Help i accidentially formatted external hard drive

Rim X Warfare · Nov 8, 2017

please help i formatted my external hard drive with all my games and saves i really need them back is there a way i can revert it thank you.

:)

n7oldnavy · Nov 8, 2017

HELP

My Xbox One Can"t format my external hard drive or move/copy games Help.

Legion413 · Nov 8, 2017

File recovery from HD formatted by Xbox One

I need some help from my fellow gamers. I'm wondering if any of you know how to recover files from a formatted hard drive. More specifically a Toshiba 3TB external hard drive that was formatted by an Xbox One. The problem I am having is that my computer wont recognize it anymore when I plug the hard drive into it. Can anyone help me figure out how to get my data back from it (if it still exists)?

Internet Expert · Nov 8, 2017

If you reformat a drive, there's no way to get the data back. Reformatting completely erases it.

Assuming you keep your Xbox One connected to the internet, your game saves, digital game/app purchases, and profile information are automatically stored on the Microsoft cloud. Accessing this data is only a matter of logging in to your account on the Xbox. You'll
have to reinstall your games though, either by disc or download.

X Kalomn · Nov 1, 2018

In another forum post, a mod mentioned that formatting doesn't actually delete the data. So long as you haven't written anything over it, you could be able to use special data recovery software to get your saves back. I'm assuming this is easier with a media
storage device than with one formatted for games and apps since PCs can't read that data. Then there's the issue with transferring that data onto a formatted drive, then another issue with Xbox verifying your saved data. I wish you the best of luck, I know
how it feels to lose all your time.

Internet Expert

If you reformat a drive, there's no way to get the data back. Reformatting completely erases it.

Assuming you keep your Xbox One connected to the internet, your game saves, digital game/app purchases, and profile information are automatically stored on the Microsoft cloud. Accessing this data is only a matter of logging in to your account on the Xbox. You'll
have to reinstall your games though, either by disc or download.

X Kalomn

In another forum post, a mod mentioned that formatting doesn't actually delete the data. So long as you haven't written anything over it, you could be able to use special data recovery software to get your saves back. I'm assuming this is easier with a media
storage device than with one formatted for games and apps since PCs can't read that data. Then there's the issue with transferring that data onto a formatted drive, then another issue with Xbox verifying your saved data. I wish you the best of luck, I know
how it feels to lose all your time.

XBF Ezra G

Hi Cipher XIII,

Thanks for your post. I understand you are experiencing an issue with uninstalling a game on your external hard drive. Have you attempted to re-format your hard drive? You may want to check your hard drive's manual on the proper steps to format it.

Formatting will completely wipe your hard drive's data, this should correct any issues with installation and uninstallation on your external hard drive.

I hope this helps.

XBF Brad A

Hello Edward,

Thanks for the replies. We recommend trying to format the external hard drive on a PC. Make sure to format to NTFS. Also here is a guide for issues

detecting external hard drive. If the hard drive is not compatible with the console it will read it as a media device no matter the format.

Thanks,

Brad

KrizanLovich

as per the other comments about the use of the external hard drive for the 360 I am in the update preview program which allows additional External hard drives to be used.I purchased the same Seagate 2tb external hard drive as per my xboxone but when I apply
the format on the xbox360 as per the instructions it replies with unable to format. Would like to know what external hard drives are compatible? I no the hard drive works as tried it on the xboxone after it would not format for the 360

thanks

NZ Racer

Help i accidentially formatted external hard drive