"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
    2010-09-28T08:56:21+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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  2. Anonymous
    2010-01-10T20:29:53+00:00

    My drive turned out to show some I/O errors.  Anyhow, I used an older copy of Easeus  software to recover all my files.  http://www.easeus.com/  Worked great for me.  Good luck on getting your files back.

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  3. 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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  4. 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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