Windows Setup asks where you want to put your new installation. This is where the reformatting magic happens. In order to “reformat” the disk, you will delete the existing partition(s) on the disk and let Windows Setup create new ones. The dialog box lists all existing partitions on the hard disk. In this example, you can see that there are. Jul 21, 2017 Fortunately, Windows makes formatting drives pretty easy. You can format a drive—and perform other functions like creating and deleting partitions—using Windows’ Disk Management tool. But if formatting is all you want to do, there’s an easier way. Open File Explorer to the “This PC” view so that you can see all your drives easily. Nov 19, 2020 4 Free disk formatting utilities for Windows 10/8/7. No matter why you need to format a hard drive in Windows 10/8/7, you can try the following 4 disk format tools. Since any data stored on the disk would be erased with disk formatting, please back up necessary files to ensure data security before going any further. Use Disk Management: open Disk Management select a partition of the external hard drive choose Format from the context menu follow the wizard to complete. Use diskpart.exe: run diskpart as admin type list volume and press Enter type select volume n and press Enter type format fs=ntfs quick and press Enter.
Languages: EnglishFrançaisEspañolPortuguêsDeutsch日本語
Summary :
If you are trying to access an external hard drive but are told that your external hard drive needs formatting, you are likely to find the best solutions here. MiniTool Power Data Recovery is the best way to recover data from not formatted hard drive. Then, you can format the hard drive without worrying.
Quick Navigation :
External hard drive is very useful when you want to copy large files between computers, or back up your important files like photos, videos, documents and other data. They typically have large capacities and can be connected to computer via USB port or FireWire.
External hard drives enjoy different forms, such as SSD, USB flash drive, Sony pen drive and so on, and vary a lot in their capacities from gigabytes to terabyte…However, you may see external USB hard drive not formatted error, saying you need to format the disk before you can use it; considering there are important files on the hard drive, you feel uneasy.
My Seagate External Hard Drive Shows Not Formatted
'So I have a Seagate 3TB External Hard Drive that all of a sudden tells me it needs to be formatted. I have 2.8 TB of files, pictures, videos and more on that drive with no backups of it anywhere. So basically, when it is plugged in, every 10 seconds or so it disappears and then reappears with this pop-up message: 'You need to format the disk in drive G: before you can use it. Do you want to format it?' Obviously I don't want to format it as that means I lose all my data…'
Phenomena: After you have plugged your external HD into a computer, you can’t open it to access the files because the Windows pops up an error message which reads “You need to format disk in drive before you can use it”OR “The disk in drive X is not formatted” (appear in Windows XP).
It seems that such kind of data loss problem happens every day in our daily life. In fact, not formatted error not only happens on external hard drive, but also appears on almost all storage devices such as HDD, SSD, USB flash drive, pen drive, memory card and so on. When not formatted error happens on those devices, Disk management displays their file systems as RAW and users are unable to access the drive in Windows.
Facing such situation, what should you do? Are you going to format the hard drive as you are told? Next, we will tell you more about external hard drive needs formatting.
Why My External Hard Drive Keeps Asking Me to Format It
Before we go to the solutions, we would like to show you the reasons that may lead to this error. In this way, you can avoid the improper operations to your external hard drive OR prevent the terrible things from happening. Below are the possible factors for external hard drive not formatted:
- file system is not recognized by Windows. For instance, file system is Ext 2/3/4.
- The external hard drive suffers from sudden power outage when it is used to transfer files or something else;
- The external hard drive is improperly pulled out or forced to pull out;
- The external hard drive gets virus attack;
- There are bad sectors in the external hard drive.
- …
External Hard Drive Needs Formatting? Not Now!
When running into external hard drive not formatted error, most users have such misunderstanding: they think they have to take Windows' suggestion and have to format the hard drive without other solutions. Because in their minds, only when they can open the external hard drive, they are able to access files stored on the drive.
The reality? It is true that formatting may enable you to regain the access to the external hard drive, but have you ever think about the consequence once you have formatted the external hard drive? Yes you will find no files on the drive after formatting.
Therefore, for those who have no backups, keep this point in mind: DO NOT FORMAT Creo pro 2 1 1 crack. your external hard drive before you take out the data in it. Formatting is a bad idea if the drive is failing, and that procedure means you will lost the file structure (folders, organization, file names…). As a matter of fact, the data in the external hard drive may get recovered as long as they are not overwritten. So remember the more changes you have made, the less chances you have for data recovery.
So how to fix the external hard drive not formatted error and recover data on the hard drive? Well, you need to use the software without altering the data on the drive or get it to someone who can help you out technically. And this article will show you what to do step-by-step.
