Recently a lot of people run across the The request failed due to a fatal device hardware mistake bulletin as they attempt to admission or open an external disk or hard drive from their computer.

If you happen to be in the same boat, don't worry. Here are 5 fixes that have helped users resolve the event. But work your way down until you find the one that does the trick for you.

Table of contents

  • Fix i: Bank check hardware connectedness
  • Fix 2: Verify the SMART status
  • Fix iii: Update the deejay drive commuter
  • Prepare 5: Change the drive letter
  • Set up 5: Run chkdsk command

Prepare ane: Check hardware connection

This error could happen if the external bulldoze is non properly connected to your computer someway or other. And then information technology's important that you expect into the hardware bug first. Below is a couple of hardware troubleshooting steps you tin effort.

  • Re-plug in the external drive. Or, if you have a different port, switch to the unlike one.
  • Check to run into if the difficult drive connectedness cable is tight. If it'due south loose, tight the cable. If it'southward also old or broken, change a new one.
  • Try to connect the external drive to a dissimilar computer.

If y'all've tried the steps above and the fault indeed disappears, and then congrats y'all've resolved the problem! But if you lot have ruled out connection bug every bit the culrpit, delight try Set up ii, below.

Gear up 2: Verify the SMART status

SMART (Self-Monitoring, Assay, and Reporting Engineering) is a engineering found within HDDs and SSDs. It is used to monitor the health status of external drives. Since Windows has the feature built in, y'all can use it to analyze your difficult drive/SSD.

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo cardinal and blazon cmd. Right-click on Command Prompt as it pops up and click Run every bit administrator.
  2. Click Yes if prompted to give UAC permissions to proceed.
  3. In the Command Prompt window, type wmic diskdrive get condition and press Enter.
  4. You'll be returned 1 of the following analysis results:
    • OK. This suggests your external hard drive is in a healthy condition. You can follow Fix 3 to go on the troubleshooting.
    • Bad, or Caution. Your hard deejay is having an imminent failure. The fixes provided in this article may work for you; but if they don't, nosotros advise you that you have your hard drive to a maintenance store for repair.
    • Unknown. The control is having difficulty analyzing the status of the difficult drive. So information technology remains unknown whether your hard drive is facing an issue. If you suspect at that place is a potential failure with your hard drive, you can follow the fixes below to run into if they solve the problem. If it'southward no joy, we advise you that you take your difficult bulldoze to a maintenance store for repair.

Gear up 3: Update the disk drive driver

This problem may occur if you are using the wrong disk drivedriver or it's out of appointment. So you lot should update your disk drivecommuter to see if it fixes your problem. If y'all don't have the fourth dimension, patience or skills to update the driver manually, yous can do information technology automatically withDriver Easy.

Commuter Easy will automatically recognize your system and discover the right drivers for it. Yous don't need to know exactly what system your computer is running, you don't demand to exist troubled by the wrong commuter you would be downloading, and you lot don't demand to worry about making a mistake when installing. Commuter Like shooting fish in a barrel handles information technology all.

You can update your drivers automatically with either the FREE or the Pro version of Driver Like shooting fish in a barrel. But with the Pro version it takes just two steps (and you lot get total support and a 30-day money back guarantee):

  1. Download and install Driver Easy.
  2. Run Driver Easy and click theBrowse Now push button. Commuter Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.
  3. ClickUpdate All to automatically download and install the correct version ofall the drivers that are missing or out of engagement on your system (this requires thePro version – y'all'll exist prompted to upgrade when you click Update All).

    Note: You tin practise it for free if you like, but it's partly manual.
  4. Don't forget to restrat your estimator for the changes to take consequence.
  5. Check to run into if the The request failed due to a fatal device hardware error is resolved. If yes, then great! If the error persists, don't worry. Here are a few more fixes for y'all to endeavour.

Ready 5: Alter the drive letter

Every external disk connected to your figurer is assigned a drive letter. It is possible that there's a disharmonize with sure disks, which might preclude the system from accessing the data, hence the fault. So yous tin try assigning a different alphabetic character for your hard drive.

Hither are the steps:

  1. On your keyboard, printing the Windows logo primal and R at the aforementioned time to bring up the Run box, and so blazon diskmgmt.msc into the box and click OK.
  2. In Disk Direction, correct-click on the faulty bulldoze and select Modify Drive Letter of the alphabet and Paths….
  3. Click Change….
  4. Cull a different letter for your hard bulldoze, then click OK to confirm.
  5. Once finished, check if you lot can assess the difficult drive content properly.

Still no joy? Please move on to Ready five, below.

Set five: Run chkdsk command

The chkdsk command is a built-in Windows utility that scans the difficult drive for logical and physical errors and fix them if it finds any. So you should run chkdsk command to see if information technology helps mitigate the outcome.

"/f" is for fixing disk errors; "/r" is for locatingbad sectors and "/x" is for forcing the volume to dismount offset when necessary.

Here is how to do it:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo central and type cmd. Right-click on Command Prompt equally it pops up and click Run equally administrator.
  2. Click Yeah if prompted to give UAC permissions to keep.
  3. In the Command Prompt window, type chkdsk *: /f /r /x and press Enter.
    * represents the letter of the problematic deejay.
    The command will start to scan and repair possible errors.
  4. Once finished, restart your computer.
  5. Cheque to see if the error message is solved.

If all else fails, information technology's likely that your hard drive is experiencing some potentially serious damages. You'd better leave it in professional person hands to tackle the problem.

That's it – hopefully this post helped. If you have any questions, ideas or suggestions, you're more than welcome to leave us a comment below.

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