4 Ways to Fix the Parameter is Incorrect in External Hard Drive

"How do I fix the incorrect parameter on my external hard drive? Every time when I try to access the hard drive, it always tells me the parameter is incorrect. There are so many important files in the external hard drive. I really need to make it work urgently."

When you search for with the keyword "external hard drive not accessible the parameter is incorrect" you can see other people have the same problem as well. It will result in 2 problems: drive is inaccessible and you can’t view and copy files from the external hard drive at all. To fix the problem, you need to learn the possible reasons that caused the parameter is incorrect on external hard drive.

• Virus attack or malware causes the external hard drive not accessible the parameter is incorrect.
• You ejected the external hard drive improperly or you removed the external hard drive without ejecting it.
• Your computer powered off before ejecting the external hard drive.
• There are bad sectors.
• The file system is corrupted.

Here are 4 ways to fix the problem of parameter is incorrect.

Solution #1. Run CHKDSK to Repair Disk Errors

CHKDSK is a built-in Windows tool for checking and repairing file system errors and bad sectors on a hard drive. The parameter is incorrect to issue generally is caused by logical errors. Here are the steps for how to fix parameter is incorrect on external hard drive with CHKDSK.

1. Connect your external hard drive, the one you can’t access with the "the parameter is incorrect" error.
2. Open the command prompt: In Windows 7, type in "cmd" in the start box, click Enter, and click "cmd.exe". in Windows 11 and 10, press the Windows and X button and select the Command Prompt
3. Next, in the Command Prompt window, type "chkdsk F:/f /x /r" (please note that the F means the driver letter of your external hard drive. It is not F, replace it with the right one). After then, click Enter.

Wait for the repair process to finish. After that, try to open your external hard drive.

Solution #2. Run SFC Scan

If you failed to use CHKDSK to repair your computer system, you can try another built-in feature: SFC, namely System File Checker, to scan your system and repair the missing or corrupted system files.

1. Press the "Windows and Q" button to start the search bar.
2. Type in "cmd" and right-click on "Command Prompt", selecting "Run as Administrator".
3. Type "SFC/scannow" in the window and click "Enter" to repair the parameter is incorrect external hard drive.

If the SFC scan finds problems with the system files, it will ask for Windows installation DVD or USB installation media to fix it. You just need to follow the wizard to fix it. When it finished, restart your computer and connect the external hard drive again.

Solution #3. Make use of Anti-virus Software

Virus attack and malware is another reason causing "the parameter is incorrect external hard drive". If the above mentioned 2 ways do not work, try to use security software, especially anti-virus software tool. Let it scan your external hard drive, finding problems, and fix the parameter is the incorrect error for you.

Solution #4. Format External Hard Drive

If the above mentioned solutions can’t solve the problem of the parameter is incorrect on external hard drive, the last resort is formatting the external hard drive to fix the error, making it work again. However, the formatting will erase all files from the external hard drive. It means you will lose the files. In this case, you need to do the formatting carefully and use iBeesoft Data Recovery to get back the files before the external hard drive formatting. Here are the steps.

1. Click the DOWNLOAD button to get the best external drive recovery software on your computer. Install it and run it. There are Windows and Mac data recovery version. Please select the right version for your computer.
Download for Windows Download for macOS
2. Launch the data recovery software and please select the fixed external hard drive as the target hard drive to scan. And then, click "Scan" to do external hard drive data recovery. It starts to scan the external hard drive right away. And there is a progress bar telling you how it goes on with the scanning process. Be patient and wait for it to finish.
3. When the scanning process is finished, you can see all found files are put into the file categories on the left side. You can select the file type on the left side, and preview the found files on the right side. When finding the files lost due to the external hard drive not accessible the parameter is incorrect, selecting them and click "Recover" to save them on your computer.

Finally, after ensuring that important data has been recovered. You can right-click it and select "format". Confirm the operation and format your external hard drive. In this way, the drive can be used normally.