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External Hard Drive with no File system [Solved]

Anonymous User - Latest answer on Nov 6, 2012 04:37PM
Hello,
Hi, I have a Maxtor OneTouch 500GB external hard drive that unfortunately has no File system. The drive registers under Device Manager, but not My Computer or Disk Management, and therefore has to letter assignment.
Does anyone know how to load FAT32 onto this disk? If not, any file system will do.
Thanks so much in advance,
Jake
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66 answers
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I have a wd1600 bev passport external hard drive. I have a lot of pictures on it of my son. I went to use it today and nothing. It showed up in my computer but everytime i tried to click on it nothing sometimes i would get format message and i clicked no.. i did the management disk thing and it looks like there is nothing on my external hard drive :( is there anything that i can do to get this pics back it is the only copy i have of them. I will need you to really spell it out for me because I am not that great with computer. I would like something free but if i have to pay I have to pay. These pics are priceless.. please help
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IF YOUR HARD DRIVE WAS WORKING BEFORE AND ALL OF A SUDDEN IT STOPPED BEING DETECTED... YOU NEED DATA RECOVERY SERVICE LIKE THE ONE LISTED BELOW...

IF THIS IS A NEW HARD DRIVE AND YOU'RE TRYING TO FORMAT IT FOR USE,,,
THEN TRY THIS:

1. RIGHT CLICK ON "MY COMPUTER", AND CLICK ON "MANAGE"

2. WHEN "COMPUTER MANAGEMENT" POPS UP, CLICK ON --> "DISK MANAGEMENT" ON THE LEFT pane.

--->> DO NOT DO THE WIZARD CUZ THAT MIGHT DEFAULT TO NTFS....!!!

3. Right Click on the Disk that's your External Drive (that you want to Partition and Format to FAT32)
-->CAREFULL YOU DONT CHOOSE THE WRONG ONE CUZ THAT WILL DESTROY THE CONTENTS AND YOU'LL HAVE A BIGGER HEAD ACHE ON YOUR HANDS.

4. MARK PARTITION AS ACTIVE

5. FORMAT to FAT32 (BTW, Dont make it a Dynamic Drive, thats for RAID use)

Good luck
-------------
http://www.EpicDataRecovery.com
Suren - Mar 22, 2009 04:13AM
Thanks................ It is working
John - Apr 23, 2009 07:14PM
Hello NickNYC,
Hope you don't mind me asking you this question. I have the same issue as well - it is a new hard drive & I need to format it before use. The trouble is, it has to be FAT 32 because I'll be using it with my windows PC as well as my apple Mac. Unfortunately, the only formatting option i get after following your steps is NTFS, but Mac doesn't support NTFS.

Is there any other way? By the way, its a LaCie Rugged hard drive, 250GB with USB & firewire interface.
Sorry about the trouble,
John
Bill0 - May 11, 2009 10:49AM
Download this free program and it will format a 1 TB drive to fat 32.
Bill0John - May 11, 2009 10:50AM
Download this free program and it will format a 1 TB drive to fat 32.




http://tokiwa.qee.jp/EN/Fat32Formatter/index.html
Jake Craik - May 12, 2009 10:46PM
Thanks, Bill0, that solved my problem.

I appreciate it.

Cheers,
Jake
artesinaBill0 - May 24, 2009 02:27PM
I have a big problem .
I have new hard drive wd500aakb never used (new) with nothing on it.
Whit external device usb adapter to ide (I HAVE A NOTEBOOK) WINDOWS SEE ONLY USB STORAGE DEVICE BUT NOT MAKE A LETTER ASSIGNMENT ON MY COMPUTER
On ubuntu somtimes make usb device but it is impossible to make the command fdisk (dont work)
What I can do?
I must format it on ext3 but if it is possible to see if it work on windows (and after after fat 32 or ntfs I can try with linux) it was good for me
What I can do?
I dont know english very well so please you a simple and step by step help if you can
Thx a lot
p.s:also my decoder where the disk was designed , it is impossible to format (impossible to inizialized)
Help hel please :(
Morpheus - Jul 22, 2009 11:26AM
Hi

