Easy Three Steps to Recover Data from Seagate External Hard Disk

It’s easy to recover data from Seagate external hard disk with the right tool. Just to learn the best way to help you to perform Seagate external hard disk data recovery in this tutorial.

By @Lora Last Updated September 13, 2024

“How can I recover data from Seagate external hard drive”

“How do I recover data from a Seagate external hard drive? Is it possible through some data recovery software? Or is it advisable to get it done through experts? I don't know whether I deleted them by mistake or for other reasons that led to the loss. I have lots of important files in it.”

Seagate is a well-known storage device manufacturer noted for its hard drive and SSDs. Seagate has surely become a household name among external hard drives due to its speed, convenience, and capacity. However, data loss is an unavoidable part of using any storage device. To perform Seagate hard drive recovery, you can find available backup files or use professional data recovery software to get lost files back

The reasons for Seagate external hard drive data loss

Data loss from a Seagate external hard drive or any other storage device can occur for a variety of reasons. Customers frequently lose vital data from their Seagate external hard drives as a result of unforeseen events. They are primarily categorized into three categories:

Logical failures. It refers to both file and drive errors. The data of the Seagate external hard drive would be lost by accidental deletion, virus attack, formatting, bad sectors on the hard drive, and power failure when transferring data.
Physical damage. The external hard drive would be corrupted due to some physical causes, such as dropping, overheating, water damage, and improper handling. Usually, it needs a data recovery service to recover data from this kind of Seagate external hard drive for professional help.
Mechanical errors. The external hard drive would have a mechanical error when you start hearing some weird noises from your external hard drive, such as clicking, grinding, or screeching. Before mechanical failures stop you from getting access to the files, backing up the vital data to another secure place.

 

Three steps to perform Seagate external hard disk data recovery

For logical problems, it is the best way to use reliable data recovery software to recover data from the external hard drive before the data are overwritten. There are too many data recovery tools in the market, but how to choose the best one?  Considering the success rate, scanning speed, and compatibility, it's recommended to use MyRecover

MyRecover is a professional and reliable data recovery program for Windows computers.  Developed with more than ten years of the R&D team, it shows a super high standard in data recovery. Even for those who are not tech geeks, it's easy to operate. The only thing you need to do is to download the software and select a location to start data recovery.

★Highlights of MyRecover
It can recover more than 200 types of deleted files. 
Scan the hard disk at a lightning speed. 
Recover data with a high success rate.
Support NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS in Windows 11/10/8/7 & Windows Server.
Download SoftwareWin 11/10/8/7/Server
Secure Download

Step 1. Download MyRecover and launch the program. Hover the mouse over the external hard drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan.

Step 2. The scanning process will automatically perform a quick scan and deep scan. Once you find the data you want during scanning, you could recover it as you need immediately.  

Step 3. After you select the deleted files from the Seagate external hard drive, you could click the button "Recover files" to set a destination folder to save the recovered data. 

Recover data from Seagate external hard disk via Windows File Recovery

Windows File Recovery app is an official data recovery for Windows, released by Microsoft in 2020. Except for Seagate external hard drives, it can recover data from memory cards, hard drives, and USB drives.

Currently, it only supports Windows 10 and above. As a command-line app, it requires users to have knowledge of basic computer literacy.  Firstly, you need to confirm the file system of Seagate external hard drive by right-clicking the partitions of the hard drive. 

It has four different modes for different data loss scenarios: Regular, Extensive, Signature, and Segment. You can choose one according to your situation. The basic command line is winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]. Follow the steps below to install and use Windows File Recovery

Step 1. Input Microsoft Store in the search bar. And then input Windows File Recovery in Microsoft Store. Click "Get" to install Windows File Recovery on your computer.

Step 2. Choose a recovery mode and switches.

File system Scenarios mode
NTFS Deleted recently Regular
NTFS Deleted for a while Extensive
NTFS Formatted disk Extensive
NTFS corrupted disk Extensive
FAT and exFAT Any Extensive

 

Switches Meaning Supported mode(s)
/n Filter the scan range: scans for a specific file with its file name/path/type, etc. All
/y: Recovers specific extension groups. Signature
/k Recovers system files. NTFS Segment​​​​​
/segment Segment mode; recovers files under NTFS drives using file record segments. Segment
/signature Signature mode; recovers files under all file system types using file headers. Signature
/u Recovers undeleted files, for example, from the Recycle Bin. NTFS Segment

Step 3. Here is an example to see how to use Windows File Recovery correctly. You deleted a file named “paper” in D: drive 2 weeks ago, and you want to have it recovered to F: drive. Then you can input this command in Windows File Recovery: winfr D: F: /extensive /n *paper*

How to prevent data loss for an external hard disk?

Though data recovery software could help you to recover the data from Seagate external hard disk, it's most important to prevent data loss for the external hard drives in the future. The data recovery tool couldn't guarantee a 100% recovery success rate. Pay attention to the following useful tips for prevention.

  • Partition the external hard drive to store data in different parts. You could use the freeware-AOMEI Partition Assistant to manage the partitions easily. It may reduce the risk of data loss in the entire external hard disk.
  • Double-check the files before deleting and formatting. It’s better to double-check the data stored in the external hard disk before deleting or formatting or transferring the data to another place first before operations.
  • Back up data. It’s a piece of cake if you have a backup of important files when you lost them due to unknown reasons. You could back up the data to another storage device or use a professional backup tool-AOMEI Backupper to back up the data according to your needs.
  • Use anti-virus software. Regularly detecting the external hard disk could stop the data loss in the external hard disk from viruses or malware attacks.

How to fix Seagate external hard drive not showing up or detecting on PC?

After you plug the external hard drive into the computer, you couldn’t find it in This PC/My Computer. How to recover Seagate external hard drive? The first thing is to check it in Disk Management (press Win+R and input “diskmgmt.msc”). The following methods may help you to solve the problem.

Make sure it’s plugged in and powered on

This could be a quick and easy approach to see if your Seagate Hard Drive is connected. Simply connecting the external hard drive to your computer does not mean that the connection is established.

Try another USB port or computer

If your external hard drive isn't being detected even though it's attached to your computer through USB, try connecting it to your computer with other USB devices.

Update the driver

The most prevalent cause of an unrecognized hard drive is driver issues. Go to the start menu and search for "device management" in the search box. Expand the disk drive and "Universal Serial Bus" in the device manager, and see if your hard drive is listed there. If the device displays an error, right-click on the driver and select "properties" to remove or update it.

Enable & Format the Drive in Disk Management

If your external hard drive shows in Disk Management, you could check whether it is online or formatted. To enable the drive if it is offline, right-click on it and select "Online". When you right-click on the disk and select "New Simple Volume," the drive will be formatted. If you choose format, you should make a backup of your data because it will be erased.

Conclusion

It's not the end of the world if your external storage device crashes or stops storing your files. You could rely on professional data recovery software to perform Seagate external hard drive recovery. If your partitions on an external hard disk are lost, you could perform external hard drive partition recovery easily with AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.

Of course, the most important is that you should back up your Seagate external hard drive regularly, regardless of how good it is, because the data on the external hard disk is crucial to you. To safeguard the data on your Seagate external hard drive, you could try the rapid backup program AOMEI Backupper.