Every time you attempt to use an external storage device, you could sometimes see an unexpected hard drive format error that states, "You need to format the drive in drive before you can use it.". However, if you have already tried CMD and it failed to scan the device, you can make use of Remo partition recovery software. To easily regain access to your inaccessible data from a hard drive suffering from format disk error.
It is a very frustrating situation when you are not able to access the External Hard Drive or USB drive in the computer due to errors such as “You need to format the disk in drive X” or “The volume does not contain a file system” and “The file or directory is corrupted or unreadable.”
The situation worsens when you need to immediately access the data in the storage device. But you cannot format the drive to get rid of the error and remain stuck in the situation, as formatting will delete all the data.
If you are wondering how to fix “you need to format the disk in drive error,” then you are at the right place. Read the full article to find out how to fix your hard drive without losing any data.
You can get a format disk error because of various reasons that lead to file system corruption. It happens very often if you frequently force unplug your external Hard drive, SD card, USB, or any other removable device without using the Safely Remove option.
It results in partition table corruption of the device. The partition becomes RAW, which ultimately becomes unreadable for Windows. As a result of this, you might receive the disk format error message "You need to format the disk in the drive before you can use it. Do you want to format it?" when you try to access the storage device.
This is because the file system that holds all the file-related data has now become RAW, thus without this information, the computer is not able to access any file stored in the drive. The PC will suggest formatting the drive to make the storage drive again functional. However, it is a difficult choice for the user as formatting the drive will erase all the precious data in the drive.
If you are facing one of the above situations and are looking to fix format disk errors without losing the data on the drive. You have landed at the right place. Here you will get to know how to fix the "You need to format the disk in drive" error.
Note: Make sure to choose and allocate an appropriate unit size while formatting.
Running the same storage device on another system helps us diagnose the problem easily. Connect the external drive to any other Windows or Mac computer, if you didn’t find any issue with the device or the system, then the storage drive is incompatible with your computer system.
Also, you can try to use a different computer and connect the external storage device to check if the file system is recognized.
Virus attacks can severely damage the file system. Running an antivirus scan on the computer on a regular basis can remove any potential virus on the computer and also stop the virus from damaging the computer even more.
This is one of the effective methods that can help solve the Format disk error or “The file directory is corrupted or unreadable” error with the Windows built-in utility. The command helps in identifying any bad sectors as well as the corrupted or missing file system. Perform the below steps to remove the fix format disk error.
After the scan is complete, exit from the command prompt and restart the computer. Now check the volume again for its functionality. Sometimes, if the drive is RAW the CHKDSK can also return an error message stating "CHKDSK not available for raw drives". Hence, you need to be aware that the CHKDSK may or may not help you solve the issue all the time.
In case the scanning is unsuccessful, the only other way to fix the format disk error is by formatting the drive.
Formatting is the process of preparing a hard disk drive, or other storage devices fit for reuse. Formatting a hard drive means losing all of your data stored in it; it makes perfect sense to first recover data from the drive save it elsewhere, and then format it.
All you need is powerful hard drive data recovery software that can help you recover data and allow you to fix format disk errors after formatting the hard drive. When you format a hard drive to resolve certain errors, the data on it is not permanently gone; instead, it is marked as free and can be readily retrieved using the Remo Recover Software.
Unless the formatted drive is not overwritten with the new data, data is recoverable with utmost ease. Remo Recover’s Automated Dual Scan technology enables sector-level scan of the hard drive and helps you recover the whole drive in one go. The AI-powered smart scanners are designed to identify more than 500 file types.
Steps to recover data from formatted disk using Remo recover
Step 1. Download and install Remo Recover and start the recovery process
Step 2. Click on the hard drive with the error disk code from which you choose to recover data and hit the Scan button.
Note: If your hard drive with disk error is not detected, use the Can’t Find Drive option to easily get them and choose your hard drive to Scan.
Step 3. The tool will initiate Quick Scan, automatically followed by Deep Scan. You can recover your data simultaneously while the Deep Scan is running, by going through the Dynamic Recovery View.
Step 4. After you Preview the recovered data. Click on the files you wish to recover from the drive and hit Recover to save the files to the destination location.
Note: Never save the recovered data on the same drive that has been restored.
Now that you have successfully recovered your data from your drive, you can go ahead and format your hard drive.
Formatting erases all existing files, folders, and partitions on the drive. This removes any potentially corrupted files or directory structures causing the "You Need to Format the Disk in Drive Before You Can Use It" error.
Conclusion
In the case of an external hard drive or USB, check the drive by connecting it to a different computer; if the drive works well on another device, time spent on fixing the device can be avoided. In case you have a formatted hard drive make use of Remo Recover to quickly recover the data in the drive.
If a hard drive format error message pops up on your screen. Stating you need to format the disk in the drive before using it. We always suggest users fix the issue first before formatting. Run the antivirus scan or perform the steps for chkdsk as mentioned in the above article.
Not really. Hard drive formatting is usually required when a user adopts a new operating system. This can also happen if you have space issues and need more space to store more data on the drive.
Yes, you can fix a corrupted HDD by formatting it with a new file system. Logical disk corruption is often caused by file system corruption. Formatting the partition with a new file system can easily fix a corrupt hard drive.
By formatting, a hard drive you will lose all your important data as the formation of a drive will erase all the files. But you can take a backup of your drive or use a data recovery tool to recover your data before formatting a hard drive.