Windows 10: HDD needs to be formatted before use

I plugged in my HDD yesterday and got the message "Drive needs to be formatted before use". What I already tried:Unplug, shut down my laptop, turned it on, and plugged in the Drive again.Scanned with Defender. I got the scanning on progress report, but the scan ended with no report.My other HDD works just fine.So I ran the chkdsk E: /f command as administrator. Got this result:The type of the file system is NTFS.Then I got this:Chkdsk may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on this volume? Y/N I t

:)

 

How To Format A Write Protected Flash Memory ?

¿You already tried this one?...

Run CMD


1. diskpart
2. list disk

Then in the 3º step, put the correct number of disk in the list for the usb flash (if it's listed in disk 3, then you'll have to write select disk 3).

2. select disk #
3. clean
4. create partition primary
5. select partition 1
6. active
7. format fs=fat32
8. assign
9. exit

with that commands you will format the flash drive in fat32, if you have a large drive you can select also "format fs=ntfs" in step 7.

good luck!

 

External HDD needs format

Hi there @menu

from Windows command mode

1) Diskpart
2) list Disk
3) select disk <disk4> I think it would be in your case
4) clean
5) convert gpt (optional step but I prefer gpt HDD's these days even just for data disks)
6) create partition primary
7) format fs=ntfs quick
8) assign
9) exit

now you should have HDD ready for use and assigned a disk letter.

you don't need to create an efi partition for this disk either.

Cheers
jimbo

 

unlock hdd

Hi Johan,

It is possible that your
HDD was unreadable
causing the error message to appear. We recommend that you perform these troubleshooting steps and check if there are any changes:

• 
  Shutdown
  your
  PC.
  
• 
  Unhooked
  the
  HDD
  and
  turn on
  your
  PC.
  
• 
  Reconnect
  your
  HDD
  and
  restart
  your
  PC.
  

If the issue persists, we suggest that you contact your
laptop/computer's manufacturer
for further assistance.

Update us on how it goes.

Regards.