Must format passport?

I’ve been having problems with my passport for some time now.I was just recently sent a new 3.0 USB cord and see if this would fix the issue. When i plug my passport in, it starts up normally asking me for my password so I could acces my files. After i type the password in correctly, it tells me that i must format. I have too much data on my passport to erase it all.

Help…What do i do!!!

OK, that sounds like a data corruption problem, just be sure to connect the passport directly to the computer and avoid using any USB extension cables or USB hubs. To recover your files you can use a data recovery program like recuva or testdisk. 

My passport is directly attached, and I can’t even see the files on the passport because it says I must format before doing anything

Yes, so it is being recognized by the computer once you unlock it, so you can use one of the data recovery programs that I recommended to scan the passport and see what files you can recover. 

Sometimes booting from a Linux Live CD wil also allow data recovery.

Joe