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Unformat External HDD by Error

Have your external hard disk drive turned to RAW and shows unformat accidentally? What would you do if you happen to encounter one? You can choose format it or not format it according the prompt. If there is nothing important, you can format it to save new data on it. But what if files saved on it previously are useful and crucial? You should not format it at that time. What you should do is to retrieve the lost information firstly and then format the external hard disk drive.

Case of external hard disk drive turning to unformat

I need your guys help desperately. My external hard disk drive can not be opened and need to be formatted before I can use it. What I worry about is those files saved on it previously. They are previous and useful for me and I need to access some of them as soon as possible. So I can not format the external hard disk drive which needs to be. But I have no better way to get back that data and let the external hard disk drive usable. Please help me to solve that problem. –Bill from Washington

How to retrieve information from the external hard disk drive not formatted with data recovery software

Those inaccessible files saved on the unformatted external hard disk drive could be got back by data recovery tool. The reason is that those files are still stored on the external hard disk drive though it can not be opened and need to be formatted. Here are the steps to recover lost information with data recovery program below:

Recover data from external hard disk

Preparation: Download and install data recovery software on your computer. Then, connect the external hard disk to the computer and run the software. Finally, you can select a proper recovery module.

1Connect the unformatted external hard disk drive to the computer.
2Download and install the data recovery software on the computer
3Open the data restoration tool and choose the recovery model and target disk to scan.
4Preview the contents displayed after scanning and the select the fiels need to be retrieved to recover.

Notice should be took of when restore lost data

We should develop the habit to do things carefully, no matter what it is. We may lose the opportunity to retrieve those inaccessible files and folders from the unformatted external hard disk drive if we are careless. For example, perform some incorrect operation on the external hard disk drive which is not formatted and unusable. Here are some guiding tips as follows to show you how to make sure all needed information could be restored successfully with the help of data recovery program:

1. Plug the questionable external hard disk drive out of computer. It is better to unplug the external hard disk drive from computer once find it need to be formatted before you can use it but have no idea how to get back data saved on it. There may be other corruption situation happen to external hard disk drive and cause those lost files can not be restored efficiently.

2. Do not format the problematic external hard disk drive at once. It does not matter that format the unformatted external hard disk drive immediately if there is nothing vital on it. But the formatting action is not proper if you need to get those files back form the unformatted external hard disk drive. Such action may damage the data saved on the external hard disk drive again and reduce the chance to retrieve them.

3. Do not save the data recovery tool and files to be restored on the unformatted external hard disk drive. According to guiding steps above, you will be asked to select the location to save the data restoration program and information to be recovered in some certain steps. It I better to store both of them on one of the computer hard disks firstly.

4. Try to plug one storage devices on the computer while recovering data. It is better to insert the unformatted external hard disk drive to the computer only but no other storage device in order to restore the needed data quickly and safely.

5. Other cautions need to be paid attention to.

Popular brands of external hard disk drive

There are a lot of manufactures could be pick up when need an external hard disk drive. We should choose the reliable one from them. Some external hard disk drives are fakes or with poor quality, which can not help us store files efficiently or cause data loss problem. Here are some common brands of external hard disk drive in the market: WD (western digital), Seagate, Toshiba, HGST, SAMSUNG, Intel, Micron, OCZ, Kingston, ADATA

Sources and Citations

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