When a Windows user plugs in an external hard drive, the drive and any partitions it contains become visible in My Computer or Computer.

In some circumstances, however, the external hard drive appears but cannot be accessed; furthermore, when the user right-clicks on it and selects Properties, the disc displays as having zero bytes of both Used and Free space.

In most circumstances, the first thing a user who encounters this issue does is launch CHKDSK, a built-in Windows application that does a check of the hard drive for defects and bad sectors and attempts to repair them.

The Disk Check Could Not Be Performed Because Windows Cannot Access The Disk

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Method 1: Double-Check The Cable That Links The Computer And The Hard Drive.

An insufficient connection between your machine and the hard drive may be as simple as the source of the “The disc check could not be conducted because Windows cannot access the disc” error message.

If this notice appears when you try to run CHKDSK, you should first ensure that the hard disc in question is securely connected to the computer and that the cable connecting the two is in excellent working order.

Method 2: You Can Try Reassigning The Drive Letter For The Problematic Hard Disc.

The best solution that other people in similar situations have used to fix “The disc check could not be conducted because Windows cannot access the disc” error message.

message and get CHKDSK to work on the damaged hard disc by switching the drive letter assigned to it. Hard drives attached to a Windows computer are automatically labelled with letters of the alphabet, and users can alter the letters for any or all of their hard drives if they so choose. The impacted hard drive’s drive letter can be changed by:

Step 1: The Run dialogue box can be accessed by pressing the Windows logo key in combination with the letter R.

Step 2: Disk Management may be accessed by typing diskmgmt.msc into the Run box and hitting Enter to open it.

Step 3: Locate the affected external hard drive in your computer’s list of drives, then right-click it and select Change Drive Letter and Paths….

Step 4: Simply select the present drive letter allocated to the drive by clicking on it in the pop-up window, and then click the Change button.

Step 5: To change the drive’s assigned letter, click the down arrow next to Assign the following drive letter: and then click the letter you want to use.

Step 6: Then, you can proceed by selecting OK.

Step 7: In the window that appears, Change Drive Letter and Paths for X: (), click the OK button.

Step 8: Put an end to the Disk Management programme and reboot the machine.

To see if the issue persists after restarting the computer, try executing CHKDSK on the afflicted external hard disc.

Method 3: Possible Course of Action is To Have A Specialist Examine The Hard Disc.

If you’ve already tried both of those options without success, it’s possible that the hard disc is broken beyond repair or that there’s some other hardware problem at play. It’s time to send the hard disc in for expert inspection if that’s the case.

You should definitely send in the affected external hard drive and make use of the warranty if one is available.