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Windows XP won't recognize Portable Toshiba External 500GB Hard Drive.

Anonymous
2010-02-19T03:05:57+00:00

I purchased a Portable Toshiba External 500GB Hard Drive and connected it to my Windows XP. My windows XP will not in any way recognize the device. I have gone into my computer>management>drivers to find the drive and rename it. It was not there. I have Windows XP SP2, and I have been told Windows XP SP3 is not compatible with this device.  I have gone to control panel>add hardware>let the wizard search for uninstalled devices and it still did not find it.

Any suggestions?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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LemP 74,940 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2012-04-17T00:19:02+00:00

In the future, please start your own thread.  It does not appear that your problem has much in common with that of the earlier poster, other than you both have an issue with an external drive.

Open Disk Management (Start > Run > diskmgmt.msc > OK)

Your portable drive should be shown there (probably as "Disk 1" in the bottom pane)

If the space on the drive shows as "Unallocated" (as in the figure above), right-click and select "New Partition."  During the operation of the Wizard, you'll assign a drive letter.  I suggest that your format using NTFS.  After the drive has been partitioned, formatted and has a drive letter, it should show in My Computer.

If the drive is already partitioned and formatted, see if you can assign a drive letter by right-clicking on it.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-04-16T23:33:51+00:00

    I purchased a Portable Toshiba External 500GB Hard Drive and connected it to my Windows XP. My windows XP will not in any way recognize the device. I have gone into my computer>management>drivers to find the drive and rename it. It was not there. I have Windows XP SP2, and I have been told Windows XP SP3 is not compatible with this device.  I have gone to control panel>add hardware>let the wizard search for uninstalled devices and it still did not find it.

    Any suggestions?

    I purchased a 1TB Portable Drive and it registers in Device Manager, but not in "My Computer".  It won't allow access to the drive.

    I tried to download the software from the Toshiba web sight, it said it installed to the desktop, I ran the software and still won't recognize the drive in "my computer" or allow me access to the drive.

    Anyone help???

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