Question Changed the cable I used for my external hard drive. Now windows is telling me I need to format it.

[Bazallworks]

As title, I changed the USB cable as I found the original (it was a split cable with 2 USB ends so I assumed that would work better), but now windows is throwing a fit and saying it needs to be formatted to work.

I've used the same cable and ports I was using before but now the problem isn't going away, please help! I've tried to run recovery software and it can detect the files that are there but I can't actually fix the problem!

 

[fzabkar]

Can you show us the Partitions window in DMDE?

https://dmde.com/

You might also examine the SMART report with a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo. Look for reallocated, pending or uncorrectable sectors.

https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

I can't see how the cable was responsible for this problem. It looks more like the drive was not ejected safely.

 

[jojesa]

As title, I changed the USB cable as I found the original (it was a split cable with 2 USB ends so I assumed that would work better), but now windows is throwing a fit and saying it needs to be formatted to work.

I've used the same cable and ports I was using before but now the problem isn't going away, please help! I've tried to run recovery software and it can detect the files that are there but I can't actually fix the problem!

Improperly pulling out the USB drive or a power surge could have caused corruption of the sectors.
Do not format the drive.
Power off the computer, disconnect the USB drive, power on the computer and connected to another USB port.
Try connecting the USB drive to another computer and change the drive letter.

If you see the files and can access them, copy them to another drive ASAP.

 

[Bazallworks]

Can you show us the Partitions window in DMDE?

https://dmde.com/

You might also examine the SMART report with a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo. Look for reallocated, pending or uncorrectable sectors.

https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

I can't see how the cable was responsible for this problem. It looks more like the drive was not ejected safely.

Not sure if this is what you want but here you go

https://imgur.com/CBXwxMB

View: https://imgur.com/CBXwxMB


Seems a very weird coincidence, not had this issue ever until i changed the cable, had this drive without issue for nearly a decade (yes, I'll be buying a new one once this is sorted!)

 

[Bazallworks]

Improperly pulling out the USB drive or a power surge could have caused corruption of the sectors.
Do not format the drive.
Power off the computer, disconnect the USB drive, power on the computer and connected to another USB port.
Try connecting the USB drive to another computer and change the drive letter.

If you see the files and can access them, copy them to another drive ASAP.

No luck with other usb ports, but I'll try another computer when I can!

 

[fzabkar]

If you d-click the $Noname01 volume and expand the $Root, you should see all your files and folders.

There isn't enough information to determine why Windows thinks that the drive needs to be formatted, so I can't suggest a simple fix. Normally I would have expected a missing or damaged boot sector, but the "B" in the Indicators column (EBCF) is telling us that this is not the case. If the NTFS metafiles had been damaged, then I would have expected the volume to be detected as "raw".

In any case, you can use DMDE to recover your data to another drive. The free version can recover up to 4000 files from any one folder. The full version costs US$20.

 

[Bazallworks]

If you d-click the $Noname01 volume and expand the $Root, you should see all your files and folders.

There isn't enough information to determine why Windows thinks that the drive needs to be formatted, so I can't suggest a simple fix. Normally I would have expected a missing or damaged boot sector, but the "B" in the Indicators column (EBCF) is telling us that this is not the case. If the NTFS metafiles had been damaged, then I would have expected the volume to be detected as "raw".

In any case, you can use DMDE to recover your data to another drive. The free version can recover up to 4000 files from any one folder. The full version costs US$20.

Thank you for all of the help - I have a new drive arriving later today so I hope that all works!