I see two ways to solve that, a simple one and a bit difficult one.
Connect your external HardDrive to your PC. Open "Control Panel", then open "Administrative tools", then open "computer management", in there select "Storage" and "Disk Management".
Now you're seeing your Disks, Disk0, Disk1, etc this deppend on the number of disks that you have and CDRom etc.
They all have a color bar on the TOP, HardDrives have it on BLUE, and you connect USB drive that you say that windows does not recognize, showld appear with the top bar on BLACK, meaning that has no partition on it.
IF you DOT NOT HAVE ANY DATA TO RESTORE or UNDELET, becous this will DELETE anything on the drive, do as follow, select the Disk with the BLACK bar and on right-mouse click select "create Partition", "primary partition", maxim disk size to have all disk avaliable, and chose "NTFS" for disks with more than ~30GB or FAT32 to a Disk Size smaller than 30 and larger than 8GB etc... my opinion, let what windows decide.
Then chose a complete formate and wait.

This showld solve your problem :) any doubt or issue, please send e-mail, i sow your message shearching web and on the fly..

Hope to help
Lord Morpheus
redduck - Jan 11, 2010 09:08AM
hi,
I am having a WD320GB ext. HDD which has lot of fotos I need for work. Nevertheless suddenly the HDD is not visible anymore under my computer. however i can see it on disk management but i can not assign a drive letter to it and can not open it. Also on Disk Capacity it says 297GB and free space also 297GB.
I do need to recover my data if possible.
Please advise on steps to be followed in order to be able to save my data and recover my HDD for use.
Thank you in advance for your help
redduck
ZebedyBill0 - Aug 10, 2009 06:42PM
Billo, thanks that helped me out of a hole!
tigergrizBill0 - Sep 19, 2009 04:36AM
nice job Billo, the tokiwa fat 32 formatter program worked, i was afraid I would have to crack open the tower and connect as a slave but the formater seems to be working fine and the surpising thing for me was my usb drive did not show up in my comp. but the formatter has a drop down and you sure do want to choose the correct drive as it was defaulted to my "C" drive, this is great no cracking open the case and hooking up as slave just to format a drive, so freakin windows will see it as a drive via USB.
zahijaniBill0 - Feb 26, 2010 08:35AM
Thanks brother
..........................................................................
i like it
and appreciating you..........good work man.
subhron 1Posts Monday December 28, 2009Registration date - Dec 27, 2009 09:32PM
I have imac and I am using Maxtor 500GB external harddisk. I had formatted using apple Disk utility and it was working fine. But one day suddenly it stopped showing on the desktop and I am unable to access it now. I can feel the disk rotating and the light is on on the HDD. It used to flicker when it was accessible now the light is just on..

I bought this hard disk through ebay and now I find my self helpless. After seeing your post, I am hopeful of getting it back..
Pls help me in getting disk accessible to me.. I am using OS 10.6 (Snow leopard)

Pls help me
Thanks in anticipation

regards

Subhron
Raj - Oct 12, 2012 08:06PM
Dear sir, thanks so very much for your wise suggestion.I have successfully followed your steps and i would like to say from the bottom of my heart.......you are a saviour......your Indian friend.
zapot - Nov 4, 2012 09:41PM
THANK YOU!!! My Snuggy (my external drive's nickname) is now working properly.

Cheers!
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I have a seagate 250g external drive that i was extracting info from and then it stopped, and was not recognized by any computers, it shows up empty and only appears on disc managers, don't want to lose my info what can i do
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Same problem. New hard drive in usb enclosure does not show up in My Computer. Followed Nick's procedure and fixed the problem. Thanks Nick
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Hey guys need help, I have 3 TB running and everything was fine until I restarted and then they are detected and accessible but they the reading and transfer of the files is extremely slow like I mean 1-3kb a sec. instead of MBs so they are virtually useless, and I don't have any idea what the problem is? please help these drives are less than a month
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Plug it into your computer, then go to my computer. under devices with removable storage. right click on your external hard drive and go to format then under file system scroll down to fat32 and put it the name of your hard drive and hit start. good luck!
Jake - Dec 20, 2008 12:24AM
As for the first poster, it was a virus. Appreciate it, friend.

