Question Recovering harddrive data after "You need to format this disk in drive [] before you can use it" error

[MarkeW]

Western Digital external harddrive gives this error when plugged into the computer. I've taken the HDD out and used a SATA USB cable and it gives the same error, as well as "The volume does not contain a recognized file system" error.

When trying to a disk check/error check, I get the "The disk check could not be performed because the disk is not formatted" error.

Any direction would be extremely appreciated to recover the data!

 

[USAFRet]

Put it back in the original enclosure.
Copy the data to elsewhere.
Then, do whatever...

additionally, what specific "SATA USB cable" ?

 

[MarkeW]

Put it back in the original enclosure.
Copy the data to elsewhere.
Then, do whatever...

additionally, what specific "SATA USB cable" ?

WEme USB 3.0 to SATA Converter Adapter for 2.5 3.5 Inch Hard Drive Disk SSD HDD from Amazon

The reason I took it out of the original enclosure was because I was getting these error messages, so I'm unable to even see the data.. I thought maybe the USB port was malfunctioning so gave it a shot through the USB. Still no luck.

 

[sitehostplus]

Western Digital external harddrive gives this error when plugged into the computer. I've taken the HDD out and used a SATA USB cable and it gives the same error, as well as "The volume does not contain a recognized file system" error.

When trying to a disk check/error check, I get the "The disk check could not be performed because the disk is not formatted" error.

Any direction would be extremely appreciated to recover the data!

My gut feeling is the drive somehow died on you.

About the only thing that can fix this is a data restoration service such as drivesavers. Unless you have a clean room and know how to do this stuff yourself.