how to format USB drive ?

[jerome balti]

hi

I have an external 2.5' usb drive

the disk in not formated but is OK and the drive box/cable/power supply
is also OK

however, the new drive will not show in XP , even in control panel /
computer management / storage .. etc

and it is not detected with hardware installation tool

how can I format it so it would work

I know I could put it in a laptop and run XP cd to format , but I'd
prefer to avoid this if I could format it directly in its USB case

 

[John Hensley]

hi

I have an external 2.5' usb drive

the disk in not formated but is OK and the drive box/cable/power supply
is also OK

however, the new drive will not show in XP , even in control panel /
computer management / storage .. etc

and it is not detected with hardware installation tool

how can I format it so it would work

I know I could put it in a laptop and run XP cd to format , but I'd
prefer to avoid this if I could format it directly in its USB case

You should be able to format any USB drive in Windows if it is working
correctly. The first thing you need to do is determine if Windows
really does see the drive. Go into Control Panel / Computer Management
/ Device Manager and click on "Disk Drives" to see Windows sees the
physical USB drive.

If you don't see the USB drive it means that Windows does not know
that it has been attached to the computer and it suggests you may need
to load a driver supplied by the USB drive's manufacturer before
Windows can see the drive.

If you do see the drive you should click on "Disk Management" in the
Computer Management pane. You should see the physical drive in the
bottom half of the disk managment Windows with a name like "Disk 1
Removable". Right click on the name and select to initialize the drive
which should allow you to format and assign a drive letter to it.

Regards,
John Hensley
www.resqware.com

 

[jerome balti]

I know I could put it in a laptop and run XP cd to format , but I'd prefer to

avoid this if I could format it directly in its USB case

when I connect the USB drive on another pc with w98me, the usb drive is
detected at startup, but do not appear in "myc omputer" , nor it has a
letter, it shown in the list in control panel with "malfunctioning"
and "?" , but I can't do anything more (seems to) than updating the
driver , which is already OK , but nowhere can I see how I can format
it

any idea with w98me if not XP ? thanks !

 

[jerome balti]

You should be able to format any USB drive in Windows if it is working

correctly.

thanks , I think theres is actualy a problem with my XP

The first thing you need to do is determine if Windows
really does see the drive.

my XP do not at all

but , I plugged it on a w98me station, it was phisically detected , but
had no letter , ans I could do nothing actually

/ Device Manager and click on "Disk Drives" to see Windows sees the
physical USB drive.

my XP would never see it , but then , after the w98me station I had
opportunity to try elsewhere on another XP with only USB1

then it was annouced as detected at startup, but still no letter only
as uninstalled device in control panel / computer management /etc ...

then , after 15-20 minutes , the XP decided to move it from the "?"
(uninstalled state) to a drive, still no letter , but then I was able
to create partitions (long long time ;-) ) and all is OK now

thanks anyway , then, I actually think there is a problem with my XP
(it is also too long to shut down)

 

[don't look]

That's because it hasn't been partitioned and formatted. Get the Hard drive
utility from the drive manufacturer,Seagate,WD whoever makes the drive(not
the enclosure). and run "set up my disk" or equvalent utility, from it.