External HDD not unmounted properly and now not working correctly

Question

I recently gave my external HDD away to a Windows user and now I can't write anything to it nor read files on it, but it still shows folders and filenames in the file manager. I think he did not unmount the drive. I would just format it, but I want to keep the Data and I can't copy anything from it. What should I do?

Possible: https://askubuntu.com/questions/47700/fix-corrupt-ntfs-partition-without-windows — Terrance, Dec 18 '17 at 17:31
Possibly your friend had activated fast boot, so that Windows did not really shutdown but wrote a hibernation file hiberfil.sys. How to remove this file from Linux is described for example (here)https://www.howtogeek.com/236807/how-to-mount-your-windows-10-or-8-system-drive-on-linux/. — muclux, Dec 18 '17 at 17:57

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 19 '17 at 18:41

1

He likely had "Fast Start' enabled. Thus the drive is hibernated.

If you have a access to a Windows computer, start Windows twice with the drive plugged in, then eject it before turning off Windows.

edited Dec 19 '17 at 18:41

Zanna

70,465

answered Dec 18 '17 at 17:55

ravery

6,874

Thanks that helped! now i can read and write again to the drive :) – Jay Dec 19 '17 at 16:28

External HDD not unmounted properly and now not working correctly

1 Answers1