"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
    2010-01-10T07:50:42+00:00

    I am facing the same problem. I've done the above check and my situation is of the same as Michelle Smith. However, it states that there is 100% free space but i am certain that there were 10 over GB of data in there the last time. How should i go about?

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-01-02T00:51:48+00:00

    Yes.  My external drive is in fat32 and my system is in ntfs.  How can I access my files on my  external hard drive?

    Michelle

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  3. Anonymous
    2009-12-29T08:50:14+00:00

    Are the external drives formatted in FAT32 while the system is formatted in NTFS?  I recently discovered this may be a problem - even if it allowed you to send the files to the external drive despite the differences in file systems.

    The SATA cord wouldn't matter - connecting by USB is more than adequate.

    It sounds like your drives are OK from the healthy and primary partition designations - so that probably isn't the problem.

    Let us know about the file system on the external drive (and on the system drive).  Make them both NTFS and you may have more success.

    Thanks!

    Lorien - One - MCSE/MCSA/Network+/A+

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  4. Anonymous
    2009-12-19T20:13:58+00:00

    I also have this problem, as of yesterday.  I've had the external drive for a year or so and have a lot of pictures and files that I want to keep, mainly the pictures.  I've changed the drive letter to no avail.  Status is healthy and there is nothing under file system.  It also has primary partition at the bottom.  I've tried it on my PC with Win XP, and my PC with Win 7.  Both have the same message so I'm assuming it's the external drive.  My drive is connected via USB and SATA.  I'm currently just using USB and can't seem to locate my SATA cord to try it.  Would that even matter?

    Any advice on recovering the files would be greatly appreciated.

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