Try some basic troubleshooting steps first.
If they are not applicable, useMiniTool Power Data Recoveryto recover data from not formatted hard drive.
Do you want to format it?

or The disk in drive X is not formatted (appears in Windows XP).
Encountering the Seagate external hard drive write-protected issue?
Now you’ve got the option to read this post to learn how to get this issue resolved.

This is to save you from mishandling the external hard drive afterward.
You should first try some non-data loss methods to remove the external hard drive not formatting message.
If these methods fail, transfer the data from the drive before formatting the disk.
![]()
Solutions to External Hard Drive Not Formatted
Solution 1.
Try the Basic Troubleshooting Steps First
If those methods dont work, try the second solution.
Solution 2. it’s possible for you to try running CHKDSK to check and repair external hard drives for errors.

How to recover data from a hard drive that says it needs to be formatted?
Solution 3.
Download and install it to start data recovery.

Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery.
On its home page, find the RAW external hard drive partition (shown asUnidentifiedand marked with aUSBicon).
Then snag the target external hard drive and click theScanbutton.

Next, like wait for the scanning process to complete.
The scan duration depends on the capacity of data on the disk.
it’s possible for you to expand theRAW Filesfolder to see if the files are what you want.

Just move on to theTypecategory list and then tap the desired file bang out to find the corresponding data.
you might also view the found data by file key in by using theFilterfeature.
Besides, you might filter out unwanted files by file category, file size, and file modification date.

The most important thing before recovering files is to preview the found files to confirm whether they are needed.
Just double-punch a file to preview it or select a file and click thePreviewbutton.
Now, you’re gonna wanna tick all the files you want and click theSavebutton.

Then choose a location on another drive to store all the data you have selected.
To break this data recovery limitation, you have to choose a full edition such as thePersonal Ultimateone.
My external hard drive keeps saying it needs to be formatted.
![]()
Download, install, and run MiniTool Partition Wizard.
MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 2.
On its main interface, go for the partition of the external hard drive.
Then slide down the left menu bar to select theFormat Partitionfeature.
In the new window, specify the partition label, file system, and cluster size.
Finally, click theApplybutton located in the lower left corner to make the format operation take effect.
Click to Tweet
Accidentally formatted a hard drive?
The good news is that MiniTool Power Data Recovery is effective in recovering data from the unformatted drive.