Fix Files Missing From External Hard Drive but Still Taking Up Space

“I am using an external hard disk of 1TB on my laptop. There were lots of files saved on that hard drive. But, now I am not able to view any content because of some issue. When I check the properties of the hard disk, it shows 600 GB is filled and 400 GB is empty. Then, I realize those files missing are from the external hard drive but still taking up space on the hard disc. Even, I tried all kind of option to open these files but still, I am not able to view. These contents are important to me & I don't want to lose anything. Please suggest me any reliable solution to view the files disappeared from the external hard drive.”

Does the above-mentioned query seem familiar to you? Are you also suffering from the same problem? If the answer is yes, then you are at the right place. We are here to guide you thoroughly regarding how to recover missing files and reasons behind files missing from the external hard drive and how can you view the disappeared files which are still taking up space.

Reasons Behind Files not showing on External Hard Drive?

1. Virus or Malware detection
2. Emptying the Recycle Bin
3. User Account Erasure from Drive
4. File deletion through Command Prompt
5. Deleting Large Files that bypass Recycle Bin

How to Resolve External Hard Disk Files and Folders Disappeared Error

There are three manual solutions to fix the files missing from external hard drives but still taking up space issue. Here we will describe them in detail:

1. Display Hidden Files on Windows 10, 8 or 7
2. Take an Ownership of the Drive-in Permission Settings
3. Check Drive Errors and Repair Them

Method 1: Display Hidden Files on Windows 10, 8 or 7

To display the disappeared/missing files, you can use CMD Prompt:

1. First of all, type cmd in the Windows search box.
2. Then, right-click on the Command Prompt & select Run as administrator option.
3. Now, determine the hard drive on which files are hidden.
4. If it is a D drive, then type attrib -s -h -r /s /d *.* 
5. Finally, press Enter key to display disappear files from the external hard drive on Windows 10, 8, 7 etc.

Method 2: Take an Ownership of the Drive-in Permission Settings

1. First of all, right-click on the hard drive that you want to take ownership of, then select Properties option from the drop-down menu.
2. After that, click on the Security >> Advanced from the Advanced Security Settings >> Owner >> Edit >> Other users or groups.
3. Now, under the Object Types, uncheck everything except Users, then click on OK button.
4. Then, click on the Advanced >>  Find Now button.
5. Under the Search results, click on the username that you log into windows, then click on OK button.
6. Now, you have to verify the correct username in the Object window, & then click OK button.
7. Next, click the checkbox next to Replace owner on sub containers and objects.
8. Then, You will see a warning message "All permissions will be replaced". Now, click on Yes to continue the process.
9. After that, a status window will display that file permissions being rapidly replaced.
10.  If you are getting an error message "Access is denied". Then, don’t worry, just click the Continue button.
11. Finally, click OK on the final Windows Security message to fix the files not showing in external hard drive issue.

Method 3: Check Drive Errors and Repair Them

1. First of all, type cmd in the Windows search box, then right-click on the command Prompt & select Run as administrator.
2. Now, on the command window, type chkdsk g: /f (g is the drive letter of your external hard drive, so you have to replace the drive letter with the corresponding drive letter of yours).
3. Finally, click on Enter key then chkdsk will start checking your corrupted hard disk and then resolve the corruption on the hard drive.

Method 4: By Using trouble-Free Solution

There are three manual solutions explained above to resolve external hard drive shows used space but empty folders problem. But because of a lengthy procedure, this might eat up a lot of time and they are not recommended as well. Sometimes, they fail to find errors in hard drive and repair them. In such scenarios, the commercial solutions work best. One of the best alternate solution advised by the experts is SysTools Hard Drive Data Recovery tool. This solution can easily retrieve the missing files from external hard drive and if there is any corruption found in hard drive then it is the best solution to remove errors and recover the hard drive also.

The Final Words

The write up discussed all possible reasons and their solutions to resolve files missing from the external hard drive but still taking up space issue on the hard disc. But as it is very much clear that a commercial solution is very effective as compared to manual methods to troubleshoot this external hard disk files and folders disappeared problem in a very simple way. So, most of the users use the professional tool for the better result.