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Cant open external hard drive

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2 replies

by ablaze7 1 view

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

every time i open the drive it keeps saying to format the drive,
for sure i don't want to that.

How can i access my files without formatting the drive?

its a seagate external drive

help.....

2 replies

by seanferd

If you have been using this previously, then the drive's filesystem is corrupted. Did you disconnect it without stopping the drive first (e.g., Safely Remove Hardware in Windows)?

Whatever, repost your question in Q&A for a better shot at answers. Include responses to my comments, and any relevant information like what OS you are using.

Try reposting this in the 'Q&A' forum. The 'Discussion' forum is for matters of general discussion, not specific problems in search of a solution. The 'Water Cooler' is for non-technical discussions. You can submit a question to 'Q&A' here:

https://www.techrepublic.com/forum/questions/post?tag=mantle_skin;content

There are TR members who specifically seek out problems in need of a solution. Although there is some overlap between the forums, you'll find more of those members in 'Q&A' than in 'Discussions' or 'Water Cooler'.

Be sure to use the voting buttons to provide your feedback. Voting a '+' does not necessarily mean that a given response contained the complete solution to your problem, but that it served to guide you toward it. This is intended to serve as an aid to those who may in the future have a problem similar to yours. If they have a ready source of reference available, perhaps won't need to repeat questions previously asked and answered. If a post did contain the solution to your problem, you can also close the question by marking the helpful post as "The Answer".

by thmiuatga

Actually you are being asked if you want the drive to be formatted. The system is not reading the data which tells me that the FAT (File Allocation Table) is damaged. There is a program I use for this called Zero Assumption Recovery that is used to scan and recover the data. The result is much better if your data is contained in folders and I hope yours is. Even if you had formatted the drive, you could still recover the data by using this program. The trial version will allow the recovery of 4 folders at a time but the purchased version gives you full unrestricted recovery. Good Luck!

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