For the second poster, That strategy didn't work, because, like I said, it doesn't register under that menu. But, I had a friend fix it for me. My only problem now is that Windows won't format any drive over 40GB to FAT32... It only shows NTFS as an option. I need a good recommendation for a program that can do the format for me... ANy suggestions
Hackpc4lyfe - Dec 21, 2008 06:33PM
If it says NTFS that means that is a actual harddrive and if you will be using it for your xbox or computer it is better to do that because then you can reformat anytime and it doesnt have to be under 32 gigabytes. try that it should work
KewlraulJake - Feb 12, 2009 05:21PM
Jake, do you know exactly what your friend did to fix the problem you had with the drive not showing in Disk Management? I have an old IDE Maxtor drive with tons on it, so purchased an IDE to external USB enclosure. The drive shows up under Device Manager but not in My Computer OR Disk Management. No way to access it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

RJ
raje - Aug 20, 2009 03:42PM
hi frnd,

i think we got same problem with maxtor 500gb my disk is not visible anywhere except and device manager>usb controller. Did you get a solution.

Please update me if you fix this issue.

Thnks in advance

rajesh
Traveler32807Jake - Feb 13, 2009 03:06PM
Jake, what did your friend did to fix the problem you had with the drive not showing in Disk Management? I have an external Maxtor III drive which has this exact problem.The drive shows up under Device Manager but not in My Computer OR Disk Management. No way to access it. Any help would be greatly appreciated
rajeJake - Aug 20, 2009 03:39PM
jake please tell me what your friend fixed when the drive is not detected anywhere except at device manager usb controller.
VuJake - Nov 10, 2009 12:37AM
Hi Jake,

I have an 320 GB Comstar external hard drive. I stored all my important document and picture on it. Havn't use it for a while . Now when I plug it to computer, it is regconize under My computer as F drive but under Properties there is 0 Used space and 0 Free space. File system is nothing in 1 computer and RAW in another computer.

If you have anyway to recall the picture and documents it would be appreciated so much.

Can you please send me an email because I just got this on google.

Thanks in advance
LordMorpheus - Nov 11, 2009 06:51AM
Hello

1st af all, thats common to MAXTOR disk gain bad sectors just becouse they are without use for a while, and even with use, they usually get them anyway, most of the times about 5years of use.

2nd thing, if you really WANT to recouver your data inside the disk, please feel free and reply to me using this email, and i'll suggest some of the tools you could use to get it done.
If you don't want to recouver anything and just want to get it rolling on again, just FORMAT it, and after that run windows DISK tools.

Best Regards
Lord Morpheus
=)
dan - Nov 13, 2009 10:49AM
Hi, I have the same problem as the reader below. I am not an expert unfortunately. All i want to do is recover the data or at least what can be recovered. From what I understand the partition is lost or damaged but not sure. Any help to recover the data would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi Jake,

I have an 320 GB Comstar external hard drive. I stored all my important document and picture on it. Havn't use it for a while . Now when I plug it to computer, it is regconize under My computer as F drive but under Properties there is 0 Used space and 0 Free space. File system is nothing in 1 computer and RAW in another computer.

If you have anyway to recall the picture and documents it would be appreciated so much.

Can you please send me an email because I just got this on google.

Thanks in advance
ProgMan2LordMorpheus - Nov 25, 2009 06:14PM
Hello,

I recently read a post of yours in which you were discussing options for retrieving data from a failed Maxtor Drive. You mentioned that you knew of some methods for retrieval. I am very interested and would appreciate any information you could share. I have a Maxtor drive that had a damaged PCB. I think I had a bad power supply that caused a chip on the PCB to burn. It had just booted up into Windows when I smelt it burning so I pulled the power. After that, the drive would not power up. I found a PCB replacement online that completely matched the bad one. I replace the board and the drive now starts up. The bios recoginized it, but indicated a SMART error and would not boot to it. I placed it into an enclosure, but still did not have any luck. It was recoginized by the device manager, but did not assign a drive letter. I would really like to retrieve the data, but I don't know what to do? Do I have any options short of paying alot of money for professional data recovery?

Thanks in advance for your help.
ZaviausLordMorpheus - Dec 13, 2009 04:44PM
Hello I have a Western Digital Passport Essential 320 GB hard drive that I have had for some time. I never had any issues with it before.. Now whenever I connect it to the laptop it does not show under my computer, device manager, or computer management. When I first connect it the laptop attempts to install. There was no disc that came along with the hard from me to install. I am at my wits end, but I really need to recover these files. I can stand to lose them. Can you please instruct me on how I can be able to recover my files.
Thank you ahead of time for any help...
Zaviaus Smith
Zaviaus77Vero@aol.com
IAmMightyThorLordMorpheus - Dec 30, 2009 08:15PM
Hi Lord Morpheus.

