External Drive says "do you want to format,"... dont want to lose everything on it?

Question

I have an external drive with thousands of my pictures and a few home movies. lately when I plug it into my computer's USB it comes up with "do you want to format?" I am afraid to do so because I know usually this means you will delete everything on that drive. Any ideas on what I can do with it so I can get my files off? Thanks.

Answer 1

Open a command prompt window and type:

chkdsk /f [drive]:

Where [drive] is the drive letter of the external drive. This should scan the disk for file system errors.

Answer 2

Of course you don't want to format.

Have you been plugging in and out without going through the "safely remove hardware" process?

I found that although, theoretically, we should be able to plug and unplug a USB device like a lamp or hair dryer into a wall receptacle, it doesn't work that way. The computer seems to remember what you unplugged unless you "safely remove" it. I compare this to a "shutdown."

If you remember the last thing you removed from USB, plug it in and "safely remove." Then try your external HD.

If this doesn't work, plug it in, then open My Computer, click on the USB connection, and select Properties. See if you get any options like "what action to take."

Answer 3

Sounds as though you have a corrupt file system on your hard drive. Yes you are right, if you format you are going to lose everything. Look for a free (or pay for one) file recovery tool on the internet. It may not recover everything but should recover the majority of your files. Good luck.

Answer 4

usally when you get this from an external, you are putting it in a different port from the one that is normally used. when it comes up with the message, just click no. you can always burn the pics to a cd once you can get into it.

Answer 5

back it up to another external hard disk first