Home > Questions

Can I Recover Missing File When It Failed to Be Moved From the PC to an External Drive?

I tried to move files to an external hard drive but not all were transferred and now we can't find them on either the computer or the external. Can they be recovered?

Best Answered by

iBoysoft author Anna Yuan

Anna Yuan

Answered on Wednesday, May 31, 2023

It's probably because the transferring process has been interrupted suddenly due to some physical reason, such as a low battery or loose USB cable. If you haven't overwritten the files on your computer or the external hard drive after the interruption, you'll still get a chance to recover those files.

To get your files back, you can use iBoysoft Data Recovery for Windows to help you. This powerful app is able to recover deleted files or photos on PC and external storage devices. Now, do the following to retrieve your data:

Step 1: Free download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Windows on your computer.

Step 2: Insert the external hard drive into your computer and launch the data recovery software.

Step 3: From the main interface, select the Data Recovery module to start the hard drive data recovery.

Step 4: Select your external disk and click Next to start a quick scan. You can also use its deep scan mode to find your desired files, which should take a longer time.  

Step 5: Then filter the scanning results and preview your wanted files after the scanning process finishes. Select the specific files you want to recover, and click the Recover button.

Step 6: Save recovered files to a different healthy drive.

If you can't recover any files from the external hard drive, then try to repeat steps 4 to steps 6, but this time select your Windows PC's internal hard drive and try to recover files from it.

If unfortunately, the files can't be recovered either from the computer or the external hard disk. Maybe you've overwritten those files on the computer, or formatted the drive. If those files really matter to you, you can go to a nearby data recovery lab for help, which may require an expensive service fee.

People Also Ask

Read More Questions

Read More Advice From iBoysoft's Computer Experts

the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable

The File or Directory Is Corrupted And Unreadable? Try These Fixes!

When the external hard drive becomes inaccessible on Windows 10/11, it may say 'The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.' This post provides effective methods to fix the error.

Data Recovery Tips

External hard drive not accessible Windows 10

[Solved] How to fix external hard drive not accessible in Windows 11/10/8/7?

Meet external hard drive not accessible in Windows 111/0/8/7? Here is a detailed tutorial to fix external hard drive not accessible and recover lost data from inaccessible external hard drive.

Data Recovery Tips

How to Recover Files From a RAW External Hard Drive

How to Recover Files From a RAW External Hard Drive - 2022

Read to know why your hard drive turned RAW and how to recover files from a RAW external hard drive on Windows PC. You'll also learn how to fix the RAW external hard drive without losing data.

Recover Raw Drive