I am have a drive which i need to recover data on. when i connect the drive to my computer via a usb to sata connector. the drive shows up in device manager as a USB Mass Storage Device. just as it should. how ever the drive does not show up in my computer or computer management. I have a program Urengent recovery pro which i have tried to use how ever the drive does not show up when i scan for it. the drive came out of a 2 TB western digital my book. before removing the drive from the enclosure i was having the same issue. i had hoped that using the usb converter would work. the drive is making a clicking noise and keeps trying to spin up. this to me seems like it may be the problem. can you give me your opinion. also i have tried to connect the drive into A mac laptop and recieved the error that the drive is not readable and was prompted to format it.

IAmMightThor
adityaLordMorpheus - Jan 6, 2010 01:05AM
Hi,

I have the same problem..
250 External Seagate harddisk, SN 2GE2781 when plugged to USB port its says "you need to format the disk in drive before you can use it"
It was working fine before....I want the data stored in hard disk back...
If go to to Start / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Computer Management / Disk Management
it shows F drive
Layout : Simple
Type : Basic
File System : RAW
State : Healthy (Primary Partition)
Capacity : 2GB (???..its 250 GB actually)
Free Space : 2GB(???)

LordMorpheus please suggest me some alternate softwares/solutions "2nd thing, if you really WANT to recouver your data inside the disk, please feel free and reply to me using this email, and i'll suggest some of the tools you could use to get it done"

Thanks in advance..

Aditya
AnMeLordMorpheus - Jan 15, 2010 10:01AM
Hello! I've done some research on my problem but nothing seems to help...!

I'm using a WD hard drive and it was working perfectly until I transferred some files from the hard drive to the laptop, and it rebooted suddenly (due to automatic updates). It was previously named "My Passport (E:)" and after the reboot, it changed to "Local Drive (E:)" and did not open since then. Under Disk management, the disk reads as Volume - E: , Status - Healthy (Active), Layout - Primary Partition, but File System is not specified. I'm looking for a solution where I can access the hard drive without loss of data. Unfortunately, this is the only back-up I have. Please help asap!!!
Jeff in CALordMorpheus - Jan 18, 2010 03:51PM
Lord Morpheus,
"if you really WANT to recouver your data inside the disk, please feel free and reply to me using this email, and i'll suggest some of the tools you could use to get it done."

This is what I really want. Please help! I'd much appreciate it. Thanks.
AnMe - Jan 18, 2010 11:08PM
Hello lord morpheus! Yes I really want to recover my files. Could you please suggest some tools? Iv already used cgsecurity.com, partition table doctor demo, easeus.com and recuva. It's a 250 GB WD harddisk. Under disk management, it shows 232 GB used (which is right), primary partition, healthy (active). No file system is specified here but under disktest scan and PTDD, it shows as FAT 32. I have tried ptdd's Fixboot (a solution suggested in many other forums in both auto and interactive mode) but it says boot sector not found. I'm not sure how these softwares can help me access my drive or recover my files. Should I try using rebuild partition or any other option? Please help!
rajLordMorpheus - Jan 22, 2010 06:38AM
sir,
I hav a maxtor basics 500 gb eternal hdd but it is not detecting ny where in the system neiter in device nor in disk manager..but i really need the data in the drive to be saved plz help.
LoLordMorpheus - Jan 25, 2010 11:04AM
Hey, I have 2 hard drives right now that i'm working with. I have both of them formatted in FAT32. I need to transfer all of the data from one hard drive to the other. The problem i may have is that one of them is formatted for a PS3. Can you help me either recover data from one, and transfer it to the other without disrupting or corrupting any other data on the other drive? Please advise. Thank you!
adriann 1Posts Friday January 29, 2010Registration date LordMorpheus - Jan 30, 2010 03:51PM
Hello, i need your help, i have external drive with 500 gigs, i had windows xp media center, then i uploaded to vista, my external drive worked on both, i removed the external drive because vista would not let my video card work in color. it only went to black and white. i got so fustrated i reformated my partition with clean install of xp svc pk 3 . that did not work, so i went to windows 7 and viola' it worked. the problem is that now my external drive keeps asking me to format. The drive letter is seen and there are no bangs in dvice manger. Not very many data recovery softwares are compatible with windows 7. can you help, i want my music and pictures. the rest i can do without. thanks
FelixLordMorpheus - Feb 1, 2010 04:21PM
Hello ,
I read your posting and need your help. I am in need of getting information in a hardrive that shows up in device manager but not under my computer. Help! Important to obtain the information in there. Thank you in advance for your help.

