"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
    2012-01-05T06:29:41+00:00

    Thanks this is helped. Appreciate for valuable help

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-12-28T21:34:07+00:00

    I initially though this post was spam, but I was desperate to recover my external drive after it became corrupted when I tried to connect it to my E4200 Cisco/Linksys router as NAS.

    I installed the free home version, it ran a few quick tests and my drive came back to life.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-12-22T04:38:55+00:00

    Hello,

    My apologies for the delay in response.

    Due to the age of this issue, it would be best to create a new thread for this in the following forum:

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/hardware

    Doing so will avoid any confusion between your issue and that of the original poster.

    Best regards,

    Matthew_Ha

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