Vista - External Hard Drive Problem

Hey, I looked on here but couldn't find a definite answer about my specific
problem. I just hooked my usb external hard drive up to my new laptop, but
whenever i try to access it, i get a message saying i must format the disk
before i can use it. Surely there must be a way around this? I don't really
have a way to format it since all of my documents are on there. Any help
would be appreciated

If you go into disk management, can you see the drive?
Is the drive Healthy?

"Andy G" <Andy G@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:292A1C6B-F86C-4924-B5D3-0E0409CC97D3@microsoft.com...
> Hey, I looked on here but couldn't find a definite answer about my
> specific
> problem. I just hooked my usb external hard drive up to my new laptop,
> but
> whenever i try to access it, i get a message saying i must format the disk
> before i can use it. Surely there must be a way around this? I don't
> really
> have a way to format it since all of my documents are on there. Any help
> would be appreciated

"Andy G" <Andy G@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:292A1C6B-F86C-4924-B5D3-0E0409CC97D3@microsoft.com...
> Hey, I looked on here but couldn't find a definite answer about my
> specific
> problem. I just hooked my usb external hard drive up to my new
> laptop, but
> whenever i try to access it, i get a message saying i must format the
> disk
> before i can use it. Surely there must be a way around this? I don't
> really
> have a way to format it since all of my documents are on there. Any
> help
> would be appreciated


Probably a bootsector of this partition is corrupt. Check it, recover
from spare copy or rebuild from scratch using Testdisk.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/
http://www.cgsecurity.org/phpwiki/index.php/examples
--
M. [Windows - Shell/User MVP]
/before private reply change px with pl in my e-mail address/

It is not a bootable drive; it is for storage only!

"Michal Kawecki" wrote:

> "Andy G" <Andy G@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:292A1C6B-F86C-4924-B5D3-0E0409CC97D3@microsoft.com...
> > Hey, I looked on here but couldn't find a definite answer about my
> > specific
> > problem. I just hooked my usb external hard drive up to my new
> > laptop, but
> > whenever i try to access it, i get a message saying i must format the
> > disk
> > before i can use it. Surely there must be a way around this? I don't
> > really
> > have a way to format it since all of my documents are on there. Any
> > help
> > would be appreciated
>
>
> Probably a bootsector of this partition is corrupt. Check it, recover
> from spare copy or rebuild from scratch using Testdisk.
> http://www.cgsecurity.org/
> http://www.cgsecurity.org/phpwiki/index.php/examples
> --
> M. [Windows - Shell/User MVP]
> /before private reply change px with pl in my e-mail address/
>
>

It's meaningless. Bootsectors are parts of ALL partitions. It's
absolutly not important for what do you use them.

"Mick" <Mick@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BD01F6DB-D750-4E79-A264-E9173D457F7E@microsoft.com...
> It is not a bootable drive; it is for storage only!
>
> "Michal Kawecki" wrote:
>
>> "Andy G" <Andy G@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:292A1C6B-F86C-4924-B5D3-0E0409CC97D3@microsoft.com...
>> > Hey, I looked on here but couldn't find a definite answer about my
>> > specific
>> > problem. I just hooked my usb external hard drive up to my new
>> > laptop, but
>> > whenever i try to access it, i get a message saying i must format
>> > the
>> > disk
>> > before i can use it. Surely there must be a way around this? I
>> > don't
>> > really
>> > have a way to format it since all of my documents are on there.
>> > Any
>> > help
>> > would be appreciated
>>
>>
>> Probably a bootsector of this partition is corrupt. Check it, recover
>> from spare copy or rebuild from scratch using Testdisk.
>> http://www.cgsecurity.org/
>> http://www.cgsecurity.org/phpwiki/index.php/examples
>> --
>> M. [Windows - Shell/User MVP]
>> /before private reply change px with pl in my e-mail address/
>>
>>