Computer dumb *****

[Boomsday 10+ year member]

I need help.. For some reason my 500gb external hard drive says it needs to format for it to work, it has been working fine for 2 years with no problem..I hook it up to my ps3 and it works just fine. Hook it up to my laptop and nothing..

I do not want to format it, I have too many family pics and such on there..

Click to read more...

 

[CrossoverOre 10+ year member]

does your computer even recognize it? I would give it a shot on a different computer and see what happens I would guess the something is up with your computer if you can connect to ps3 and is works.

 

[NightScreams 10+ year member]

Sounds like your drive is not formatted to the NTFS, otherwise it must be some other type of error making Windows think it's not formatted.

Hook it up to your PS3, take all your stuff and put it into a USB drive or something if you can fit it. Then try to format from PC. You might also try to right click on the drive under "my computer" and select properties and then the Tools tab and do a scan for bad errors.

Another try is download a LinuxLive CD or put it on a bootable USB. Boot that takes you into the Linux OS, you should beable to copy all your stuff from that external drive and put it onto your Laptop drive or something, backup to DVD...whatever. Then do a format...either way, i'd get that stuff off there, could be your drive might be going bad despite PS3 seeing it fine.

 

[Boomsday 10+ year member]

does your computer even recognize it? I would give it a shot on a different computer and see what happens I would guess the something is up with your computer if you can connect to ps3 and is works.

It does but it just wants me to format it..When I hook it up to my ps3 I can open and play all of my files no problem

 

[NIHL8ION]

What OS are you running on your laptop? Also - You mentioned it was working fine for 2 years prior & now nothing? Was this on that SAME laptop with the SAME installation of the OS you are running NOW? It is possible that the drive now has corrupted sectors and windows errors upon plugging it in because it can't read the format of it anymore, where your PS3 does not check it as thoroughly so it reads it fine still... If that's the case the HDD is probably on it's way out, I would copy and backup any data that you can on it as soon as possible just in case because I would not trust the reliability of it anymore at this point... With the pc powered down plug in your portable HDD, next make sure you pc is set to boot from the cd/dvd rom 1st, then Take ANY linux bootup disk and boot your pc from that... At the installation option splash screen there will be an option to check the hard drive for errors... Run the check on that drive and see what the results are...