Solutions to External Hard Drive Not Formatted
If you have not made a piece of backup, you'd better go ahead reading the following content. What should you do to recover data from not formatted hard drive without data backup?
You can try the following methods, maybe they will help you open your hard drive.
Solution 1. Try the Easy Things First
- Connect it to another USB port or another operating system and see if you can read the files.
- Take your chance to restart your computer and see if this way works for you.
- Run anti-virus software to check and kill possible virus on the external hard drive.
These may seem meaningless but sometimes they do help people get out of trouble. If no miracle happens, try the second solution.
Solution 2. Check Your Hard Drive for Errors
- At the Start button, click Run.
- Type “cmd” into the blank and hit Enter key.
- Type “chkdsk n:/f” (replace n with the true drive letter of the problematic partition) into the Command Prompt window and then press the Enter button.
- It will start repairing damaged files and you will see some of your filenames before it finally asks if you want to save lost chains into another location. Click 'Yes' just in case.
If CHKDSK can run this process normally, you can try again reading your external hard drive after restarting your computer. CHKDSK usually takes some time to fix the error, so please be patient. When it is finished, your external hard drive may become normal as before.
However, if you are unable to go through this process, and encounter the following message: the type of the file system is RAW, CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives, what should you do?
Any other tips for how to restore these files from not formatted external hard drive?
Solution 3. Recover Data from Not Formatted Hard Drive
If your external hard drive keeps asking you to format it after you have tried the above solution, you can download free MiniTool Power Data Recovery which is an excellent program that brings file recovery to Windows to have a try. This software works great on Windows 7/8/8.1/10, both 32 bit and 64 bit, and is able to recover the mainstream file types on audio, video, image, email, documents, etc. With this tool, you can easily get your inaccessible files out from unformatted hard drive (RAW drive).
Rarbg microsoft office. MiniTool Power Data Recovery composes of four data recovery parts, and they are This PC, Removable Disk Drive, Hard Disk Drive, and CD/DVD Drive. Before you choose any part to begin, you can move the mouse over them to identify whether the external hard drive appears for you to perform data recovery.
Follow these steps to recover data from not formatted hard drive:
Step 1. Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery, and then select 'This PC' as the RAW partition is shown there (shown as Unidentified). You should be able to identify the external hard drive which needs formatting, double-click on it.
Step 2. Then please wait for the scanning process to finish. The scanning time depends on the capacity of your data in it. When finished, Power Data Recovery will show you the files it has found in tree structure. At this time, you can check whether the files are the one you want.
Note: You can pause/stop the progress once you have found the lost files from the left catalog. Besides, you can press 'Filter' button to choose specific file types to be shown in the middle pane.
Step 3. In this step you are expected to tick the files you want, click 'Save' and then choose a safe location (usually it is another hard drive) to store all data you have selected. However, the Trial Edition do not support file saving. At this time, you need to purchase a license from official MiniTool.
At the end of the process, you can format the external hard drive by using Disk Management or MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition. Both are OK to help format your external hard drive. Their differences are the latter one offers more flexible features and is more user-friendly.
Run “diskmgmt.msc” to load Disk Management, then select the partition which needs formatting and choose “Format” from the context menu. Just follow the guidance to finish. (See Also: Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format)
In Partition Wizard, you have more file system choices. Click on the partition of the external hard drive which needs formatting and then choose 'Format'. Select the file system you want and click 'Apply' finally.
Why Some Files Are Corrupt after the Recovery
Sometimes, you may find out that you are unable to access the recovered files from not formatted external hard drive and Windows tells they are corrupted. You may wonder how it is corrupted because the last time you open it, it is in sound condition.
Here, we would like to inform you that MiniTool Power Data Recovery can only help you recover the lost files with their original states, instead of changing anything on them such as repair the corrupted files or destroy the files. That is to say, if the files Power Data Recovery recovered are corrupted, they were corrupted before the recovery due to some certain reasons before your external hard drive requires formatting. In this case, if the files mean a lot to you, then it is better to find a reliable data repair service to help you out - which is normally a huge expense.
Bottom Line
In this article, we mainly focus on how to fix external hard drive that saying 'external hard drive needs formatting'. Also, you may run into pen drive not formatted error due to the similar reasons. The good news is that Power Data Recovery is possible to recover data in all kinds of hard drives including the pen drive.
All in all, if the data in it is meaningless or you have backups, format it directly. If not, you should recover data from not formatted hard drive or turn to the other solutions offered in this post before formatting. If you have any questions while using MiniTool software, don’t hesitate to contact us via [email protected]. For any questions or suggestions, please leave us comments below, we read every thread.
External Hard Drive Needs Formatting FAQ
When you get a new external hard drive, you need to create and format new partitions on it to make it usable. When there are file system problems on the external hard drive, formatting is the best way to regain access to the partition.
