My laptop keeps showing a "problem with this drive" message for a USB drive. When I choose "Scan and repair," Windows says it couldn't repair the drive, but running CHKDSK reports that everything is fine. I get the same result through File Explorer by opening the drive's Properties and using the Tools tab. I've tried all three USB ports on my laptop, but I don't have another computer available to test the drive. I'm not very technical and have already spent hours trying different fixes. What should I check next, and is the problem possibly with my laptop rather than the USB drive?
1 Answer
Don’t format or modify the USB if it contains files you care about. Avoid options such as Format, Initialize, Delete Volume, New Simple Volume, or converting the disk, since those could make the data harder to recover. Instead, open Disk Management with Windows key + X, then select Disk Management and look at the lower section of the window. Find the USB drive and note whether it shows a normal filesystem such as exFAT or NTFS, RAW, unallocated space, or something else. That information will help identify whether this is a filesystem problem, a partition problem, or a failing drive.
I’m not very familiar with this stuff—just to confirm, you mean I should avoid those options while checking Disk Management, not that I need to do anything beforehand? The error appears almost immediately, and the USB light is currently on. Should I safely eject it before opening Disk Management?