How to Fix Parameter Is Incorrect External Hard Drive?

“The parameter is incorrect” error on the external hard drive may crop up out of the blue and makes your data present on the portable drive inaccessible.

The following possible causes are responsible for this error.

• Ejecting external drive incorrectly
• Sudden power surge while using the drive
• Virus infection
• Presence of bad sectors on the external drive
• Issues in the portable drive’s file system
• Faulty DBR, MFT, FAT

And, here are the solutions to solve the parameter is incorrect external hard drive error.

Solution 1: Run CHKDSK

If the parameter is incorrect error is generated by bad sectors, missing clusters, cross-linking files, file system, or directory issues, then running CHKDSK will surely fix it.

Caution: CHKDSK may cause data loss sometimes. So, first recover data from an external hard drive using solution 3 before running CHKDSK, if the files saved on the drive are important for you.

How to Run CHKDSK?

Windows XP:

• Go to Start
• Click on All Programs and then Accessories
• Right-click on Command Prompt
• Choose Run as administrator
• Type chkdsk D: /r (D is the drive letter of your external drive)
• Hit Enter key

Windows Vista/7/8/10:

• Choose Command Prompt (Admin) from the Start menu
• Type chkdsk D: /r (D is the drive letter of your external drive)
• Hit Enter key

Solution 2: Format External Hard Drive to Fix Parameter Is Incorrect Error

Note: Even formatting removes entire data present on the external hard drive. So, it is suggested to recover important files before formatting the external hard drive.

How to Format External Hard Drive?

• Go to My Computer (This PC is Windows 10)
• Right-click on the external hard drive which shows the parameter is incorrect error
• Select Format
• Choose file system, allocation unit size, and volume label
• Click on the Start button to format the external hard drive

Solution 2: Recover Data from External Hard Drive having Parameter is Incorrect Issue

Yodot Hard Drive Recovery is a professional data recovery software that can easily and quickly recover data from erroneous, inaccessible, RAW, corrupted, formatted external hard drives, internal drives, USBs, flash drives, media cards, etc. The software even helps in recovering deleted files from external hard drives on all versions of Windows operating systems like XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/Server 2003 and 2008.

Steps to Recover Data from Parameter Is Incorrect External Hard Drive:

Step 1: Download, install, and run Yodot Hard Drive Recovery on your computer

Step 2: Connect the parameter is an incorrect external hard drive to it

Step 3: Choose the Formatted/Reformatted Recovery option on the main screen of the tool

Step 4: Select the attached external hard disk

Step 5: Hit the Skip button and proceed

Step 6: Mark files to be recovered either in File Type View or Data View

Step 7: Preview media files if you wish

Step 8: Save recovered data on the computer