Why does CHKDSK crash my system when scanning my external hard drive?

When I try to run CHKDSK on my external hard drive, it crashes my entire system. I suspect it might be due to corruption on the drive or hardware issues, but I’m not sure. Has anyone experienced this or know how to fix it? Any help would be great! :blush:

Hi @jacky_sin,

Have you checked our knowledge base articles?
(Support for Western Digital Hard Drives | Western Digital)

Have you opened a Support Case?
If not, contact Western Digital Technical Support for assistance.
[Contact Us | Western Digital]

Hey Jacky_sin

I have also faced similar issue in the past and as per my experience, it’s due to severe corruption or hardware problems on the drive. You can try connecting the drive to another computer to see if it still crashes. If it does avoid running CHKDSK for now as it worsens things. Instead, use reputed data recovery software to back up your files first. After that, you can try formatting the drive to fix any corruption. If the drive still acts up formatting, it could be a hardware issue as told you in the beginning and you should replace it.

  • Instead of running a repair, first check the drive for errors without making changes:

chkdsk X: /scan
Replace X: with your drive letter. If this doesn’t crash your system, the issue might be repairable. Also use tools like CrystalDiskInfo to check if the drive is failing.

  • You can use recovery tools (e.g., Stellar Data Recovery, Undelete, RecoverIt, and so on) to save important files before repairing

  • Boot into Safe Mode and type:

chkdsk X: /f /r