--- title: "Data Recovery from Adata External Drive: The Computer Wanted to Format It Upon Connection - EXALAB" description: "The computer suddenly wanted to format the disk and the data was inaccessible. Data recovery from an Adata external drive / Samsung internal drive required hardware and software interventions." url: "https://www.exalab.cz/en/blog/from-practice/labnotes/data-recovery-from-adata-external-drive-the-computer-wanted-to-format-it-upon-connection" date: "2026-06-20T00:17:28+00:00" language: "en-GB" --- ## Data Recovery from Adata External Drive: The Computer Wanted to Format It Upon Connection Many users use external hard drives for various purposes. They serve to store expendable data that we can afford to lose in case of drive failure, but also important data that should be stored in at least two copies. Neglecting backups can sometimes backfire at an inconvenient time, and the external drive fails. The age of the drive, how it is handled, and other factors can cause the drive to fail to connect. In the best-case scenario, the drive turns on, makes no unusual sounds, but the data is inaccessible. This was exactly the case here. ![Data Recovery from Adata External Drive: The Computer Wanted to Format It Upon Connection](https://www.exalab.cz/images/blog/EN2404302-obnova-dat-z-externiho-disku-adata-fw1200.jpg) When the drive was connected, the user's computer asked if they wanted to format the media. This can have various causes, and in the case of this drive, the failing surface of the data platters caused file system errors, making the data inaccessible to the user. At such a moment, the user should not experiment with the drive and should seek professional help. ![Hotline](https://www.exalab.cz/images/svg/hotline.svg)DATA RECOVERY +420 608 177 773 Data recovery from this Samsung drive (in an Adata enclosure) was accomplished by removing the drive from the external enclosure, backing up the service data, and creating a binary copy of the content via the SATA interface. Then it was necessary to reconstruct the file system. The drive was used in a Windows operating system with the NTFS file system. NTFS is more suitable for reconstructing the structure and files in such damage compared to ExFAT or FAT32. NTFS is a so-called journaling system and contains indexes that help with reconstruction. The data was thus successfully recovered from the drive, and errors affected only some directories and their structure - the original names were missing. However, this was not an obstacle for the client, and they were satisfied with the result. **Ext. Drive:** Adata Superior SH93 **Int. Drive:** Samsung ST1000LM024, HN-M101MBB **Capacity:** 1TB **Issue:** Data platter surface errors, file system failure, computer wanted to format the drive **Solution:** Binary copy, file system reconstruction **Result:** Insignificant structure errors, almost all data recovered The story of the data from this Adata drive ended well. Although the file structure was partially damaged, the vast majority of the data could be recovered. Not every story of a damaged hard drive ends with a relatively straightforward data recovery solution. The data platters can be more severely damaged. The magnetic heads of the drive may fail, or worse, the primary cause could be a drop or impact. In the event of a failure of any data medium containing important data, it is better to immediately entrust the case to professionals for assessment. Do not hesitate to contact us with any questions regarding data recovery from hard drives or other data media. Details By Frantisek Fridrich Frantisek Fridrich Parent Category: [Z praxe](https://www.exalab.cz/en/blog/from-practice) [LABnotes](https://www.exalab.cz/en/blog/from-practice/labnotes) ## Schema ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://www.exalab.cz/en" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Blog", "item": "https://www.exalab.cz/en/blog" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "From Practice", "item": "https://www.exalab.cz/en/blog/from-practice" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "LABnotes", "item": "https://www.exalab.cz/en/blog/from-practice/labnotes" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Data Recovery from Adata External Drive: The Computer Wanted to Format It Upon Connection", "item": "https://www.exalab.cz/en/blog/from-practice/labnotes/data-recovery-from-adata-external-drive-the-computer-wanted-to-format-it-upon-connection.md" } ] } ``` ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://www.exalab.cz/en/blog/from-practice/labnotes/data-recovery-from-adata-external-drive-the-computer-wanted-to-format-it-upon-connection.md" }, "headline": "Data Recovery from Adata External Drive: The Computer Wanted to Format It Upon Connection", "description": "The computer suddenly wanted to format the disk and the data was inaccessible. Data recovery from an Adata external drive / Samsung internal drive required hardware and software interventions.", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://www.exalab.cz/images/blog/EN2404302-obnova-dat-z-externiho-disku-adata-fw1200.jpg" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "EXALAB Data Recovery", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://www.exalab.cz/images/logo/logo_600x600.png" } }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Frantisek Fridrich", "url": "https://www.exalab.cz/en/blog/from-practice/labnotes/data-recovery-from-adata-external-drive-the-computer-wanted-to-format-it-upon-connection" }, "datePublished": "2024-05-31T09:20:46+00:00", "dateCreated": "2024-05-31T09:19:09+00:00", "dateModified": "2026-06-15T07:30:23+00:00" } ```