External hd says it needs to be formatted

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rheemixed

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Jun 2, 2010
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Hello,

I hope this is the right place to ask. Apologies if it isn't! Also, I saw this question asked pretty frequently, but while I did search for an answer, it seemed everyone recommended a different solution, so I figured I'd just ask here to get the final word.

My external HD, an ADATA SH93, won't open, and it keeps saying that I need to format it. I backed it up this morning at home, but I've done a lot of work since then, so there are a few very important files that I need on the drive.

I tried various USB ports, and I've tried connecting it to a different computer, but it still has this problem.

I think the problem occurred because I DC-d the USB without ejecting it first (I was really late to class, and the drive wouldn't eject even after I closed EVERY open program). However, even after I DC-d without ejecting, I managed to use the drive 2 times without any trouble.

How can I go about recovering my files and fixing my HD (preferably for free)? I'm not very tech-savvy so please explain it in layman terms. Appreciate the help, and happy Thursday!
 

rheemixed

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If I format won't I lose my files?

Sorry for being unclear. What I mean is I pulled the usb connection on my external without "safely removing hardware and ejecting media"
 
Ejecting media from a hd???

Anyways, yes you'll lose your files if you format, but you just said you backed it up this morning. Any new files from today you can put on a cd or flash drive.

How old is it? Have you attempted a disk cleanup or defrag? Are you able to run manufacturer diagnostic tools on it?
 

rheemixed

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Sorry if this is a silly question but how would i save my work from today somewhere else? The only place it is saved is on the external hd, which i cannot access.

Hd is one month old. I am not near a computer now so I'll try your suggestions when i get home. My computer isnt able to access anything about the drive though, not even how much space it has. Would it be able to defrag the drive?
 

rheemixed

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Hi

I was going to use testdisk, which i believe is a partition recovery tool. However it was going to take several hours and the ui was a bit intimidating for a noob like me.

If thats the best solution, i will give it a try once i get home. Thanks
 

alohascott

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That sounds good, just make sure its going to recover your partition and not the data only.

at least at first.

if you use a data recovery program it could take longer and leave you with a bunch of files and folders that are not named correctly.

The partition recovery will try to restore the drive to its previous condition.
 


Sorry if this is sillier, but how did you save your work to it if you cannot access it???
 

rheemixed

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Was working on stuff, saved it, closed everything, went off to lunch, came back to do more work, and then started having problems.

Haven't had a chance to try any of your solutions yet. Will update when i do. Thanks everybody
 


You must not have read it very cleary then.

First he said it wouldn't open, then he said it wouldn't eject media, hd's don't eject media or open.

Second he said he backed it up this morning, but he was afraid to format it because he would lose his data.....huh?

3rd he said he was unable to access the drive at all, yet he saved work to it....huh?

Then he used DC'd as an abbreviation of "disconnected", which sorry, I'm not a psychic text abbreviator.

I'll just back out of this thread and let the psychic friends network continue helping you.




 

tamell

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Sep 30, 2012
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Hi,

You need to format your hard drive in order to use it further. But don't worry you can recover files from formatted hard drive by using a tool called Hard Drive Recovery. Last time when I too faced the similar situation, I was able to restore formatted hard drive data by using this tool. I hope this may help you in this situation. You can find both Windows and Mac supported edition of this software.
For more details visit: http://www.****/mac-file-recovery/recover-files-from-formatted-mac-volumes

That link is either down, or you screwed it up. there is nothing to identify the name of the site, or the type of server it is (best way I can describe it (.com or .ca or whatever...))
 
G

Guest

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Actually what he says makes perfect sense. Any USB external hard drive (hd) should be safely ejected before pulling the USB cable out so yes quite clearly you can and do dismount/eject the hard drive on conclusion of use in order to prevent corruption. This is done due to the fact that the external drive may be running background processes etc and to just pull the cable out whilst processes are running can and will sometimes corrupt the drive.

In this case he is quite clearly saying that unfortunately he didn't safely eject the hd and instead pulled the cable out and now unfortunately it won't open, therefore he can't open the work he'd just previously saved/backed up. Plain as day. No need to get arsey or short with someone who is clearly just trying to sort out their problems geekapprovec, you clearly don't know much about computers if you don't know about safely ejecting hds!
 