Formatting will define the file system and cluster size of the partition. So, when there are file system errors, or you want to change the file system, or you want to change cluster size of the partition for extending purpose, formatting is the best way.
Formatting will not erase everything on a hard drive, it only removes the address table. So, when you format a partition in Windows, be aware that data deleted has the opportunity to get recovered by professional data recovery tools.
- Use Disk Management: open Disk Management > select a partition of the external hard drive > choose Format from the context menu > follow the wizard to complete.
- Use diskpart.exe: run diskpart as admin > type list volume and press Enter > type select volume n and press Enter > type format fs=ntfs quick and press Enter.
- Use MiniTool Partition Wizard: select a partition of the external hard drive and choose Format > choose a file system > click OK and Apply.
Ever seen “Windows was unable to complete the format” alert on your PC screen while trying to format a USB flash drive or memory card? We’ve got some actionable solutions right here. Read on for the details.
Once in a while, you’ll encounter “Windows was unable to complete the format” error message on your screen. When that happens, you don’t have to fret. That’s only too common, and it doesn’t mean your PC isn’t working alright. It does however mean something is wrong with the USB flash drive or memory card you were trying to format.
In this post, we’ve highlighted some possible ways to help you fix this error whenever you encounter it. Before we get to the solutions, let’s know the error and what causes it.
Why Can’t Windows Format My USB Drive or Memory Card?
Here are some reasons commonly associated with the “Windows was unable to complete the format” error alert.
1. Disk Bad Sectors
It’s possible that the USB flash drive or memory card you plugged into the PC has some bad sectors. You might want to fix that first before proceeding with formatting.
2. Virus Infection
Another probable reason your external storage device couldn’t be formatted is the potential for virus infection. Good antivirus software is all you need to fix the drive before proceeding with formatting.
3. Damaged or Corrupted USB Drive or Memory Card.
The previous infection by viruses or physical damage can compromise the integrity of your storage device.
4. Drive is Write Protected
Some flash drives and SD cards are write-protected. That makes formatting a little complex but not impossible. You can either choose to undo the protection or use third-party tools to override it then carry on with the formatting.
Now that you know all the possible causes of the error, what are the options available to fix it? Here are some solutions recommended by experts.
Method 1: Using Command Prompt Format
Top of our list of solutions is the command prompt. I guess you saw this coming. A command prompt is a very powerful utility feature that can be used to execute countless operations on your PC. Follow these steps to fix “Windows was unable to complete the format” error alert.
Tip! Note that you can do this with either command prompt or PowerShell.
Step 1: Click the start button or press the Windows button then type “Command prompt” or “cmd” or “PowerShell”.
Step 2: Right-click on the “command prompt” or “PowerShell” icon, then select “run as administrator”.
Step 3: On the command prompt window, type “diskpart” then press enter. That will take you to a list of all the disks or drives on your PC.
Step 4: Under “List disk” choose the offending drive from the list of available disks, for instance “select disk 3”. You can replace 3 with any number assigned to your target drive.
Step 5: Next, under “Select volume” choose the volume of the drive that you want to format. For instance “select volume 10” or whichever volume you want then hit “Enter”. The selected disk will be then formatted.
That’s all you need to do to get the drive formatted whenever you see “Windows was unable to complete the format” on your screen.
Repeat steps 4 & 5 if you wish to format a different drive or disk volume.
Step 6: Exit command prompt by typing “exit” then hit “enter”.
Tip! You can format a storage device to FAT32 or other file formats using this command: “format fs=ntfs quick”. Replace “NTFS” with your preferred file system e.g. “NTFS”, “FAT32”, “exFAT”, etc.
Method 2: Using Disk Management
Another excellent way to fix the “Windows was unable to complete the format” error alert is using the Windows Disk Manager utility feature. The tool gives you access to and allows you to manage different drives on your PC. Follow these steps to fire up and use the Windows Disk Management tool.
Step 1: Right-click on the start button then on the popup window, choose “Disk management”.
Step 2: A list of SD, USB, or hard disk drives on your PC will show on the screen. Select the one that shows “unable to complete format error”. Once you select the offending drive, you can choose to delete all its disk partitions, if there are any, so that you have a single volume.
Step 3: Next, right-click on the drive then choose “Format”. The selected disk or drive will then be formatted.
Tip! For drives larger than 4GB, select the NTFS file system. For drives with a capacity of up to 4GB, choose the FAT32 file system.
Method 3: Use the CHKDSK Command to Fix Soft Broken Channels
First, let me make one thing clear about “CHKDSK /R” and “CHKDSK /F”. These commands do the exact same thing; checking for disk errors.
