
In such cases, corruption tends to be limited to the files accessed by the buggy software.
Software bugs: Files stored on a healthy hard drive can become corrupted because of software bugs. Anything from regular wear and tear to minuscule debris floating inside the hard drive enclosure can result in read/write issues and cause hard drive corruption and errors. Read/write issues: Traditional spinning hard drives are complex electro-mechanical devices that rely on the interaction of platters traveling anywhere from 5,400 to 12,000 RPM and delicate read/write heads hovering just a few nanometers above them. There are many reasons why your external hard drive may trigger the “You need to format the disk before you can use it” pop-up window, and you need to understand at least the most common ones to determine the best data recovery approach.
Tip: Don’t Forget to Frequently Back Up Your Data.Symptoms of External Hard Drive Corruption.Recover Your Files with Data Recovery Software
How to Restore Data from External Hard Drive Without Formatting?.