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Help - Test Disk is taking forever to scan my external hard drive
Posted: 11 Aug 2020, 21:28
by Tallmale
Hi everyone,
I started scanning my 1 TB imeoga external hard drive yesterday and I left the computer on all night so that it could continue scanning. The scan has continued all through today but it has only managed to scan 21%?
Does anyone know why it is scanning the external hard drive so slowly? And is there anyway to speed the scan up?
It also has a read error displayed on the scan as well.
The reason why I am scanning is because I mistakenly unplugged my imeoga external hard drive from my computer without safely ejecting it and ever since my Windows 10 computer does not recognize it and I cannot access the drive.
I do not need to recover any files from the external hard drive. I would just like to reformat it and to be able to use it again to save new files.
Many thanks
Re: Help - Test Disk is taking forever to scan my external hard drive
Posted: 11 Aug 2020, 22:21
by recuperation
Testdisk does not provide you with a function to format drives.
It somehow appears pretty strange what you are doing.
Re: Help - Test Disk is taking forever to scan my external hard drive
Posted: 11 Aug 2020, 23:17
by Tallmale
Hi there,
I assumed that you had to scan the damaged external hard drive before it could be repaired?
If I want to repair the external hard drive what would be the best way to go about it? I would just be happy with a blank External Hard drive I could use again. I am not bothered about recovering any files.
Many thanks.
Re: Help - Test Disk is taking forever to scan my external hard drive
Posted: 11 Aug 2020, 23:59
by recuperation
You cannot repair hard drives that have hardware issues with software tools.
Re: Help - Test Disk is taking forever to scan my external hard drive
Posted: 12 Aug 2020, 00:11
by Tallmale
Thanks I did not know that.
How can I repair this external hard drive then? Is it possible? Or should I just throw it away?
Re: Help - Test Disk is taking forever to scan my external hard drive
Posted: 12 Aug 2020, 17:31
by recuperation
You can't. Yes it is possible. Ask a professional lab. Ask your manufacturer. Pay 4 digit USD prices. Throw it away if you don't mind others recovering your data.
Re: Help - Test Disk is taking forever to scan my external hard drive
Posted: 12 Aug 2020, 18:23
by Tallmale
Thanks but why do you say that this external hard drive has hard ware issues? It was not dropped or damaged physically. I just pulled out the usb cable before properly ejecting it as I should have done and it is this that has led to the drive not working.
Re: Help - Test Disk is taking forever to scan my external hard drive
Posted: 12 Aug 2020, 18:37
by recuperation
Tallmale wrote: 11 Aug 2020, 23:17
Hi there,
I assumed that you had to scan the damaged external hard drive before it could be repaired?
If I want to repair the external hard drive what would be the best way to go about it?
Tallmale wrote: 11 Aug 2020, 21:28
It also has a read error displayed on the scan as well.
I don't know if your drive is dammaged.
You stated that.
Re: Help - Test Disk is taking forever to scan my external hard drive
Posted: 02 Oct 2020, 17:59
by Coripe
If your case is that your disk in raw format is not recognized by the system, use a tool to format the disk. Install the utility in your system

will recognize the damaged disk and can reformat it. Of course the files on the disc will be lost, but I understand that this is not relevant to you. May I suggest Niubi who has a free app. Good luck!
Re: Help - Test Disk is taking forever to scan my external hard drive
Posted: 03 Oct 2020, 07:36
by recuperation
I don't understand the added value of a commercial product when formating a drive compared to formating with Windows!