Felix
CherylLordMorpheus - Feb 19, 2010 10:22PM
hello there. I would like to restore the items in my harddisk. im using MAXTOR 500GB.
Desperately need the many data stored. Please help me out.
Everytime i plug in my hard disk, the computer doesnt seem to detect it.

thankyou!!! :)
boogieLordMorpheus - Feb 22, 2010 12:53PM
Hellp i had external hard drive that just went out on me i orderd a device that lets you hook it up to the computer but the computer still does not read it its asking me to format i dont want to lose the data thats on my drive do you know a way that i can retrieve my things?
stillyLordMorpheus - Mar 4, 2010 09:19AM
Hello.

I saw your post and I thought I would start with what you know.

I have a drive that was given to me for data recovery and it shows up under disk management as 73GB with NTFS file system and as healthy, but it does not give any drive letters assigned or allow me to access it through usb connection. I need to pull off a bunch of photos and then it can be tossed, but do you know of any disk program that might allow me to access it? I have just started looking for answers. THanks if you can answer this.
sadhuJake - Nov 19, 2009 11:47PM
FAT32 has an upper limit of 32,767 GB. Cannot have a larger drive. If you need larger, you must go to NTFS or else instal Linux.
dalfosenJake - Dec 7, 2009 11:18AM
Hello,

it's nice of you that somebody fixed your problem, but the way communities like these work is that you share your solution. What's the use of a thread when you try to get solutions from people, but as soon as you yourself have found the solution you keep it to yourself. All it leaves is an open thread with people like me looking for a solution to fix a problem just like yours, reading the whole thread just to find out you desided to keep the solution to yourself. Not efficient at all.

Greetings

daflosen
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+12
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Thanks Billo!!!!!!!! You saved me money! My external HD was bricked and this saved it!
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+10
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But I'm not using it for my xbox or computer, so like I said, I need to get it in FAT32...
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i have two harddrives i was installing os's on for my brother. i was putting xp pro on one and ubuntu on another. and both worked at one point. but i formatted them and tried installing these and it says not harddrive is inserted.... wtf do i do? and whats wrong?
jstme - Dec 31, 2009 02:39AM
Hey I just ran into this thread looking for a way to fix my issue of windows not seeing my hdd with no drive letter assigned.
I have " EASEUS partition manager" installed .free version
It allowed me to assign a drive letter without reformatting.
Hope that helps someone else.

have a blessed new year everyone
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WOW, nice job Billo the tokiwa fat 32 formater program worked, i was afraid I would have to crack open the tower and connect as a slave but the formater seems to be working fine and the surpising thing for me was my usb drive did not show up in my comp. but the formatter has a drop down and you sure do want to choose the correct drive as it was defaulted to my "C" drive, this is great no cracking open the case and hooking up as slave just to format a drive, so freakin windows will see it as a drive via USB.


thanks all.
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Hi,

I have problem i reinstalled Windows and now i use NTFS, but my old HD(MAXTOR) is on FAT32
and there are files what i need, so formating isn't the right choice, what to do then?
justlooking - Feb 20, 2010 11:43AM
From what i remember, Windows XP can still access HDD with Fat32 partition. Try connecting it first see if it will be detected. Cheers!
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My FAT 32 USB storage device has many files but refusing to open. What to do?
John Daly - Jul 28, 2010 06:23AM
You must have a valid backup of your drive which is the backbone of every hard drive owner incase of any data loss disaster.I think you should check your backup data first..
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I hope this helps you out i have just done my hard drive and this will work?

To create a new FAT32 partition or logical drive in Windows XP, follow these steps:
1. Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
2. Click Start, then right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.
3. In the console tree, click Disk Management.
4. In the Disk Management window, do one of the following:
o To create a new partition, right-click unallocated space on the basic disk where you want to create the partition, and then click New Partition.

