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I have internal 2TB hdd encrypted with bitlocker for almost 5 years, I have been using for just backup
I did a restart and after unlocking and try to open it, the windows tells me the drive is not formatted and I must format it first before using it !!!
If i press cancel another message comes after that telling me the driver is not accessible and the volume doesn't contain a recognized file system
I am using windows 8.1 ultimate
how can fix this problem ?
Muhammad Nour
Posted 2015-09-03T11:10:10.343
Reputation: 109
You can't. It sound like the drive has failed and the required Bitlocker header is missing. – Ramhound – 2015-09-03T11:16:35.743
I can actually unlock the drive the windows is accepting my password and it shows the unlocked lock icon on the drive – Muhammad Nour – 2015-09-03T11:19:58.043
If it is asking you to format the drive, the drive still has failed, a healthy working HDD does not out of the blue lose its filesystem. – Ramhound – 2015-09-03T11:22:35.907
can I do unformat or recovery !! – Muhammad Nour – 2015-09-03T11:24:35.103
Recovery from your backup and doing a format on a broken HDD won't fix the HDD, it will make it so you can use it, until the HDD fail completely. I cannot recommend you do that for obvious reasons. You should replace the drive and restore your backup to that drive. – Ramhound – 2015-09-03T11:26:45.277
I am planning on doing this anyway I just need to know how to recover the files from the failed bitlocker drive ! – Muhammad Nour – 2015-09-03T11:29:32.260
Once successfully mounted you should be able to recover the data using the file recovery program of your choice. – Ramhound – 2015-09-03T11:36:33.520
1You say the drive has just been used for backups - if so, you still have the original files on the live/main drives. I'd replace the broken backup drive with a new drive and carry on making backups to the new drive. – RedGrittyBrick – 2015-09-03T13:36:35.787