How can I get into my external hd without formatting?

Question

Suddenly I can't open my external hd because I get a pop-up window that says "Drive is not formatted. Would you like to format it now?" Of course I click "no" but then I can't open it. I've done complete virus and malware/spyware scans and had that taken care of thinking it was that, but why would it suddenly need formatting? And what do I do about everything that is in it? Everything important is in that drive. It was supposed to keep everything safe if the computer crashed.

Answer 1

A damaged File Allocation Table can cause the issue you are describing. This is not easy to solve, but can be.



Search for a program called Data Recovery Wizard that is made by EASUS. This program can see the files on your drive, even if the FAT table is damaged or gone.



- The program cost from $80 - $100.

- It takes days for the recovery to run, and then you still have to sort through hundreds of files to find the ones you want to keep.

- I have been successful in recovering all the lost files from 3 of 4 drives where I have used this program. The fourth drive was physically dead, and even this program could not see it, so there was no way to recover the data.



If you do not want to try this on your own, but need to get the data back, I would be willing to run the recovery for you, using my program, for a reasonable fee. If interested, we can talk about it.

Answer 2

Try accessing it in Safe Mode...



On start up (before Windows loads) keep tapping either F5, F8 or F10 (be aware that some manufacturers use F8/F10 for system recovery) then use arrow keys to highlight 'Last known good configuration' hit Enter/Return, click on a user account, enter the password (if you don't know it, there probably isn't one so leave it blank) and hit return/enter.



© arou42

Answer 3

well there is several things that it could be. one is the cable correctly plugged in? has any of the bios settings been changed?