-or-
o To create a new logical drive in an extended partition, right-click free space on an extended partition where you want to create the logical drive, and then click New Logical Drive.
5. In the New Partition Wizard, click Next.
6. Click the type of partition that you want to create (Primary partition, Extended partition, or Logical drive), and then click Next.
7. Specify the size of the partition in the Partition size in MB box, and then click Next.
8. Assign a drive letter or drive path to your new partition or logical drive, and then click Next.
9. Click Format this partition with the following settings, and then do the following:
o Click FAT32 in the File system box.
o Type a name for the volume in the Volume label box.

If you want, you can also change the disk allocation unit size, or specify whether you want to perform a quick format.
10. Click Next.
11. Confirm that the options that you selected are correct, and then click Finish.
The new partition or logical drive is created and appears in the appropriate basic disk in the Disk Management window.
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hey there,

just try to get a software called stellar phoenix fat32 ntfs creator and just run the software on your pc and after that your hard drive should be working fine.

but all depends on the degree on how much the hard drive file sytem has been damaged and sometimes you dont have any choice except than to reformat the drive.
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NickNYC & Dr Morpheus,

Thank you for helping *me* (a nameless lurker) with this same problem. I bought a 500GB SATA drive and PCI host card to add on to my 6-y/o computer, and though I was able to successfully install the thing (and see it in the device manager), it had no letter and therefore was useless.

It's currently formatting (59% done - golly but 500GB takes a long time to format!!) so I don't know for sure if it's going to work, but at least it's Drive F: now. Yay!!!

I have spent lterally weeks on this, learning how to FLASH my BIOS, mucking around with Driver Detective, installing, unistalling and re-installing the PCI card & drive over and over. Ugh! I was pretty sure I needed to format the new disk, but didn't know how to do it w/o a drive letter.

Thanks!!!!

Phil

(Now I can try installing the other 500GB drive into my wife's old Dell........)
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I have a 320GB SATA external hard drive. My friend installed Ubuntu OS in it. Now all of my files are gone. But that's not my prob. My problem is that, it can be detected by Windows but I can't see it on My Computer. It is also listed in the device manager. I can safely remove it, but there's no way I can't access it. Please help me with this.
jaomain - Dec 2, 2009 12:03PM
sakura-

Use explore2fs in Windows to explore your ubuntu files on linux partition. By default Windows
can't read linux partitions, so you can use that program I recomended above and you will have
access to your linux partition/drive.
Khiang - Jun 6, 2010 08:37AM
HI sakura
i have a problem with my usb flash , i cant format it
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I was able to reformat an HITACHI 500 gig external drive from my Bell 9242 PVR using disk manager by first deleting the existing partition and creating a new NTFS partition. It would seem I could have used Fat32formatter in the first place. It's formatting now. Thank You
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gman...There must be some hardware problem in your external drive either you may use any Boot DVD cd to fetch your data or use a data recovery software so that you can atleast save your precious data.I used Stellar Phoenix Macintosh Data Recovery program could atleast save your data.But you have not mentioned which OS the drive was..Stellar Phoenix Mac is meant for Mac OS X hard drives..
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you could try using a pc running xp and use a program called swissknife, that might help !
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Hey guys, I read this column and I almost have the same problem. I have a Transcend storejet 500gb external hdd. There's a backup button outside the hard drive which my nephew pressed. The storage left before he pressed that button was around 20gb. So I thought maybe after he pressed the button it overwritten my files hence the raw data output. And every time i connect my external hdd to my laptop, MyComputer freezes and the name Transcend (as its driver's name) is changed to Local drive. I followed the tips above by NickNYC and Bill0. I've already did 'marked partition as active' but i haven't formatted it yet.

My question is, do I have to backup this corrupted drive? Because I don't have another spare of spacious drive. And If I don't then I format it, do the files are still gonna be there?? or another recovery must be done??

PLS HELLLPPPP...sooo desperate here. :(((
Ambucias 9145Posts Monday February 1, 2010Registration date ModeratorStatus May 20, 2013Last seen - Nov 6, 2012 04:37PM
@Sassy_Angel

If you format, certainly that all data will be sent into deep space, that goes for all memory devices that are formatted.
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