[Fixed] Does Windows Scan and Fix Delete Files?

Need to know does Windows Scan and Fix delete files? Check the explanation here and get to know how to recover deleted files from scan and fix.

By @Lora Last Updated November 13, 2024

What happens when you scan and fix a drive?

Many users connect their USB flash drive, SD card, or other external hard drives to their computers to organize and manage their files stored on the external storage devices. Some of them formed a good habit of usage: connect and disconnect properly.

Here, by “properly”, we are emphasizing that one unplug an external storage device after clicking “Safe To Remove Hardware”.

However, considerable people never do this – they just directly unplug their devices.

Unluckily, it is not a good idea to unsafely remove a device because it might interrupt the read and write operation of the disk, and, cause problems, like corrupted SD card, USB, etc. And then you have to perform corrupted SD card recovery.

   
   
   
       

The "Scan and Fix" option deleted all pictures from SD card

       

I inserted the SD card into the laptop and it asked me to "Scan and Fix (Recommended)" so I did... after that, all of my pictures are gone. Does anybody happen to know why that happened?

       

- Question from SevenForums

   

“Scan and Fix” is one of the possible prompts that will appear when a device is not disconnected properly.

More specifically, if the system is still writing data to your plugged storage devices, then the abrupt disconnection may interfere with the write-in process, and dirty bits might be created, or bad sectors may come into being.

Then the operating system noticed that there might be some problems on the USB or SD card, and asked if you want to perform a Scan and Fix operation.

Will Scan and Fix drive delete files?

Then will the scanning and fixing process delete your files? This must be the question all users care about most. The Scan and Fix process will try to scan, detect, and fix the potential errors and bad sectors on the device.

When you choose to commence scanning, the CHKDSK will run in the background to search for possible problems, if errors are found, the process will fix them. The whole procedure won’t delete any files.

If you find your files were deleted, cannot open, or overwritten by files without extensions, it might have something to do with viruses. Viruses can delete and modify your file system, data, etc., sometimes hind your files.

Is it safe to scan and fix hard drive?

If you are now being asked by the error message “Do you want to scan and fix”, you might be wondering how to prevent your data from being removed and deleted. Then the suggestion is to choose “Continue without scanning”, before scanning, remember to back up your data.

But if you found Windows Scan and Fix deleted files from your hard drive, you need a professional data recovery utility to help you.

How to recover deleted files from Scan and Fix with a trusty tool?

No matter whether your valuable data is deleted by the Windows Scan and Fix or malicious viruses, retrieving deleted or lost files back by yourself would be fairly hard and impossible.

You might have learned that you could recover data from hard disk using Command Prompt, but as a command-line app, it is pretty difficult.

Not to mention rushed operations might do further damage to your precious data, causing data overwriting.

In this case, relying on a reliable data rescue tool is the most sagacious choice. Using powerful software, you could safely and easily get deleted and missing files back from Windows Scan and Fix.

MyRecover is such a tool that can free you from trouble and save your time & labor. Moreover, this tool can meet your demands in more data loss scenarios and aspects.

Let MyRecover help you
  • Recover deleted or missing files after disk formatting, virus attack, system crash, etc.
  • Get over 200 types of data back from HDD/SSD/USB/SD card, etc.
  • Recover deleted data with all original format/filename/path.
  • Support data recovery from Windows 11/10/8/7 Service Pack 1, and Server.
  • Scan hard disk very fast and restore data with a high recovery rate.
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Now please follow the steps below to start recovering deleted data from Windows Scan and Fix.

Notes:✎...
After losing data, please do not add any items to the affected storage device to avoid overwriting. 
Please connect your USB/memory card properly and carefully.

Step 1. Install and run the software > connect the external storage device if you have disconnected it > hover the mouse over the drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan.

Step 2. Scanning duration depends on the data size of the partition. During the procedure, you could preview or just directly choose files to recover.

Step 3. Head over to Deleted files and find the needed files. If there were no data detected, go to other missing files > select the files you want, for instance, Images > click Recover x files to get them back.

In this way, even data recovery from formatted hard drives will be an easy mission.

Related suggestion: minimize the data corruption and loss risk

This post gives answers to the question “Does Windows Scan and Fix delete files?”. And most importantly, how to recover deleted files from Scan and Fix has been introduced.

Apart from that, in case you might fall into the same dilemma in the future again, some related suggestions are ready for you.

  • When connecting external storage devices, plug them properly and gently.
  • Never unplug removable devices without “Safe to Remove Hardware”.
  • Keep the interface of the USB/SD card clean and tidy.
  • Timely back up the vital data to prevent possible loss.

AOMEI Backupper would be a good backup tool to help you protect your data.