# "You need to format the drive before you can use it"



## Branz (Apr 16, 2009)

I recently purchased a Buffalo removable hard drive, and had no problems with it (i.e my music could move across and i could view all the files no problem at all)
But last night my computer told me that I had to restart in 5 minutes, so I postponed for 4 hours, and went to bed, because I was virus scanning and defragging.

Now after waking up this morning, hoping to move a few songs across, I double click the drive. I get the message "You need to format the drive before you can use it"

However this should not be the case, as I have used it before and it has data on it.

Anybody know how I can fix this?


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## bhahar84 (Jan 7, 2008)

Hi Branz :wave:

Did you already try to remove your drive from the computer and re-inserted it again? Did it fix the issue? 

If the above step did not fix the issue, try to unplug the drive from the computer and restart your computer. Once your computer up and running, try to plug them in again. How does it works now?


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## rakeshkodachwad (Apr 20, 2009)

i have a USB 2.0 card reader , and a mobile phone sony ericssion w700i i load the memory card with photos and vidoes from the phone and now what to view the same in the pc but when connected i dont find any files in the card should i formate the card or is there any software to do this.


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## bhahar84 (Jan 7, 2008)

rakeshkodachwad said:


> i have a USB 2.0 card reader , and a mobile phone sony ericssion w700i i load the memory card with photos and vidoes from the phone and now what to view the same in the pc but when connected i dont find any files in the card should i formate the card or is there any software to do this.


Hi rakeshkodachwad :wave:

I would strongly suggest you to start a new thread since this thread is actually belongs to Branz. Posting on others thread might confusing the original creator and you as the troubleshooting steps provided might posted to someone else 

By the way, welcome to TSF :wink:


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## Branz (Apr 16, 2009)

Yep I tried both of them, I also saw somewhere that if you restart it with it plugged in, it fixes the issue.
Didn't work though, thanks for replying anyway


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## mercurous (Sep 22, 2008)

tested on another computer? maybe the drive failed, im not sure how expensive, or rarther the quality of buffalo removable harddrive.


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## Branz (Apr 16, 2009)

The drive was £80 for 500gb, so it wasn't too expensive, but the customer reviews of the item were generally very high.
I'll try testing it on another computer when I can, which should be in a couple days.


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## bhahar84 (Jan 7, 2008)

Branz said:


> The drive was £80 for 500gb, so it wasn't too expensive, but the customer reviews of the item were generally very high.
> I'll try testing it on another computer when I can, which should be in a couple days.


Ok, you can post here back again after you have tested it with the other computer. If its still failing, maybe it was something to do with the hard drive itself (you may want to change it if it is still under warranty)


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## Branz (Apr 16, 2009)

I just tried it on another computer this morning, and it says the same.
I guess it is the hard drive failing then, luckily it's still under warranty.

Thanks for the help guys


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