6 Methods to Fix You Need to Format Disk in Drive Before You Can Use It

Summary: Error message such as “You need to format disk in Drive before you can use it” is kind of annoying problem when you plug the external disk or USB pen drive with the computer.

 

Download for PCDownload for Mac

It disables you to access the files in your drive, however, never hit Format Disk. This article will provide you with massive reasons into why not and best solutions on how to fix external hard drive asking to format error without losing data.

Reasons Why External Hard Drive Says It Needs to Be Formatted

The external hard drive is a device with portable storage with relatively high capacities, can be plugged into your computer or thru FireWire for wireless connection. It is often used to back up especially large size files. Like any other removable device e.g. USB flash drive, pen drive and SD card, external hard drive when usually forcedly unplugged from the computer without using Safely Remove Option causes the device being corrupted and unreadable or disk management displays file system as RAW.

Other Reasons for You need to format disk in Drive before you can use it Error

• Virus attack
• Bad sectors in the external hard drive
• Abrupt power outages while the external hard drive is working
• File system not recognized by the target environment e.g. Windows

A simple reminder: Upon unplugging your external hard drive using Safely Remove Option, a warning message will pop up “This device is currently in use. Close any programs or windows that might be using the device and then try again”, do it and once done restart your computer.

Why formatting is a No-No when prompt with You need to format disk in Drive before you can use it Error

Please don’t be anxious when you receive this error message. With no second thoughts, formatting your drive should never be your first solution.  Never risk the important files in your external hard drive by proceeding to format procedure. If you do, you will see zero files in your external hard drive and that should not happen.

The smart choice is to recover your data first with Bitwar Data Recovery. Later, fix the device by formatting as your last resort when other options won’t work.

Now, here are the options we are talking about that you can try. Simply follow these easy methods provided for you.

Plug in your External Hard Drive to other USB ports

Sometimes, the blame is on the USB port. You can try all the available USB ports on your computer because it might be corrupted. Check if the error message appears, if yes, proceed to next.

Restart your PC

Reboot your computer and plug in your external hard drive again. Your PC might have experience malfunctions. If the error message persists, go on to the next.

Plug in the external hard drive to another PC

Let us just verify if your computer is the real villain. If your external hard drive is functioning, then fix your computer.

Run an Anti-virus software to scan your drive

As mentioned above, the real culprit might be virus attacks. Run anti-virus software to scan the drive. Kill the virus once detected and retry to plug in your drive. If the error message still pops up, go to the next method.

Use CHKDSK or Check Disk Utility to check your external hard drive for issues

Take note of the drive letter in the error e.g. “You need to format the disk in drive H: before you can use it, do you want to format it”. Your external hard drive letter is H. Right click on the Start Menu and select Command Prompt or type “cmd” and hit Enter to run it as administrator. In the popup command window, type “chkdsk drive letter:f”, since your drive letter is “H”, then simply type “chkdsk H:f” and hit Enter.

The windows will start repairing errors and damaged files. After that, try to plug in your external hard drive, consider restarting your PC. If you encounter the message “the type of the file system is RAW, CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives,” we’ll move on to the promising solution – recover your data.

Recover data with Bitwar Data Recovery software from not formatted external hard drive

Here is the quick guide in using Bitwar Data Recovery:

Step 1. Just download and install the Bitwar Data Recovery by in Windows or for Mac. Then click Launch.

Download for PCDownload for Mac

Step 2. Launch the software and select the external hard drive to recover your files and go Next.

Step 3.  Choose the scan mode and select the file(s) you wish to recover. Click Next.

Step 4. The scanning percentage will appear in the software window including the estimated time remaining. There is also an option where you can click the pause or stop button and preview while scanning when the files you wish to recover are shown in the software window.

Select the file(s) you need and hit Recover, a window message will appear, click OK.

Save your recovered files to another safe partition in your PC or other external storage devices, window message will pop up confirming that you have successfully recovered your selected files.

Steps to Format the External Hard Drive after Data Recovery

Now that you have safely saved your recovered data to another location, you may proceed to the formatting process when options provided did not work out.

Here is a quick guide to follow:

Step 1. After plugging in your external hard drive to your PC, go to My Computer right click and press Manage and proceed to Disk Management.

Step 2. Right Click your External Hard Drive and select “Format”.

Step 3. Choose the file system that suits your drive: NTFS/exFat. Type the new name of your external hard drive in the partition label. Then proceed to format procedure.

Your external hard drive just completely finished formatting procedure and ready to be used again!

Conclusion

The very core of this article is to emphasize that it is not recommended to format your disk right away when You need to format disk in Drive before you can use it error appears. Eventually, you will lose your data if you do. Always make sure you have backups.

Moreover, consider other options provided to you and have hopes that one will work out. Nevertheless, as amazing as it is, Bitwar Data Recovery has the power to restore your data in your unformatted external hard drive and this recovery software has so much more to offer.

Download Bitwar Data Recovery and learn more about it to address your issues when need arises!

Download for PCDownload for Mac

Further information for Reading

1. Best Solutions to Fix Windows was Unable to Complete the Format
2. How to Recover Accidentally Deleted Files with Bitwar Data Recovery
3. How to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive
4. 7 Solutions to fix USB Device Not Recognized Error in Windows