Vista - External HDD Acting Up...

Hey there folks...new member here...

I am writing because i have an external 500Gig Western Digital HDD that I have been using for months now...it has not been exposed to extreme temperatures, banged around or overused in any way. I plugged it in today and it showed up under "My Computer" as Local Disk(F: ).

Then a message came up stating "You need to format the disk in drive F: before you can use it." Next it asks if i want to format now, and i can choose Format, or Cancel. I am not sure if this is some sort of driver issue, something more serious with the computer, or if this is something with this drive.

I am afraid that i won't be able to get what is on that drive back, and I have two other external drives that i am now scared to plug in because i don't want the same thing to happen.

Please help me out if you can...thank you in advance...

Hi jemilo, Welcome to the forum

Right click on this drive F:\ click on properties, click on the tools tab, click on check now, make sure that there is a tick in both boxes and click on start,

I hope this helps

Pooch

Alright Pooch...tried what you said and after long pauses after right clicking, and then after selecting properties i went to tools, and clicked Check Now...i got a message telling me, "The disk check could not be performed because Windows could not access the disk."

This does not sound good, you could try using a Linux live CD It might be possible that you can still save your data to another disk.
Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu
A live CD will make no changes to your PC
Otherwise you might end up having to format the drive to see if it can be saved.

Pooch

Anyone else's Ideas would be welcome

I went to that Ubuntu site and am downloading the software right now...i don't mind having to format, i just don't want to lose my data...and will try whatever i have to in order to save it...

i have a CD i can burn to...but I have no idea what to do after that...any help would be greatly appreciated...

best idea..use the External HD on another computer..move the files..then FORMAT TH EEXTERNAL DRIVE ONLY and move the files to back on it

jem...are u uisng vista or xp or ubuntu???

Hi Jemilo,

Have you considered trying another drive enclosure? It is possible that the interface circuitry in the case has failed or is in the process of failing. I had a similar problem with mine a while back, and replacing the enclosure fixed the problem. In fact, I'm still using the disk now.

i have flash drives and HD that does it a lot..i just download the drivers or overhaul the drive...problem solve..but i reinstall windows and vista all the time so i can practice and i dont mind the wait lol

Thank you for all the great ideas...i plan on trying the HD on another system to see if it works...

To answer a question, I am using Vista Home Premium 32-bit...

After looking around on the forums i have already thought about getting another enclosure too if it still doesn't work on another system...i have put internal HDD into enclosures but i am not sure about the best way to get my WD out of it's current enclosure...

I will definitely try a few things out though and post back with what has/has not worked...