Every time it asks me to format my external hard drive before using
Some days ago, when I start my pc, it told me to format my external hard drive in order to use it. I did and then I can save data on it with access to the data. However, today when I turn on my pc, it again asked to format the external hard drive. Be bored with this I canceled it, but with another message came said “Location is not available" and told me that "The volume does not contain a recognized file system". However, I can see the drive in device and printers identified as a FreeAgent drive. Under the hardware tab properties, it says: "Device status: This device is working properly". What strange is this didn’t happen to my laptop. I’m so confused!
Comments
The device manager status is independent of the file system. So long as the hardware is physically recognized by the computer it will show up properly there and tell you that it's working properly. The other issue, the message stating there's no recognized file system, could be related to the drive itself possibly due to file system corruption or could be related to the PC having a problem that prevents it from reading the file system properly from the external drive. One thing to remember is that after the drive is working properly it should be shut down correctly so as to not damage the file system. Before you unplug it, remember to use the Hardware Ejection wizard in Windows to release the drive. Then power it down if it has an a power switch before unplugging the USB cable.
Thank you for your explicit explanation!
You are welcome.