Windows 7 Seagate hard disk shows not formatted error, how to recover data

[Betterday]

I have a Seagate hard disk drive which has been divided into 2 sections (C drive, D drive) on my PC. Now, the D drive is inaccessible and it says the drive is not formatted. Should I format it? But will I lose everything on the drive after formatting?

 

[Redbrid]

I have a Seagate hard disk drive which has been divided into 2 sections (C drive, D drive) on my PC. Now, the D drive is inaccessible and it says the drive is not formatted. Should I format it? But will I lose everything on the drive after formatting?

Yes, formatting will erase everything on the Seagate external hard drive, so you had better not format it before you can get back the files you need. In order to recover data from an inaccessible drive, you need to rely on data recovery software. You can use iCare Data Recovery because I have used it before. It helped me recover a lot of files and it is a freeware.

 

[Pauli]

DO NOT FORMAT.

There is a certain flaw / necessity with Windows: system partition should be named C, and the primary CD / DVD player should be named D. Many games won't play unless inserted in D - an issue with many variations. D should never be given a secondary partition or any other position but CD / DVD.

1.Can you see your D = the approximate size of it given in Windows: In Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Administrative Tools\Computer Management\Storage > Disk Management? You should see something like the attached file. The two latter ones are DVDs.

2. Can you see the divided partitions in BIOS?

The thing is, renaming the partition might solve the problem. But I would suggest some patience. Perhaps one of the more experienced will appear.

I couldn't find Redbrid's link, it led me, via Google Chrome, to Youtube > watch. Occasional error, I guess.

 

[Jimbo22]

Hey Pauli, in windows it's normal for the partitioned drive to be named D and then the CD/DVD drive takes the next letter in line. I've never had an issues. So, in your theory, how would one set up the new partition...for the novice. To manually assign the partition as the E drive and leaving the CD/DVD drive as the D drive. For the novice, wouldn't this create some unnecessary headaches.

I've never had an issue using windows automated drive letter selection when creating a partition. I've never heard of that flaw you have pointed out. Not to say it's not real or possible just that I've not run across it. Has MS listed any information on the subject?

 

[David Parkar]

I have a Seagate hard disk drive which has been divided into 2 sections (C drive, D drive) on my PC. Now, the D drive is inaccessible and it says the drive is not formatted. Should I format it? But will I lose everything on the drive after formatting?

To recover data from Seagate hard drive after getting not formatted error, you have to use Remo Recover. This tool offers satisfactory outcome in data recovery after getting this error message easily.

 

[badrobot]

I've accidentally deleted an entire partition before but I recovered all my data back with MiniTool Powerdata Recovery. Great recovery software.

 

[Pauli]

@bassfisher: I must admit, I'm not sure how professional my point of view is. I've had problems with this issue = drive letter D must be assigned to CD / DVD, because the function of certain CDs / DVDs won't work otherwise. However, this may be old info and experience, not relevant in Windows 7+. If I remember correctly, I couldn't get Morrowind to play unless in D, to give one example.

As you most probably know, my intention is not to misinform, nor to make life harder, heh. Thanks for your reply, friends do give constructive criticism!

 

[Jimbo22]

@bassfisher: I must admit, I'm not sure how professional my point of view is. I've had problems with this issue = drive letter D must be assigned to CD / DVD, because the function of certain CDs / DVDs won't work otherwise. However, this may be old info and experience, not relevant in Windows 7+. If I remember correctly, I couldn't get Morrowind to play unless in D, to give one example.

As you most probably know, my intention is not to misinform, nor to make life harder, heh. Thanks for your reply, friends do give constructive criticism!

No worries bud....keep on giving out the excellent advice.

 

[Dennyoyon3]

Hey! Keep the below tips in mind as you proceed to recover your D drive data:

1). Nothing is guaranteed. Any improper operation can make your drive data irrecoverable. Moreover, even if the data shows as recoverable, you may find some or all of the drive data to be corrupted and irrecoverable. So, there is no guarantee that you can completely get everything back.

2). Do NOT perform any write processes on the drive. Just leave it alone and avoid write anything new on it. Any form of write to the source device can increase the complexity of the recovery.

3). Apply some computer drive recovery software (like Recuva, iCare Data Recovery Free, TestDisk, etc,) to rescue your needed data as much as possible.

If the data is extremely important for you, you may also spend some money to regain them when these tools make no change.

NO matter what happens again, never forget to make data backups on different devices.

 

[Pauli]

NO matter what happens again, never forget to make data backups on different devices.

That would be very crucial, although I must admit I'm quite lazy with it. Unless one's system is protected, it may only take one lightning, and it's dead and gone. No need to get truly paranoid, though.

 

[hsdfggfg]

I have a Seagate hard disk drive which has been divided into 2 sections (C drive, D drive) on my PC. Now, the D drive is inaccessible and it says the drive is not formatted. Should I format it? But will I lose everything on the drive after formatting?

you can try data recovery software

 

[Linda1678]

I have a Seagate hard disk drive which has been divided into 2 sections (C drive, D drive) on my PC. Now, the D drive is inaccessible and it says the drive is not formatted. Should I format it? But will I lose everything on the drive after formatting?

The computer reminds you that “D drive is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?” Well, this message indicates that your hard disk is incorrectly formatted or is corrupted. Once you choose to format it, all your data will lost without doubt, but if you don’t format it, you can’t access to the data either. Formatting of drive is only a way to convert its file system from RAW to NTFS and probably fix the not formatted error, but before you formatted it, get the important files from the drive by a data recovery program such as Free Any Data Recovery.