WD External HD error "You need to format the disk before use"
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ishit89
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Sep 9, 2014 at 10:53 PM
R2D2_WD Posts 3606 Registration date Monday September 1, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 20, 2017 - Apr 11, 2016 at 03:00 AM
R2D2_WD Posts 3606 Registration date Monday September 1, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 20, 2017 - Apr 11, 2016 at 03:00 AM
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R2D2_WD
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Sep 10, 2014 at 04:56 AM
Sep 10, 2014 at 04:56 AM
Hi there,
Carminabigue is right, try with another cable and on another PC. You said you tested on Mac but the drive was still accessible back then. Try again, just to confirm if you can see the drive, open folders, etc. Why didn't you manage to copy files from the Mac? Maybe there were some issues with the format. Switch USB ports too.
Back on your PC, check if the drive is recognized in Device Manager and Disk Management. If not, are there any warning signs about issues? Make sure you have the latest firmware updates. I leave you link below. If this does not help, try uninstalling the drivers from Device Manager, restarting the PC and plugging in the drive again, allowing it to re-install drivers by itself. You can always do it manually from the WD web page.
I would not advise you to open the drive, because this will void your warranty and the drive is hardware encrypted.
https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?DL - My Passport downloads section
https://support-en.wd.com/ - More details about WD warranty policy
Let me know if any of this results helpful
Carminabigue is right, try with another cable and on another PC. You said you tested on Mac but the drive was still accessible back then. Try again, just to confirm if you can see the drive, open folders, etc. Why didn't you manage to copy files from the Mac? Maybe there were some issues with the format. Switch USB ports too.
Back on your PC, check if the drive is recognized in Device Manager and Disk Management. If not, are there any warning signs about issues? Make sure you have the latest firmware updates. I leave you link below. If this does not help, try uninstalling the drivers from Device Manager, restarting the PC and plugging in the drive again, allowing it to re-install drivers by itself. You can always do it manually from the WD web page.
I would not advise you to open the drive, because this will void your warranty and the drive is hardware encrypted.
https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?DL - My Passport downloads section
https://support-en.wd.com/ - More details about WD warranty policy
Let me know if any of this results helpful
carminabigue
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Sep 10, 2014 at 12:59 AM
Sep 10, 2014 at 12:59 AM
Your best bet is simply to try a new USB cable.
ishit89
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Sep 10, 2014 at 03:16 PM
Sep 10, 2014 at 03:16 PM
I tried but same problem continues.
Sep 10, 2014 at 03:20 PM
I attached Mac to transfer data (when HD was working fine) from Mac to HD but I was unable to transfer. This is because I guess my HD is in NTFS format and Mac supports FAT32.
Back on PC: Drive is recognized in Disk Management. But when I click on the HD's drive it shows same error.
Sep 11, 2014 at 02:46 AM
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/technet-magazine/ee872425(v=msdn.10)?redirectedfrom=MSDN - details about chkdsk commands
Let me know if any of this helps
Apr 8, 2016 at 01:39 PM
My one currently having RAW and showing same format error message when I pluged. Could you please help me on this. I have 931.48 GB RAW (Healthy primary partition)
Please please...
Thanks in advance........
Apr 11, 2016 at 03:00 AM
I am sorry for any inconveniency caused by your WD drive! Could you tell its model? I strongly recommend you to test it another PC and with another USB cable. If the situation is the same, try connecting the drive to another OS. I would try using a Linux Live version which can be freely downloaded and no installation is needed. You only have to boot it from a CD or a bootable USB. Check if the drive will be recognized. Sadly, the RAW status indicates unknown or unrecognizable file format. If you are running out of options, check for some data recovery tools in the Downloads section of the forum
https://ccm.net/download/file-management-53/windows/ or contact the WD support http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=qiD1gr
Hope this helps