Do i need to initialize my j book for it to be recognized. my j book is not recognized on my computer?
If you have already put files on it, initializing will most likely delete everything!
I assume "initialize" refers to Windows asking if it should format the hard drive.
If your drive is suddenly not recognized, the filesystem has probably gone bad. This can happen if you disconnect the drive while data is still being written to it. For this reason you should always "safely remove" USB drives.
If the filesystem is corrupted and cannot be accessed, you might be able to save your data by using special recovery software. One tool of the trade is the commandline-based "testdisk" utility for Linux, which I have succesfully used to restore entire filesystems without any data loss.
If you want to rescue your data, the worst thing you can do now is to initialize the drive or use it in any way that changes the content.
If you don't care whether the content is deleted, just initialize it or do whatever it takes for it to be recognized.
Please state if you want help on restoring your data.
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