Trikomo1 Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 My external HD will not let me access it only option it gives me is reformat. I have my college work on it and am handing in tomorrow. please assist me. it would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks. Quote
BeeCeeBee Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Can you please explain exactly how you have tried to access this drive? Is this a usb external drive? Quote "Familiarity breeds contempt - and children." Mark Twain
Trikomo1 Posted February 8, 2009 Author Posted February 8, 2009 Thank you for the response it is on a USB. it is an external WD 2500C032 . I am running Vista. I have tried from my computer and the desktop shortcut. Quote
backtogeek Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 more info required, but based on that one line I would suggest the following: 1) its a USB hard drive that takes its power from USB and you have it plugged into a laptop that may not give the correct power output so try plugging it into another computer or powered USB hub. 2) the Hard drive was formatted initially on a MAC and now your trying to use it on a PC for the first time or vise versa. 3) its running an NTFS file system and you have plugged it into a computer that runs on FAT32 4) Plug the drive in > right click my computer > select manage > go to Disk Management under storage > right click on the drive to see if there are any options to make it ready (forget the exact option name) and or post a screen shot of that here. 5) the file system may have become corrupt on the drive or the drive has physical damage (external ones do take a few knocks) in which case you may have to perform a file recovery on it as a last option using something like 'Runtime get data back for NTFS/Fat32' But first try to provide more info and perhaps we can help further. Quote
backtogeek Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Western Digital WD WD2500C032 Data Recovery - Datacent found that when looking up info on your drive, it could be the case but I really hope for your sake it is not. Quote
BeeCeeBee Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 I don''t know vista very well so I am going to be a bit vague as to specifics but have you tried to view the drive in windows explorer? Quote "Familiarity breeds contempt - and children." Mark Twain
Tootech Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 I could be wrong.............. I don't think there is alot you can do with it in a short space of time. The only thing I can think of is downloading a live Linux CD ISO, write it, boot from it with your USB drive plugged in and attempt to read the files. Then you could copy them back to your computer. It does work quite often when Windows can't read a disk. These are the two that I am most familiar with and know they could do the job. Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu http://www.knoppix.com/ Quote
Tootech Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 I could be wrong.............. I don't think there is alot you can do with it in a short space of time. The only thing I can think of is downloading a live Linux CD ISO, write it, boot from it with your USB drive plugged in and attempt to read the files. Then you could copy them back to your computer. It does work quite often when Windows can't read a disk. These are the two that I am most familiar with and know they could do the job. Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu http://www.knoppix.com/ Quote
Tootech Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 I could be wrong.............. I don't think there is alot you can do with it in a short space of time. The only thing I can think of is downloading a live Linux CD ISO, write it, boot from it with your USB drive plugged in and attempt to read the files. Then you could copy them back to your computer. It does work quite often when Windows can't read a disk. These are the two that I am most familiar with and know they could do the job. Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu http://www.knoppix.com/ Quote
Trikomo1 Posted February 8, 2009 Author Posted February 8, 2009 Thank you for speedy responses. I have been running it on a compaq desktop for around 3 months working fine on a daily basis. then suddenly today i get the error message "you need to format the disc in drive K before you can use it". I tried it on my old desktop and the same message comes up. I have had the HD for around 2 years with no problems. I am extremely sorry but not sure how to take screen shots. :( Quote
Trikomo1 Posted February 8, 2009 Author Posted February 8, 2009 Thank you for speedy responses. I have been running it on a compaq desktop for around 3 months working fine on a daily basis. then suddenly today i get the error message "you need to format the disc in drive K before you can use it". I tried it on my old desktop and the same message comes up. I have had the HD for around 2 years with no problems. I am extremely sorry but not sure how to take screen shots. :( Quote
Trikomo1 Posted February 8, 2009 Author Posted February 8, 2009 Thank you for speedy responses. I have been running it on a compaq desktop for around 3 months working fine on a daily basis. then suddenly today i get the error message "you need to format the disc in drive K before you can use it". I tried it on my old desktop and the same message comes up. I have had the HD for around 2 years with no problems. I am extremely sorry but not sure how to take screen shots. :( Quote
backtogeek Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 That's an excellent idea Tootech, may I suggest a knoppix live CD though as it auto mounts NTFS and FAT/32 volumes during start up. Quote
backtogeek Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 That's an excellent idea Tootech, may I suggest a knoppix live CD though as it auto mounts NTFS and FAT/32 volumes during start up. Quote