However, unlike “CHKDSK /F” which only checks for bad disk sectors, “CHKDSK /R” checks for bad sectors and recovers any readable info.
Also, remember that running “CHKDSK /R” also executes the “CHKDSK /F” command by default.
This is not a formatting method. Instead, it is a way of repairing bad disk sectors that could be making it impossible for Windows to format the disk or drive. Meaning, after this process, you’re required to try formatting the disk again.
Here are the steps for using the “CHKDSK /R” command in Windows 10.
Step 1: Click the start button or press the Windows button then search “cmd” or “Command Prompt”. The Command prompt icon will then appear.
Step 2: Right-click on the command prompt icon then choose “Run as administrator” in the next small window. That operation will allow you to access the command prompt as the admin.
Step 3: On the command prompt window type this command “chkdsk C: /f /r /x” without the quotation marks then hit “Enter”. In case your drive C is “busy” (still in use), you can schedule a scan at the PC’s next restart. To do that, simply replace “x” with “y” in the above command.
Step 4: Wait for the repair process to be completed and all bad sectors recovered.
Step 5: Now try formatting the drive once again. It should go through effortlessly. If not, try the next method.
Method 4: Turn off Disk Write Protection
Write protected SD cards and USB flash drives cannot be formatted unless you remove the protection first or override the protection with third-party software. Here’s how you can use the Diskpart command line to undo disk write protection in Windows.
Step 1: Open the run window by pressing Windows + R keys together.
Step 2: In the run window type “cmd”. That will open the Command Prompt window.
Step 3: On the command prompt screen, type this command “diskpart” then press “enter”. Next, type the following command “list disk” and then hit “enter”.
Step 4: Next, type “select disk 2” (replace 2 with the correct number, depending on the number assigned to the write-protected disk), then press “Enter”.
Step 5: Lastly, type the following command and then hit “Enter”.
attributes disk clear readonly
That’s all! You just turned off write protection on an external disk.
Close the command prompt window.
Step 6: Go ahead and try formatting the disk again. It should go through. If not, try the next method for removing “Windows could not complete the format” error.
Method 5: Use a Third-Party Formatting Tool
If even after trying all the above methods the “Windows was unable to complete format” alert still appears on your screen, maybe it's time to seek the help of a third-party tool that is specifically designed to fix this error.
There are a couple of tools available. Here, we’ll only describe 2 of them; AOMEI Partition Assistant & EaseUS partition Master.
1. AOMEI Partition Assistant
Some of its popular disk management functions include partition resizing, moving, copying, merging, and of course formatting.
Here are the steps for fixing disk partition errors with AOMEI Partition Assistant:
Step 1: Launch the tool, then choose the disk and partition that you wish to fix.
Step 2: Right-click on the selected disk partition, then select “Advanced” from the dropdown menu. Next click on “Check partition”.
Step 3: You will also see some checkboxes. Choose the following option and then click “OK”.
Check Partition and Fix Errors in this Partition Using chkdsk.exe
All the errors in the selected partition will be fixed. Wait till the procedure is complete, then try formatting the disk again. It should go through much easier this time. If not, try using EaseUS Partition Master Software.
2. EaseUS Partition Master
A great disk management tool that’s available for both Windows and Mac OS users. The software is available in both free and premium versions. The free version does disk formatting seamlessly, so you won’t have to worry about upgrading to their premium package. Here are the steps to follow in order to format any drive using this tool.
Step 1: Begin by first launching the tool.
Step 2: Once it starts successfully, the software will provide you with a list of all the drives on your PC. Select the drive you’d wish to work on.
Step 3: Right-click on the selected drive and among the options available, choose “Format”.
Step 4: In the new window, set the file system to one of the supported options such as NTFS, FAT32, EXT2, AND EXT3. Also, remember to label and set the cluster size for the partition to be formatted. After doing that, click “OK”.
A popup window with a warning that “data on the target partition will be erased” will appear on your screen. Click “OK” to proceed with the formatting.
Windows Format Command
Step 5: On the top left hand corner of the window, you’ll see the “Execute Operation” button. Click on that to review the changes. When you’re done reviewing the changes, click on “Apply” to commence the drive formatting process.
Windows Format Disk Cmd
1. Is there any harm to storage devices due to frequent formatting?
No. Formatting a hard drive, USB flash, or SD card several times won’t damage it. If anything, it can improve its overall performance.
2. Can physical and logical bad paths be fixed?
Both yes and no. Yes, because logical bad paths can be fixed using CHKDSK /R command.
Windows Format Disk Tool
No, because physical bath paths cannot be repaired. Instead, they can be mapped out of the hard drive so that the operating system no longer can read or write data on the compromised sectors.