"You need to format the disk in drive J: before you can use it"

Anonymous
2009-11-27T14:36:21+00:00

The error message says "You need to format the disk in drive J: before you can use it" I have a removable USB storage drive that i always plugged in to my computer everytime I download movies save disk space on my computer.  Now it want me to format this storage disk.  Also,where it used to label this disk as "Removable Disk", it is not labeled as Local Disk J:. I don't want to format this disk because it will erase all my files and folders on this removable USB storage disk.  Please help me.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2011-01-12T20:05:12+00:00

I had same problem.

And I have an solution for you... The problem is that when you plug in your HD first time, Windows 7 install your HD and associate it to only this USB port (let it be USB port "4") than if you wanna to use it (HD) again, you need to plug it, in the same USB port (USB port "4") where it was installed first time. It is Stupid!!!! But that's how it worked with my HD.

Just try all USB ports that you have on your PC.

Good luck.

Hope it was helpful. :D

PS: the same problem is with all divices you plug in to your pc.

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-01-18T13:47:54+00:00

    Worked fine for me, thanks, best tip ever!!!

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-01-05T16:21:35+00:00

    HAPPY 2011

    Aint read all above but have same headline prob

    Summary

    plugged Transcend V10 flash drive into USB - got the dread message

    BUT drive has plug-play OK - all files work OK - as it does on my XP comp

    so whats wrong with Win 7 ?

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-12-29T23:01:27+00:00

    I have the same problem as everyone above however I am guessing the problem can be caused by many different reasons. I have a 500gb seagate external hard drive connected by usb I am relatively sure it is formatted in Fat32 and my hard drive of my computer in NTFS but it has not opposed a problem before. I am running Windows 7 ultimate on a toshiba satellite. My problem occurred after copied a file to my external hard drive, unplugged my external hard drive and plugged it into another computer running the same operating system as me (Windows 7 ultimate) and I got this message. Then when I plugged it back into my computer I received the same message. I have tried

    • Using a different cable
    • Connecting it via different usb ports
    • Device manager didn't seem to be able to solve my problem but I am not to skilled in using it
    • Connecting it to another computer with Windows 7 Enterprise and I also tried a computer with XP

    I would like another solution apart from reformatting because I am have a lot of pictures and documents which I cannot afford to lose by reformatting. Easeus will not solve my problem because I have more space on my external hard drive than on my laptop which is the reason I bought it. Also it states in properties that My drive has 0 bytes of fee space and 0 bytes of used space which is obviously incorrect. Also when I attempt to check for drive errors I receive the message

    "The disk check could not be performed because windows cannot access the disk"

    The only solution I can think of is to try and retrieve my files on a computer more space than my hard drive using a program such as Easeus and then formatting the disk but however this is not possible for me. If anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful

    Regards Killenova

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-09-28T08:56:21+00:00

    Format your hard drive can be solved after you read the article--Guidelines onhow to partition a hard drive by Creating, Deleting, Formatting and Resizing Partition. And you can find the proper tool to deal with the problem.

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