backtogeek Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 That's an excellent idea Tootech, may I suggest a knoppix live CD though as it auto mounts NTFS and FAT/32 volumes during start up. Quote
BeeCeeBee Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 the Hard drive was formatted initially on a MAC and now your trying to use it on a PC for the first time or vise versa. Educate me please backtogeek, how did you arrive at that conclusion from the information given in this thread? Quote "Familiarity breeds contempt - and children." Mark Twain
BeeCeeBee Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 the Hard drive was formatted initially on a MAC and now your trying to use it on a PC for the first time or vise versa. Educate me please backtogeek, how did you arrive at that conclusion from the information given in this thread? Quote "Familiarity breeds contempt - and children." Mark Twain
BeeCeeBee Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 the Hard drive was formatted initially on a MAC and now your trying to use it on a PC for the first time or vise versa. Educate me please backtogeek, how did you arrive at that conclusion from the information given in this thread? Quote "Familiarity breeds contempt - and children." Mark Twain
backtogeek Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Thank you for speedy responses. I have been running it on a compaq desktop for around 3 months working fine on a daily basis. then suddenly today i get the error message "you need to format the disc in drive K before you can use it". I tried it on my old desktop and the same message comes up. I have had the HD for around 2 years with no problems. I am extremely sorry but not sure how to take screen shots. :( No problem, you have actually posted a location on your own computer though, could you try again through ImageShack® - Image Hosting just upload the pic there and post the URL here, although from the sounds of it the file system on the drive is corrupt. Quote
backtogeek Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Thank you for speedy responses. I have been running it on a compaq desktop for around 3 months working fine on a daily basis. then suddenly today i get the error message "you need to format the disc in drive K before you can use it". I tried it on my old desktop and the same message comes up. I have had the HD for around 2 years with no problems. I am extremely sorry but not sure how to take screen shots. :( No problem, you have actually posted a location on your own computer though, could you try again through ImageShack® - Image Hosting just upload the pic there and post the URL here, although from the sounds of it the file system on the drive is corrupt. Quote
backtogeek Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Thank you for speedy responses. I have been running it on a compaq desktop for around 3 months working fine on a daily basis. then suddenly today i get the error message "you need to format the disc in drive K before you can use it". I tried it on my old desktop and the same message comes up. I have had the HD for around 2 years with no problems. I am extremely sorry but not sure how to take screen shots. :( No problem, you have actually posted a location on your own computer though, could you try again through ImageShack® - Image Hosting just upload the pic there and post the URL here, although from the sounds of it the file system on the drive is corrupt. Quote
backtogeek Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Educate me please backtogeek, how did you arrive at that conclusion from the information given in this thread? Ok, first off its far from a conclusion, but I will continue, I arrived at that potential prognosis as he mentioned college, alot of colleges use MAC's if it was formatted on say OSX it would have been formatted as HFS+ or passibly ext3 which windows cannot read and would obviously then suggest formatting the drive. He had not mentioned at that stage if he had ever plugged in or used the drive in the past on the current PC so I feel it was a resnable suggestion when trying to cover all bases due to the obvious urgeant nature of the issue. Quote
backtogeek Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Educate me please backtogeek, how did you arrive at that conclusion from the information given in this thread? Ok, first off its far from a conclusion, but I will continue, I arrived at that potential prognosis as he mentioned college, alot of colleges use MAC's if it was formatted on say OSX it would have been formatted as HFS+ or passibly ext3 which windows cannot read and would obviously then suggest formatting the drive. He had not mentioned at that stage if he had ever plugged in or used the drive in the past on the current PC so I feel it was a resnable suggestion when trying to cover all bases due to the obvious urgeant nature of the issue. Quote
backtogeek Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Educate me please backtogeek, how did you arrive at that conclusion from the information given in this thread? Ok, first off its far from a conclusion, but I will continue, I arrived at that potential prognosis as he mentioned college, alot of colleges use MAC's if it was formatted on say OSX it would have been formatted as HFS+ or passibly ext3 which windows cannot read and would obviously then suggest formatting the drive. He had not mentioned at that stage if he had ever plugged in or used the drive in the past on the current PC so I feel it was a resnable suggestion when trying to cover all bases due to the obvious urgeant nature of the issue. Quote
Trikomo1 Posted February 9, 2009 Author Posted February 9, 2009 ImageShack - Image Hosting :: mozscreenshotvw0.jpg Note the how to take a screenshot page on wiki in taskbar!! Quote
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