[SOLVED] External HD not formatted all of a sudden

grendel824 · 12-06-2007, 08:17 PM

Hi - I have a 500GB external Western Digital "My Book" that has all of a sudden started telling me that "drive G: (the drive in question) is not formatted." I of course do not want to format it, as I'd like to keep the 250gb of stuff on there. I'm running Windows XP, and it DOES show up in Disk Management. I tried a couple of shareware rescue programs and they do see files on there, and running one even started rescuing a bunch of photos and mp3s, but with that much stuff on there I wouldn't have anywhere to rescue most of it to.

Running TestDisk from the "stickied" instructions gets me to step G, but there is no selectable partition to "fix." What, if anything, can I do to make the drive useable again without having to format over it and start all over?

Thanks!

**Deleted090308** · 12-07-2007, 11:18 AM

Hi,

What does TestDisk "say" at step E and G? Please post screenshots.

What does Disk management say - raw, healthy, free space etc?

grendel824 · 12-07-2007, 12:05 PM

Thanks for your reply! Here are the screenshots of the steps and Disk Management:

**Deleted090308** · 12-07-2007, 12:39 PM

The boot sector is damaged.

Run TestDisk again, but follow these steps:

A. At the first window, select “No Log” and press the <Enter> key.
B. Select which drive to analyse, choose “Proceed” and <Enter>.
C. Select partition type – Intel if it’s a PC then <Enter>.
D. Choose Advanced > press <Enter>.
E. Choose Boot > press <Enter>.
F. Choose Repair FAT > press <Enter>.

grendel824 · 12-07-2007, 03:36 PM

Edit: "Repair FAT" doesn't come up - do you mean "Rebuild BS"? (PIC Attached)

I'll try that now, thank you!

**Deleted090308** · 12-07-2007, 03:59 PM

No, I meant "Repair FAT" - but in your case it seems that "Rebuild BS" would be the correct choice.

grendel824 · 12-07-2007, 11:48 PM

Okay - that finished and it gives me this screen. Am I good? Screwed? Anyway, thanks for even getting me this far - it was more than I was qualified to do already!

**Deleted090308** · 12-08-2007, 05:10 AM

It doesn't look like I expect it to.
If the drive isn't mounted inside the case already - please do that.
A common mistake when hooking another drive up is to get the jumper settings wrong. You can avoid that by temporarily using the CD drives IDE channel > "borrow" the data cable from the CD drive.

1. Is/was the file system FAT32 - no NTFS or other file systems?
2. Is/was there only one partition on the drive?

If the answer to both of those questions are yes - go back to this screen:

Select Backup BS > press <Enter>.

grendel824 · 12-08-2007, 05:31 AM

The drive was in an external case - it was working for the past six months or so, if that's what you're asking. Or are you saying I should open the plastic casing it came in and try to install it somewhere inside my computer's case? I guess that would be possible, but I don't think there's much room for it and I can't afford to be taking my PC apart at the moment (finals, job search, need the computer working for all of it).

I'm not sure how to tell what the file system was - I thought I remember seeing something online about these WD MyBook drives being NTFS when I started looking stuff up to try to figure out my problem, but I'm not 100%.

There was only one partition, though - I originally just took it out of the box it came in, plugged it in, and stored stuff on it. My PC would occasionally "lose" the drive, in which case I had to sometimes unplug the USB cable and shut down the PC, then plug it in again before turning it on, which would get it recognized again.

**Deleted090308** · 12-08-2007, 05:41 AM

OK. If you don't have the time to move the drive, we'll let it stay in the enclosure.

TestDisk sees 1 FAT32 partition, nothing else - so that's what we are trying to save.

It looks like the backup boot sector is OK - load that as described in post #8.

grendel824 · 12-08-2007, 04:04 PM

Hmm.. that didn't seem to work, but now it's giving me the "Repair FAT" option that was missing before, so I'll try that!

UPDATE: It tells me "FAT seems okay, nothing else to do"

UPDATE 2: Huzzah! It seems to be back. As soon as finals are over, I'm going to get busy backing all this junk up on DVD just in case. Thanks so much for your help! If I wasn't deeply in debt for student loans, I'd want to cut you a check! Make yourself track-downable so if I ever strike it rich I can find you!

