Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of mcrose1968
mcrose1968

asked on

Windows Wants To Format Hard Drive usb

Have a Western Digital 200GB external hard drive that I've been using for awhile.
Just tonight, I plugged it into my Windows Vista Machine and after about 1 minute (normally loads up in about 10-15seconds) it reports that it must be formatted in order to access.

Of course I don't want to format it, since it's my back up drive and is now my soul source for a lot of data.  

I'm assuming it there is logical error on the drive - I'm currently running FileScavenger and it appears to be finding files - but before I do anything that may permanently destroy files,  I'm reaching out for suggestion on my next move.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of LCARSx32
LCARSx32

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Avatar of nobus
nobus
Flag of Belgium image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of mcrose1968
mcrose1968

ASKER

I used checkdisk from the windows GUI to no avail.
Turns out the FileScavanger, found the files and restored.
I'm assuming it was a corrupted allocation

Thank you for the responses.
My particular problem didn't have an answer someone could fully answer - but the responses all set me in the right direction