Storage forum: External Hard Drive Requires Formatting after Clean Install

Hi there,

to take care of the formalities, I have a home-built PC which is running Windows 7 Premium x64 via an AMD Phenom II Quad Core Black Edition on an Asus M4A89GTD USB 3.0 motherboard. My external hard drive is an iPro (Samsung HDD) 1.5TB.

I wiped Windows 7 clean last night and installed a fresh copy of Professional x64, as I thought it easier than sifting through the mess of programs to remove them one by one. The first issues I encountered were with drivers for the mobo and graphics card. As the LAN is integrated into the mobo, I was unable to access the net to download the driver that would allow me to enable the LAN. Catch twenty-two, huh?

Anyways, after getting all of the appropriate drivers squared away, I figured on connecting my external drive to restore my documents and programs back to the clean install. Prior to the clean install, my external hard drive was labelled as "i:" and usually popped up within 5 seconds of connecting it via a rear USB 3.0 port.

Now, once connected to the same port, post clean install, it hangs for about 20-30 seconds before appearing as "e:." Upon being detected, Windows 7 insists that it must be formatted.

After calming down from a near heart attack at the tender, young age of twenty-three, I grabbed my Linux laptop and connected the external hard drive with success.

So, my question is this. If my external hard drive was recognized on Windows 7, why would it suddenly not be recognized after reinstalling? Also, if Linux can still access the contents, as it always has, why can't Windows 7?

Okay, here's the kicker. (Laugh at will)

- This is my only copy of all of my important data, such as home studio recordings, vacation pictures, business records, etc.

- I currently do not have the capacity on my laptop to temporarily store 1200gigs+ from the external drive in order to format it.

I really appreciate any help given! If anybody needs more details on my hardware, please let me know!


*Also, under the "Disk Management" tab in Computer Management, External Disk (E:) shows as "Healthy (Active, Primary Partition)" in the status column.