"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
    2011-10-20T22:13:03+00:00

    chkdsk /f j: worked for me

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-10-10T23:20:02+00:00

    i have the same problem help me pls

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-10-09T17:12:17+00:00

    May be after 'horse ran from stable' but ALWAYS HAVE BACK UP for valuable stuff

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-10-09T11:41:12+00:00

    I have same problem,i have about 3 years of my life on my memorystick,i dont want to format

    disk management says:(H:) 7,53 GB RAW Healthy (Active, Primary Partition)

    All my drives are formated in NTFS,i allways format them in NTFS.

    I tried the memorystick in 2 coputers,but both have win 7 and same problem in them.

    Hey i have got the same problem with my external hard disk. I have about 200gb worth of important data and I dont want to lose a single file.

    My disk management says : (H:) 298.09 GB Raw Healthy(Active, Primary)

    It even say that all the 298.09 GB is free space. What should I do???

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