External Hard Drive Not Formatted? Here's 6 Fixes

Yeah, the external disk is very convenient, so many users are willing to use it. However, sometimes, we may encounter disk errors, such as external hard drive not showing up, external hard drive access denied, etc., here we focus on external hard drive not formatted errors.

External Hard Drive Says Not Formatted Error

You may be surprised to learn that there are two closely related types of format errors - external hard drive asking to format and not formatted, usually with different error messages.

• "You need to format the drive before you can use it"
• "The format did not complete successfully."
• "The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error."
• "Drive is not accessible. The parameter is incorrect."

The following example illustrates this phenomenon well.

In this situation, your disk is not accessible, usually showing up as RAW in Disk Management, and you can't use it to store any data. If there are any important data, you are at risk of losing them. To avoid this. it's necessary to recover files from RAW external hard drive first.

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⭐Part 1: Recover Data from External Hard Drive Not Formatted

MyRecover is a reliable and easy-to-use data recovery software for Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, etc and Windows Server, integrated with two advanced scanning methods, you can easily find as many files as possible and recover them with a high success rate and fast speed.

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Why Choose MyRecover?

• Apply to: recover data from not formatted, corrupted, or unaccessible external hard drives, USB drives, memory cards, etc.
• It has a free version that recovers data up to 500MB.
• 1000+ formats - recover deleted or lost documents (e.g. recover Word documents), images, audios, videos, compressed files, etc., and more.
• Pinpointing files - search or filter files quickly through types, file names, extensions, etc. You can preview for confirmation.
• Fast recovery - recover specific files or folders instead of all, without waiting for the final result.
• Wide compatibility - support NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS file systems.
• Powerful data processing - retrieve files lost in any scenario, such as accidental deletion, formatting, virus infection, corrupted disk, etc.

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To get started, free download Windows data recovery software- MyRecover and install it on your Windows PC.

Step 1. Open MyRecover. Hover the mouse over the external hard drive not formatted, and click Scan.

Step 2. The software will automatically scan the selected drive and display all the deleted or lost files.

You can also filter specific files if you don’t want to recover all data on external hard drive. Directly type its file name or extension in the Search for files or folders box. Or click the Filter button to specify the file type (eg: Word documents), date modified, and size.

Step 3. Select the files you want to recover and click Recover xxx files. You don’t need to wait for the final scanning result if you find files that need to be recovered.

Step 4. Select a new folder to store the recovered files. Click Select Folder to confirm you want to recover the selected files in this folder.

​​You still can use it to recover data from USB that needs formatting, recover files from formatted hard drive, fix RAW SD card without losing data, and other data loss scenarios.

⭐Part 2: Fix External Hard Drive Not Formatted Error Safely

Some users may try to fix the format disk errors on external hard drive using CHKDSK, but receive “CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives”. That’s because this method can only work for recognized file systems. If it’s a RAW drive, please try the other 6 methods below. However, in order not to risk your data, please get them off with data recovery software first.

#1: Try Simple Fixes First

Here are collections of some simple fixes to fix external hard drive not formatted with NTFS, FAT32, FAT, etc., compatible file systems. You can try them and see if it works.

#2: Change Drive Letter

If your external hard drive does not have a drive letter, you can try to assign it with a new one.

Step 1. Press Win + X and select Disk Management. Then, find out the unformatted external hard drive.

Step 2. Right-click this disk and select Change Drive Letter or Path.

Step 3. In the popup window, click Change. Then, select a new drive letter and click OK to confirm it.

#3: Update Hardware Drivers

If you don’t update disk driver for a long time, you can also try this.

Step 1. Press Win + X and select Device Manager.

Step 2. Expand Disk drives, right-click the unformatted external disk and select Update driver.

Step 3. Click Search automatically for drivers. It will install drivers for the selected disk automatically.

#4: Run SFC & DISM Command

Both SFC and DISM command helps to scan file system and fix corrupted system files, such as SYS, EXE, or DLL files may cause format disk error in external hard drive.

Step 1. Press Win + X and select Windows PowerShell(Admin).

Step 2. In the command prompt window, type sfc /scannow and press Enter.

Step 3. Then, type DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and press Enter.

#5: Delete Partition and Recreate a New One

You can also choose to delete partition and recreate a new one in Disk Management.

Step 1. Open Disk Management and find out the problematic disk. Right-click it and select Delete Volume.

Step 2. In the “Delete simple volume” window, click Yes to confirm this deletion.

Step 3. After deleting, you will see a new unallocated space. Right-click it and select New Simple Volume.

Step 4. In the “New Simple Wizard”, click Next.

Step 5. Then, you will be asked to specify volume size, new drive letter, and format it. Click Next and wait for the operation to complete.

#6: Format External Hard Drive with DiskPart

This is the last resort to fix formatting errors you can try. 

Step 1. Press Win + R and type diskpart in the Run window. Then, click OK to open it.

Step 2. Enter the following commands and press Enter after each line.

• list disk
• select X (X is your external disk number.)
• clean
• create partition primary
• format fs=ntfs quick (or format fs=fat32 quick)
• exit

How to Prevent This Error from Happening Again

In order not to experience this error again, along with potential data loss, you need some good usage habits or take some necessary precautions.

Concluding Words

If you are experiencing external hard drive not formatted error, you can try the 6 effective methods above to fix it. At the same time, it’s important to recover files from external hard drive if there are critical data for you. Free download MyRecover to have a try!

In addition, if you want to prevent this error in the future, you need to follow a good habit, such as use the safe eject option, turn on antivirus software, save copies of your files, etc. Hope it helps you. If you think it’s helpful, please share it with your friends.