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External hard drive is mostly used to backup important data files like documents, photos, videos and other data by connecting to computer via FireWire or USB port. Sometimes, you may encounter external hard drive not formatted error, saying you to format the drive before you can use it; but considering there are vital files on the HDD, you feel uneasy. The formatted error occurs when the external hard drive corruption takes place due to file system damage, virus infection, bad sectors, improper formatting, abrupt ejection from the system during file transfer, etc.

Why external hard drive keeps asking to format it?

• Improperly pulling out the external hard disk drive from the system
• External hard drive gets infected due to virus or malware attack
• Increased number of bad sectors in the external hard drive
• Any kind of interruptions while transferring files from external hard drive to computer or vice versa

When running into not formatted error on external drive due to any of the above mentioned reasons, format the external hard drive is the only way to regain access the drive. But the fact is, once you have formatted the external hard drive, you will find huge data loss from the drive.

Possible solutions to fix corrupted hard drive without formatting:

Solution 1: Try out the below listed easy tricks first

• Run anti-virus application to find and kill all possible viruses on the external hard drive
• Restart your computer and see it may open your external hard drive
• Connect it to another operating system or USB port to read the files

Solution 2: Check your hard drive for errors

• Go to Start button and click Run.
• Enter ‘cmd’ into the blank and click Enter button
• Enter ‘chkdsk o:/f’ (if your external hard drive is Drive o) into the Command Prompt and press Enter key
• Hit Enter button and it will start fixing

Please have patience because the above process usually takes some time to fix the errors. After it is finished successfully, your external hard drive may behave normal as before and you can access the drive and recover your data.

Safe method to fix corrupted hard drive without formatting/losing data

If your external or internal hard drive keeps asking you to format it even after you have tried the above solution, then use Remo Hard Drive Recovery tool to recover data from corrupted external hard disk in just few clicks. The software is non-destructive and will neither modify the original data nor damage the drive. This tool can also be used in data recovery instances while you need to convert the file system without formatting the storage device.