New External Hard Drive - Problems

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Alison

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Alison
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This is the message I’m getting when I double left click:

ScreenCapture.jpg


I’ve right clicked (WD Passport - J) and tried to select the “format” option but nothing happens.

I’ve also tried plugging it into a different computer and whilst a bubble pops up telling me that new hardware has been installed, it’s not showing up anywhere.

Can you help?

Thanks,
Alison
 
Does the drive have an external power supply?

If not it could be not getting enough power from the USB port, try plugging it into a USB port on the back of the PC directly on the motherboard rather than one at the front, or on a hub / extension cable

HTH
 
neil_g said:
could be a knackered enclosure..

you could try breaking the drive out of the case and installing it into a desktop.
Click to expand...
I’m pretty certain the enclosure is OK – purchased brand new yesterday. Unfortunately I haven’t got the confidence (or tools) to try installing it into a desktop

Mark said:
Does the drive have an external power supply?

If not it could be not getting enough power from the USB port, try plugging it into a USB port on the back of the PC directly on the motherboard rather than one at the front, or on a hub / extension cable

HTH
Click to expand...
Yes, the drive has got an external power supply plus it’s plugged directly into a USB port at the back of the PC.

From my screen capture, could the File system: FAT32 thing be significant? The gent in the computer shop told me to format as NTFS but of course I haven’t been able to get that far yet.
 
I assume as this is new, its never worked ? Can you hear the drive spin up ?

Try this -
right click My Computer and select Manage
then choose Disk Management

If its a blank then its should show here... I think from memory Windows will prompt you automatically to initialise it - and from there you can format it too.
 
-RV- said:
I assume as this is new, its never worked ? Can you hear the drive spin up ?

Try this -
right click My Computer and select Manage
then choose Disk Management

If its a blank then its should show here... I think from memory Windows will prompt you automatically to initialise it - and from there you can format it too.
Click to expand...
Yes, it's new and not been used until today. I can hear the drive spin up and the light indicates that it's on.

I've tried your suggestion and get stuck in the following screen:

ScreenCapture2.jpg


Can you tell me where to go from here?

Thanks for the help everyone,
Alison
 
Yes, thats it. Right Click on the 465GB unallocated and I think the option is "Initialize".
Once thats done you should be able to format it to NTFS (when doing this take all the default options)

Obviously I should warn you. Make sure you choose the correct disk - i.e. the 465GB one
 
Primary , set it to max size possible. then it'll need formatting to NTFS. should have it up and runnning then :)
 
Thanks so much for your help everyone - the drive is now successfully formatted and I'm a very happy bunny indeed :woot:

I owe you all a beer (or 3) - fancy meeting sometime soon so I can pay up? Just name your time and place.

Alison
 
neil_g said:
that is odd, normally they come preformated and ready to roll..
Click to expand...
Yeah, that’s the way it should be - and would be for any other customer - but it seems that Satan himself has singled me out for unremitting random computer torment. This sort of thing happens to me all the time and it's not as though I'm particularly stupid or anything.

I can only guess that I did something unspeakably dreadful in a previous life to deserve this aggro. It drives me nuts. I feel doomed :(
 
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