is my external hard-drive corrupt? or...

bigdan

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I was editing a txt file on my external E drive. when I tried to save it I got an error:

The operation could not be completed because the volume is dirty. Please run chkdsk and try again.

I ran chkdsk but it didn't ask me which drive to check, so while it's running right now that seems irrelevant.

Please advise!
 
Based on the information you have provided, it is impossible to tell what the real problem is, but there is is very likely problem that is not related to your external drive in any way.
Please provide more information
1. which drive it is, ie whether USB flash, HDD, SSD, etc
2. how it is connected to the computer, ie either directly, by wire, by some other method, etc.
3. How old this drive is, ie preferably the year of issue and the time used, everything what You know about it. Also, when it was last deeply/fully formated - it means not quickly formated etc.
4. it would be good to also know how it is formatted (is it fat32, NTFS, etc) and whether it is an active or passive drive (logical data drive) etc.
 
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/cant-run-disk-check-external-hard-drive-81424.html

Run CHKDSK From Command Prompt
If you're unable to run the disk check using the standard CHKDSK utility, you can run it from the Command Prompt instead. To open the Command Prompt, type "cmd" on the Windows 8 Start screen and click "Command Prompt." Type the following into Command Prompt and press "Enter" to run the disk check:

chkdsk /f E:

Replace the letter E with the letter corresponding to your external hard drive. If you're unsure of the letter associated with the drive, open File Explorer and look for the drive on the list of removable storage devices.
 
Based on the information you have provided, it is impossible to tell what the real problem is, but there is is very likely problem that is not related to your external drive in any way.

OK that's good news!

Please provide more information
1. which drive it is, ie whether USB flash, HDD, SSD, etc
2. how it is connected to the computer, ie either directly, by wire, by some other method, etc.
3. How old this drive is, ie preferably the year of issue and the time used, everything what You know about it. Also, when it was last deeply/fully formated - it means not quickly formated etc.
4. it would be good to also know how it is formatted (is it fat32, NTFS, etc) and whether it is an active or passive drive (logical data drive) etc.

It's an external HDD. Connected via USB.
I bought it last year but that was from Craigslist so it's probably much older.
No idea when it was last formatted. It's quite possible that when I got it last year I formatted it but even that I can't be sure of.
 
OK did so, Windows found no problems

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/cant-run-disk-check-external-hard-drive-81424.html

Run CHKDSK From Command Prompt
If you're unable to run the disk check using the standard CHKDSK utility, you can run it from the Command Prompt instead. To open the Command Prompt, type "cmd" on the Windows 8 Start screen and click "Command Prompt." Type the following into Command Prompt and press "Enter" to run the disk check:

chkdsk /f E:

Replace the letter E with the letter corresponding to your external hard drive. If you're unsure of the letter associated with the drive, open File Explorer and look for the drive on the list of removable storage devices.
 
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