External Harddrive No Longer Working, MSG "Format Drive"

I keep getting the message to reformat my Rock Mobile Disk (Ext. Harddrive). It was working fine a two days ago. It was working well since I bought it late last year. I've got a lot of files on there & I don't know what to do.


I plug it in, the light (which should be green) goes red. It shows up on the computer as drive "J" but when I click it on I get the message that the drive needs to be formatted. I've never gotten this message before & I'm afraid that if I follow the formatting prompts it will erase all of my files on the drive.

What should I do? Is there a solution to this problem at all?

 

That's what I suspected about the formatting thing. Thank you for confirming that. I'll try to do what you suggested. It may take awhile for me to give you feedback on that though 'cause I don't know how to do those things just yet lol

 

Try 'testdisk' , that error is an indication that the Volume Boot Record (VBR) is bad. testdisk will check the backup and if good will replace the primary with the backup. Be sure to read the How-To-Use first, paying attention to Recover boot record info.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/index.html?testdisk.html

Be sure to download the correct version of testdisk ie: Win98/dos or XP/Win2k. The program will not write to the disk without your conformation with a Yes, so you can cancel at any time for more help.

 

Okay. I'll look into that too. I never heard of testdisk.