**Deleted090308** · 12-08-2007, 07:11 PM

Great news!
I'm glad you got it fixed.

smeaf25 · 12-22-2007, 04:44 PM

Just wanted to thank both u guys for solving the same problem I had. I was able to recover 450GB worth of data! You guys rule.

shanes · 12-27-2007, 10:44 AM

I purchased a WD My Book Premium edition 500G as my internal drive was getting full and I bought into WD's marketing about how great their product was for safely preserving your valuable images.

Except for filling up and slowing down, my internal worked hastle free for 4+ years. I transfered all my images to the My Book and after 11 days it is all gone!

You guys do ROCK, thanx for helping me get my pics back as well (I do back up to CD and DVD but I have been getting behind in that pocess and was looking at losing a few months of images).

My question now is what happened?

Can I avoid it in the future?

Should I return the My Book and get a second internal?

(I did not originally go for an internal to minimize internal temperature and power drain on my power supply)

Thanx

Shane

smeaf25 · 12-30-2007, 09:06 PM

shanes,
I'm in the same boat as you are except my 'My Book' is older than yours, 2yrs. I would return it and find a more reliable one or just get an internal. As for my current one, I will just use it sparringly and for non important stuff. As far as I'm concerned, Western Digital externals are a no-no for me.

shanes · 12-31-2007, 07:10 AM

Yes I think I will return it.

I am going to replace it with an external drive case complete with its own power supply and fan and put in something like a Seagate.

americanidiot · 01-10-2008, 06:50 AM

I had this exact problem and you guys just saved me so many unbelievably important documents ('papers, business papers' as The Dude would say). I can't thank you enough. I just had one of those "i love that we can all communicate and help each other" moments. Thanks especially to grendel824 and eneles. To anyone else who has this problem, particularly with the WD 500GB drive, PM me or just follow the instructions above!

Rossiroo · 01-11-2008, 05:22 PM

I have the same problem but when I run the "rebuild BS" I only get some list of media files, not the "root sector", I keep pressing "N" and about 5 hours later it finishes without finding the root sector (root directory?).

Can anyone help?

**Deleted090308** · 01-11-2008, 06:25 PM

@Rossiroo: Please create a thread of your own where you describe what you have tried and what the problem is.

TheJanitor · 04-08-2008, 04:45 AM

Add another to the list of those whose data was saved by your help! Eneles, thanks for being there!

12-06-2007, 08:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
grendel824 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Mission Viejo, CA Posts: 16 OS: Win98	[SOLVED] External HD not formatted all of a sudden Hi - I have a 500GB external Western Digital "My Book" that has all of a sudden started telling me that "drive G: (the drive in question) is not formatted." I of course do not want to format it, as I'd like to keep the 250gb of stuff on there. I'm running Windows XP, and it DOES show up in Disk Management. I tried a couple of shareware rescue programs and they do see files on there, and running one even started rescuing a bunch of photos and mp3s, but with that much stuff on there I wouldn't have anywhere to rescue most of it to. Running TestDisk from the "stickied" instructions gets me to step G, but there is no selectable partition to "fix." What, if anything, can I do to make the drive useable again without having to format over it and start all over? Thanks!

12-07-2007, 11:18 AM	#2 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: External HD "not formatted" all of a sudden Hi, What does TestDisk "say" at step E and G? Please post screenshots. What does Disk management say - raw, healthy, free space etc?

12-07-2007, 12:39 PM	#4 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: External HD "not formatted" all of a sudden The boot sector is damaged. Run TestDisk again, but follow these steps: A. At the first window, select “No Log” and press the <Enter> key. B. Select which drive to analyse, choose “Proceed” and <Enter>. C. Select partition type – Intel if it’s a PC then <Enter>. D. Choose Advanced > press <Enter>. E. Choose Boot > press <Enter>. F. Choose Repair FAT > press <Enter>.

12-07-2007, 03:59 PM	#6 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: External HD "not formatted" all of a sudden No, I meant "Repair FAT" - but in your case it seems that "Rebuild BS" would be the correct choice.

12-08-2007, 05:10 AM	#8 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: External HD "not formatted" all of a sudden It doesn't look like I expect it to. If the drive isn't mounted inside the case already - please do that. A common mistake when hooking another drive up is to get the jumper settings wrong. You can avoid that by temporarily using the CD drives IDE channel > "borrow" the data cable from the CD drive. 1. Is/was the file system FAT32 - no NTFS or other file systems? 2. Is/was there only one partition on the drive? If the answer to both of those questions are yes - go back to this screen: Select Backup BS > press <Enter>.

