open an external hard drive without formatting

JKK200

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Feb 26, 2014
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my external hard drive is asking to be formated but i want the data inside how do I open it without losing the data?
 
Assuming a Windows system (Linux wouldn't throw that erro rmessage) open a Command Prompt and type
chkdsk x: /r
where x is the drive letter of the external. That should run a five stage process that finds and tries to fix any disk errors and it may make teh disk show up properly in My Computer next time you look.