How to format toshiba harddrive HDD5500E04X

Hi, I'm a complete novice to this so hopefully I'll get my point across.

I just bought a Toshiba 500GB External hard drive HDDR500E04X (Not XL) on ebay (I hope I don't regret it!).
I have never bought an external hard drive before so I had assumed I'd be able to plug it in a use it. No such luck.
I am using Windows 7, service pack 1. It is not recognising the hard-drive when I plug it in.
When I first tried to use it my system initialised the new hardware and I got a message saying it was ready to use. But now the system just doesn't recognise it.

Any help received it very much appreciated.

 

Does the drive show up in Disk Management? You may have to give it a drive letter. Try connecting to a USB port on the back of the computer if one is available.

 

The following advice is given on the understanding that any data on the drive may be lost. Since it's a drive that is new to you I presume that isn't a problem, but it bears saying if others follow the steps:

1. Click on start and type diskmgmt.msc in the search bar.
2. This opens the Disk Management interface and displays all connected hard drives and partitions.
3. Select the drive from your disk management interface which doesn’t have a drive letter.
4. Right click & Select Change Drive Letter and Paths from the context menu.
5. Click on the Add button in the next menu and pick a drive letter from the pull down menu.
6. Click OK to assign selected drive letter and check your windows explorer or My Computer to confirm the drive is now visible.

Caveat - it may have been formatted on a Windows XP machine and you many need to initialise the disk beforehand. You may get a pop-up about this when starting Disk Management - the defaults should be fine, just click OK to initialise it.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Shaun

 

Thanks for the replies folks. Unfortunately, the disk isn't showing in Disk Management. It's only showing the C Drive which the the internal hard drive for my laptop.
I have tried the Toshiba website for the driver but it doesn't have it. I left a message on the Toshiba forum looking for the driver but I haven't had any replies to it yet.
I stupidly uninstalled the hd somehow, which is why I'm now looking for the driver.
It actually was showing in Disk Management as the E Drive but Windows couldn't read it. Now it's completely gone!!!
Any more suggestions would be great?

 

Do you have the option of connecting the drive to another computer?

 

Hey thanks for the info so far.

I used another laptop and assigned it a letter drive. So it's working fine on the other laptop but it still won't work on mine!

"Please insert a disk into Removable Drive (F)" is the message I'm getting on my laptop.

I have tried to find the driver on the other computer that would have been automatically installed when it was first connected. But I can't find it.

 

Are you sure the drive is not showing in Disk Management. If may just show up as a disk. See this link.

http://www.troublefixers.com/how-to-fix-please-insert-a-disk-into-drive-error-in-windows/

 

In addition to my last message, I have also updated driver software in Device Manager for the hard drive and it says my driver software is up-to-date!
But windows is still failing to recognise it.

 

Hi tgell, didn't see your reply before I posted again. I'm 100% positive it isn't in Disk Mgt, I just checked your link and followed the instructions as far as I could. The only drive that's showing in the top window is the C Drive. The external hard drive is showing as Disk 2 in the bottom window but it won't allow me to change the Drive letter. I had only changed the drive letter earlier to F on another laptop and it worked fine on that. It's mine that's giving the problem.

It is however showing in Device Manager on my laptop and the device status is showing as working properly. But it obviously isn't!!

Argh. My head is melted from this.
I'm due to give birth any day now, literally, and I need to get my laptop backed up before then as it's all my work files.

 

If it is not allowing you to change a drive letter, does it let you change the letter to something like T: Try in an admin account.

Edit: when you try to change the drive letter, does it give any error?

 

I managed to change the letter. I rebooted my system and when I tried to change the letter it worked. It's now changed to X Drive.

Still not showing in Disk Manager though :-(

It is showing in Device Manager as the X Drive under Portable Devices and as working properly.

I tried scanning for hardware changes and it started downloading the driver but it failed to install. I have also tried to update driver software both on my computer and online but it shows as driver up-to-date.

 

So there is no X drive in Disk Management when you scroll to the bottom? That's kind of weird. So, everything is okay and you can transfer files, correct?

 

No, I still can't use it. Windows won't recognise it at all. I can use it on another laptop but not mine. But it's mine I need it for to transfer all the files.
Methinks I'll have to get another hard drive. Bummer
Cost me €80.00.

 

You can try cleaning out the old USB drivers and see if that works. First, create a restore point and then create a System Recover Disk if you do not have one. Edit: Make sure the recovery disk boots after you create it by restarting the computer.

See the following link. Make sure you are using the correct file, either 32bit or 64 bit depending on your system. Right click Computer and select Properties. It should state if you have 32bit or 64bit. Also be sure the file is in C:\Windows\System32 before you execute it.

For Vista and Windows 7: You must open an elevated command prompt window!

http://www.techspot.com/vb/post875300-1.html

 

USBDeview might be worth a try here: