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Fixed Accidentally Converted External Hard Drive to ESD-USB

Wondershare Recoverit Authors

Jan 27, 2024 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions

Q: How to fix accidentally converted the external hard drive to ESD-USB?
“I usually perform every task by calculating the outcome, but recently I’ve followed a method which led me to a problematic situation. Recently, I used my 500 GB hard drive to create installation media for windows; this was to cleanly install windows to my laptop. Due to this, I accidentally converted my external hard drive to ESD-USB. I don’t know how to undo this task. I want solutions that are long-lasting, and I never have to face this error again. My hard drive is coming up as ESD-USB of 32 GB.”

It is quite obvious that a person can accidentally convert external hard drive to ESD-USB. Such mistakes are eager to occur when you are dealing with computers. Luckily, in this guide, you will have a facile solution to your situation. You have a total of three methods to get rid of this situation efficiently. Not only that, but you will also have the method to recover your lost valuable files due to this problem. Every question in your mind is answered in the guide; you just need to read the guide with concern. Make sure you follow every one of the method step by step.

Part 1: Recover files after converting a drive to ESD-USB

There is nothing to worry about if you have accidentally converted the external hard drive to ESD-USB. A lot of people create a windows bootable drive by using some tools like Microsoft Media Creation Tool. Many users have reported that their external hard drive has been converted to ESD-USB after this method. This trouble is prone to occur when you create this installation media. Users also report that they are unable to find their original data stored on this drive; this is the prime reason that users ask about methods to recover lost files and folders from the drive. Well, you can surely recover your data from your drive by using Wondershare Recoverit software;

Recoverit

Recoverit data recovery is remarkable enough to recover more than 1000+ types and formats of data. It can support different types of file systems like NTFS, FAT, HFS + APFS with no data and no charge. Recoverit can recover data from almost any of the storage devices used in the 21st century. It can recover data from USB, Hard drive, SD card and many other storage devices. Recoverit for windows is widely known software all around the world. You can also run the software on Mac operating system and it surely has one of the highest data recovery success rates in the industry, it can recover data from almost any lost scenario. The software has an easy interface for the people who are new to computer. In fact, there are very few steps to be followed. Use these steps to restore your files and folders from the converted external hard drive, make sure you follow every step properly;

Step 1: First of all, you need to download Wondershare recoverit on your computer and install it properly. Once the software is installed, launch it by clicking on the icon. Make sure that you have connected the hard drive properly with your computer.

computer-data-recovery

Step 2: Once you’ve opened the application, the steps are easy and simple after that. You need to select the drive under the “devices” option in front of you. Make sure you select the external hard drive which you previously converted to ESD-USB. Once you have recognized your external hard drive. Click on the “start” tab to move forward.

Step 3: Once you have pressed the tab of “start” the software will start the deep scanning process for your external hard drive. You can even either pause or resume the scanning process. Recoverit is widely known for its deep scanning feature.

computer-scan

Step 4: The scanning process will surely take some time. After the process has been properly completed, you will be able to preview all the data you had lost when the hard drive was converted to ESD-USB and found after the deep scanning process. You can preview multiple types of data, may it be videos, pictures or audio. Furthermore, you need to select the button of “recover” to enable the final and the most important part of recovering process. Recovery time of the data will depend upon the size of the data on the external hard drive you have connected. After it is recovered you can save your recovered data at the location of your choice.

photo-preview


Part 2: Fixed: Converted external hard drive to ESD-USB mistakenly

Now that you have recovered your valuable data, it is time for you to fix your external hard drive. In this section, you have three easiest methods to fix your external hard drive. All you need to do is to follow every method properly till the end;

Method 1: Check and fix errors

First of all, you need to connect your external hard drive to the computer and check if it appears in the Windows Disk Management window. In case, the drive doesn’t show up in the disk management window, you need to click the action tab and choose Rescan disks. Moving on, you need to open command prompt as Admin and enter the command: chkdsk X: /f, the letter “X” should be the letter of your external hard drive. Once you have entered the command, press enter. Entering this command will allow you to check the drive for the errors and fix them all automatically. After you have followed all the steps, you need to check again if you can witness the full capacity of your external hard drive. If no, you need to jump to the next method.

rescan-disk

Method 2: Create a new partition

If you have tried the previous method and it didn’t work out. You need to create a new partition to sort out your problem. As you have already recovered your precious data, you can fearlessly create a new partition while keeping this windows restoration partition. Follow the steps to do so;

Step 1: First of all, you need to open the windows disk management window.

Step 2: Furthermore, right-click the unlocated disk space and then click New simple volume option.

Step 3: Moving on, choose the “Next” button and type the amount of MB you want to use from unallocated disk space to create the new partition. Once it is done, you need to click “Next”.

Step 4: Choose any of the drive letter for you partition and click “Next”.

format-partition

Step 5: Now, type in a volume cable and check the perform a quick format box.

Step 6: After clicking next, your task is completed.

Method 3: Format it to NTFS

If both of the above methods are ineffective in your scenario. The last thing you can do is to format the external hard drive to NTFS. Many users have reported that after they have accidentally converted external hard drive to ESD-USB, the drive shows up as RAW. You need to format it to NTFS to solve your problem.

format-to-ntfs


Conclusion

External hard drive is surely sensitive storage media. You need to take actual care of it whenever you have it around. Apart from it, you need to perform every task precisely to avoid any troubles. It is better for you to follow all the methods mentioned in the guide; you never know which one can work out for you. Before performing all the task, you need to make sure that you have recovered all your valuable data from the external hard drive.

Recoverit author

Theo Lucia

chief Editor

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