Laptop won't open HDD

[Vegeta_08]

Hello,

I am attempting to view the videos from my surveillance camera on my laptop. I bought a HDD reader and have my HDD docked and connected to my laptop.

I cannot open the folder to view the files. At first the folder did not appear so I went into the cmd and assigned a letter to it. Now when I click the folder it says that I must format the disk before using it. But won't formatting the HDD erase all of my files? How can I view these files without formatting the HDD?

 

[popatim]

Where/What did the hdd come out of?

 

[Vegeta_08]

Where/What did the hdd come out of?

The hdd came out of a surveillance dvr. I bought a hdd reader that lets me dock it and connect it to my laptop via usb.

 

[popatim]

It sounds like the Surveillance systems did not use a file system that windows can read natively.
There are a few software apps that can add this functionality to windows. EXT2FSD, DiskInternals Linux Reader, and another one who's name escapes me (mainly because i never use it LOL)