12-08-2007, 05:31 AM	#9 (permalink)
grendel824 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Mission Viejo, CA Posts: 16 OS: Win98	Re: External HD "not formatted" all of a sudden The drive was in an external case - it was working for the past six months or so, if that's what you're asking. Or are you saying I should open the plastic casing it came in and try to install it somewhere inside my computer's case? I guess that would be possible, but I don't think there's much room for it and I can't afford to be taking my PC apart at the moment (finals, job search, need the computer working for all of it). I'm not sure how to tell what the file system was - I thought I remember seeing something online about these WD MyBook drives being NTFS when I started looking stuff up to try to figure out my problem, but I'm not 100%. There was only one partition, though - I originally just took it out of the box it came in, plugged it in, and stored stuff on it. My PC would occasionally "lose" the drive, in which case I had to sometimes unplug the USB cable and shut down the PC, then plug it in again before turning it on, which would get it recognized again.

12-08-2007, 05:41 AM	#10 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: External HD "not formatted" all of a sudden OK. If you don't have the time to move the drive, we'll let it stay in the enclosure. TestDisk sees 1 FAT32 partition, nothing else - so that's what we are trying to save. It looks like the backup boot sector is OK - load that as described in post #8.

12-08-2007, 07:11 PM	#12 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: External HD "not formatted" all of a sudden Great news! I'm glad you got it fixed.

12-22-2007, 04:44 PM	#13 (permalink)
smeaf25 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Re: [SOLVED] External HD not formatted all of a sudden Just wanted to thank both u guys for solving the same problem I had. I was able to recover 450GB worth of data! You guys rule.

12-27-2007, 10:44 AM	#14 (permalink)
shanes Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2 OS: xp service pack 2	Re: [SOLVED] External HD not formatted all of a sudden I purchased a WD My Book Premium edition 500G as my internal drive was getting full and I bought into WD's marketing about how great their product was for safely preserving your valuable images. Except for filling up and slowing down, my internal worked hastle free for 4+ years. I transfered all my images to the My Book and after 11 days it is all gone! You guys do ROCK, thanx for helping me get my pics back as well (I do back up to CD and DVD but I have been getting behind in that pocess and was looking at losing a few months of images). My question now is what happened? Can I avoid it in the future? Should I return the My Book and get a second internal? (I did not originally go for an internal to minimize internal temperature and power drain on my power supply) Thanx Shane

12-30-2007, 09:06 PM	#15 (permalink)
smeaf25 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Re: [SOLVED] External HD not formatted all of a sudden shanes, I'm in the same boat as you are except my 'My Book' is older than yours, 2yrs. I would return it and find a more reliable one or just get an internal. As for my current one, I will just use it sparringly and for non important stuff. As far as I'm concerned, Western Digital externals are a no-no for me.

12-31-2007, 07:10 AM	#16 (permalink)
shanes Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2 OS: xp service pack 2	Re: [SOLVED] External HD not formatted all of a sudden Yes I think I will return it. I am going to replace it with an external drive case complete with its own power supply and fan and put in something like a Seagate.

01-10-2008, 06:50 AM	#17 (permalink)
americanidiot Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1 OS: xp	Re: [SOLVED] External HD not formatted all of a sudden I had this exact problem and you guys just saved me so many unbelievably important documents ('papers, business papers' as The Dude would say). I can't thank you enough. I just had one of those "i love that we can all communicate and help each other" moments. Thanks especially to grendel824 and eneles. To anyone else who has this problem, particularly with the WD 500GB drive, PM me or just follow the instructions above!

01-11-2008, 05:22 PM	#18 (permalink)
Rossiroo Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 4 OS: xp	Re: [SOLVED] External HD not formatted all of a sudden I have the same problem but when I run the "rebuild BS" I only get some list of media files, not the "root sector", I keep pressing "N" and about 5 hours later it finishes without finding the root sector (root directory?). Can anyone help?

01-11-2008, 06:25 PM	#19 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: [SOLVED] External HD not formatted all of a sudden @Rossiroo: Please create a thread of your own where you describe what you have tried and what the problem is.

04-08-2008, 04:45 AM	#20 (permalink)
TheJanitor Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 1 OS: XP SP2, Mandriva Linux 11	Re: [SOLVED] External HD not formatted all of a sudden Add another to the list of those whose data was saved by your help! Eneles, thanks for being there!