Why does it say I have to format?

[novadestin]

i have a wester digtial 120 gig hard drive from my old computer that I put into my new one. But when i tried to look at the data it says I have to format the drive, which i know will delete all the data (the drive is almost full).

So I but it back in my old computer thinking I would transfer the data to another computer first and it still tells me I have to format it. Also, when I look at the drive in administrator area, it gives me the stats for my new computer.

My new computer has a 80 gig hard drive which is split in two, one being the c drive at 69 gigs and another being a "recovery" drive at 5 gigs. So when I put the 120 gig drive back in my old computer and look at it in the administrator area it says that (instead of the f and e drives both being 55 gigs) it shows the e drive as 5 gigs and the f drive at 69 with 37 gigs unallocted.

I can not format the drive until i get the info off of it, but i can't access it. My boyfriend says it is because it is a secure drive and that prevents people from getting your data if it was stolen. Which is nice, but there should be a password or someting if its the same person.

Is there anyway to fix this without having to do data recovery?

[BipolarBill]

Did you have GoBack installed on the Old PC?

Another possibility is that the Western Digital is not jumpered properly. You must remove the jumper if there is no slave present. Only make it master when a slave is connected to the cable too.

[Imperion1]

Welcome to system.

Try as Bipolar has said.
What kind of drivel is your boyfriend feeding you? A secure drive, highly unlikely. Especially if the 120Gig is out of one of your own computers.

[novadestin]

the 8 gig drive that game with my old computer is set as the master. and no i don't have the program. i can't access the internet on my old computer now so i can't download anything.

[BipolarBill]

So the 120GB was a slave?

When you connected the 120GB to the new PC, was it also slaved? Western Digital drives are very tricky.

Anyway, I bet that the 120GB is formatted NTFS. When you connected it to the new PC, XP probably "signed" the drive and converted something on the drive. Now it's not the same, unfortunately, and the other PC can't recognize it. Bad deal. :(

[novadestin]

the 120 was the slave on both. i have win 2000 on my old comp and win xp on the new one, which is not by choice.

[Imperion1]

Bipolar has a point.