard disk drive to your computer system.

Step 2: Press Windows + R to launch Run.

Step 3: In the Run window, type ‘cmd’ and hit Enter or click OK.

Step 4: Type the command ‘ATTRIB -H -R -S /S /D X:*.*’ without inverted commas in the CMD window and press Enter.

Type command on Command Prompt

Note: Replace X with the letter of your external hard disk drive in the above command.

Your lost data will be recovered once the cmd completes the process.

3. Restore a previous version of deleted file

Note: This method will only work if you’ve enabled the File History option before deleting the files.

You can recover your deleted files by using the File History option on your system. To recover a file using this option, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Locate the folder where your deleted files were saved.

Step 2: Right-click the designated folder and select Properties.

Right Click > Designed Folder > Select Properties

Step 3: From the available versions, select the latest one.

Step 4: Click the Restore button.

Restore Previous Version

To Wrap Up

You can follow the above-mentioned methods to recover deleted files from external hard drive for free. If the File History option is enabled on your system, you can use it to restore the previous version of the deleted file.

However, it is best to use a free data recovery software, such as Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Windows.

This is a powerful software to recover deleted files from internal/external hard drives, pen drives, SSDs, SDs cards, etc.

About The Author

Aruna

Aruna Attri is a Senior Data Recovery Expert at Stellar®. She is a technology blogger and Windows expert. She has experience in Windows data recovery domain. She loves to troubleshoot Windows issue and write technical tips and tutorials.

Best Selling Products

Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Windows

Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Windows

Stellar Data Recovery has the right Windows Recovery tool for all your data recovery

Read More
Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac

Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac

Stellar Data Recovery for Mac program performs safe..

 

Read More
Stellar Photo Recovery

Stellar Photo Recovery

A comprehensive photo recovery software to restore photos, music & video files

 

Read More
Stellar Repair for Video

Stellar Repair for Video

Powerful video repair tool for repairing corrupt or damaged MOV and other video files

 

Read More

4 comments

  1. Taylor says:
    May 6, 2022 at 7:23 am

    Hi Aruna,
    I have followed the above-mentioned methods to recover deleted files from an external hard drive for free.Thanks for sharing this article.

    Reply
  2. Fadri says:
    February 11, 2022 at 11:28 am

    Losing data is always a horrible experience for anyone. I searched various data recovery software on the internet. Since I tried using your software, it helped me recover my data back. Thanks for the great results

    Reply
  3. Patricia J. Craddock says:
    May 17, 2019 at 5:12 am

    Hey, I have used Stellar Data Recovery software and recovered my files. I found it easy to use, really appreciated. But some file which I recovered were password protected and still asking for password. Any solutions to access these file.

    Reply
    1. Aruna Attri says:
      May 20, 2019 at 3:50 am

      Hello Patricia,
      Stellar Windows Data Recovery Software recover all lost data and password protected files. But you should have password to access those file. Thanks.

      Reply

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  +  57  =  65

Table of Contents    arrow

  1. How to Recover Deleted Files from External Hard Drive for Free?
  2. To Wrap Up

Categories

offer banner

Related Posts

related post
Free File Recovery Software

How to Recover Unsaved Excel File on Windows?

Stellar Author Mansi Verma January 21, 2022 Read More
related post
Free File Recovery Software

Lost Files after Upgrading to Windows 11? Learn How to Recover Them

Stellar Author Mansi Verma November 22, 2021 Read More
related post
Free File Recovery Software

How to Recover Lost Files after System Restore in Windows 11?

Stellar Author Mansi Verma November 22, 2021 Read More

Stellar Official Website

Stellar Data Recovery Inc.
48 Bridge Street Metuchen,
New Jersey 08840,
United States

ALSO AVAILABLE AT

Partner Logo

About

  • About us
  • Career
  • ISMS Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • License Policy
  • Refund Policy
  • End User License Agreement

RESOURCES

  • Blog
  • Articles
  • Product Videos
  • Knowledge Base
  • Case Studies
  • Whitepapers
  • Software Catalog

NEWS & EVENTS

  • News
  • Events

PARTNERS

  • Affiliates
  • Resellers
  • Distributors

Useful Links

  • Contact Us
  • Support
  • Special Offers
  • Student Discounts
  • Awards & Reviews
  • Downloads
  • Store
  • Sitemap
Follow Us

tw in yt

Stellar & Stellar Data Recovery are Registered Trademarks of Stellar Information Technology Pvt. Ltd. © Copyright 2022 Stellar Information Technology Pvt. Ltd. All Trademarks Acknowledged.

Hippa Logo tuv footer partner logo DMCA.com Protection Status
We use cookies on this website. By using this site, you agree that we may store and access cookies on your device Read More Got it!