Why does everything i plugg in to my computer say format is required

[gurp009]

hello everyone when i plug any device into my computer through usb it says format device (i pod external memory flash stick camera sd card) any please thanks

 

[house70]

It usually does that when the media is not formatted in NTFS or FAT. Also when filesystem gets corrupted by unplugging the media without ejecting it first, during a read/write.

 

[gurp009]

thanks for that i have unpluged stuff with out ejecting first what do i do to the computer

 

[ssddx]

windows or mac?

i know windows supports hot swapping. this means that you can disconnect devices without ejecting them. keep in mind that there is a setting you can click to allow faster performance that disables this hot swapping without eject. also keep in mind that if you are writing to the external device and you unplug it hotswap will not help you.

 

[house70]

The computer is OK, but the media that got corrupted... will need re-formatting.
Use a different OS, preferably linux-based (because it can read any filesystem), like Ubuntu, to mount the devices/media and copy the important files from them to a separate drive; then re-format the media on your PC and transfer files back on it, if needed.

 

[gurp009]

thanks 4 all ur help sorted

 

[house70]

can you share how you sorted it out?

 

[WyomingKnott]

windows or mac?

i know windows supports hot swapping. this means that you can disconnect devices without ejecting them. keep in mind that there is a setting you can click to allow faster performance that disables this hot swapping without eject. also keep in mind that if you are writing to the external device and you unplug it hotswap will not help you.

If I understood what you wrote correctly, this is a dangerous mis-statement. If I misunderstood and my criticism is gross calumny, I apologize in advance.

Hot-swapping means that you can remove or add hardware while the system is running. If you remove a drive that is cached without going through the eject process, there is a significant chance of corrupting some or all of your data.

If you disable caching on the drive as you describe, it is still a good idea to eject before removing to prevent the situation that you describe, removing the drive while it is writing.

Always, always go through the "Safely Remove Hardware" process before removing a disk from a running system.

 

[harddrivemaster]

If your data is important and it turns out the partition is corrupt or the drive is bad you can get it repaired and recovered at www.dtidata.com/hard_drive_recovery.htm I have used them for years and they get back some really difficult cases

 

[house70]

If I understood what you wrote correctly, this is a dangerous mis-statement. If I misunderstood and my criticism is gross calumny, I apologize in advance.

Hot-swapping means that you can remove or add hardware while the system is running. If you remove a drive that is cached without going through the eject process, there is a significant chance of corrupting some or all of your data.

If you disable caching on the drive as you describe, it is still a good idea to eject before removing to prevent the situation that you describe, removing the drive while it is writing.

Always, always go through the "Safely Remove Hardware" process before removing a disk from a running system.

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