G

Guest

Guest
alohascott and sidmanny are definitely right in what they say, the best thing to do (other than trying it with another machine just in case it's your computer on the fritz and you'd be surprised how often doing that works) would be to attempt to recover the lost data. You can try doing this without formatting the drive first or if it still forces you down the road of having to then just use the quick format option. When you're about to try to recover the data, like alohascott and sidmanny said always make sure to recover the partition as well as the data.

Here's a link to a free program from Softpedia which is meant to be really good from what my colleagues have told me and from reading the site info': http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/MiniTool-Power-Data-Recovery-Free-Edition-Review-200343.shtml

Can't promise it will work but at least there's a chance now you can get it back.
 

knotsmoke

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Jun 4, 2013
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yup agreed we do have some completely stupid people here, ony USB devise especially a hard drive should be ejected... i have my 3tb toshiba external down for the same reason the loose jacks on my laptop disconneted it and now it wants to be formated. just after 90 gigs were put on it while i was at a lanparty so i need thedata. anyone know a way to fix the boot sector i think thats what goes bad mostly? dealt with it before but forgot how
 

Havok63

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I stumbled on this post to and I agree with Sarimasu> geekapproved what a lol. I read opening post and understood everything. It could not be clearer. You just wasted posters time making him have to re-explain a perfectly clear question. Your name is geekapproved and you don’t know what DC-d is hahaha
Use the latest “ASEUS Data Recovery” or “Partition Magic”
 

SmokingJesus

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Sep 2, 2013
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first off he did say External HD; which in turn means its connected via USB, and in which means he would have to Dc (standard Abbreviation for "Disconnected" in the computer world) .

2. yes he backed up the E-HD but he didn't want to format it because the formatting process would take that E-HD back to square one and he wouldn't have any of the information he wanted anymore on that E-HD it's self. granted it may have been backed up on his pc/laptop but that isn't where he wanted it in the first place let alone where he wants to access it from.

3. his E-HD worked at one point and now its running into confliction errors, thus its not opening when he clicks on it and it just asks for him to format it, the drive registers and error and that's y it wants to be reformatted, but just because that drive wants you to do that does not mean its your only option.

4. this guy whom im quoting and replying to is nothing but a trolling pc idiot, don't listen to any of these kids replies lol.

5. as far as the drive goes, try right clicking and run it as administrator, sometimes that can get you into the drive, if that doesn't work right click it > properties > Driver Tab > Update drive or Scan Driver, either of those should help you access it, if it still gives you trouble there are a few free programs out there that will help you recover your drivers information that's stored on it.
 

MidnightDistort

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I'm actually having a similar issue except the external drive was used as an internal. Didn't have any problems with it until i tried hooking up the drive in an external enclosure. Works fine on my gaming desktop but for the regular desktop i use it says it needs to be formatted. Same with hooking it up to my laptop. Is there a chance there might be something to do with the security settings on Windows 7. The drive was originally used on Vista (go figure) and when i threw the drive in my gaming desktop i had to change the permissions just to get access to the files.. i'm not sure if my hard drive is locked and will only work with the desktop i got it to work with or what. I will later try SmokingJesus's suggestion to see if that works any.
 

rondabrown02

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Dec 8, 2013
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When external hard drive asks for format, it is most likely that it is corrupted. To fix it, you may try this step by step tutorial: http://goo.gl/mIOJLp

Another thing you can try is to check whether hard drive is infected by virus, this is because that sometimes virus may cause external hard drive logical table to be corrupted which may cause system to show the message. So you may try to scan the hard drive with anti-virus software, Microsoft security essential is good
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-SG/windows/security-essentials-download

You may also try AVG free, Notorn or McAfee
http://free.avg.com
http://www.norton.com
http://www.mcafee.com

If the hard drive does not show up as a drive letter, you may go to device manager and then assign a drive letter to the external hard drive
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-sg/windows/change-add-remove-drive-letter#1TC=windows-7
 
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