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I have a Toshiba 1TB external USB drive that I haven't used in a few years, but I'd like to use it now. Windows detects the USB, but doesn't assign a drive letter when I plug it in, regardless of which port I use.

My memory says the last thing I did was format this to remove a bitlocker encryption, but I don't recall exactly how I did it. There's no data on it, and there shouldn't be.

DiskPart:

Disk 2, Status: Online, Size: 0b, Free: 0b
DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.

Disk Management:

Disk 2, Unknown, Not Initialized.

Initialize Disk: The device is not ready.

Properties:

  • The device is working properly.

  • Capacity: 0 MB

  • Unallocated space: 0

  • MB Reserved space: 0 MB

  • The best drivers for your device are already installed.

  • Events:

    Device migrated
Device configured
Device started
Device deleted

I'm not sure if this needs to be formatted again, partitioned again, or something else that I'm missing. I'd rather ask than try random things and potentially complicate the problem.

Update:

I only used it once when I bought it in 2020, so it's not old, and it hasn't seen any wear and tear. Physically it's mint condition.

According to my Amazon history, it's a Toshiba Canvio Advance, but it doesn't specify HDD or SSD - it just says "hard drive". I suspect that means HDD.

It makes a clicking noise for about 1 minute when I first plug it in, and then it stops. I don't hear a spinning-up type of sound.

Diskpart also reports "device not ready" when I try to create a primary volume.

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    From 1TB+old I asssume it's an HDD, not an SSD. Do you hear the disk spinning up when it's connected? Any weird noises? The same platters also store some of the disk's internal configuration (not only data), so if the disk can't even spin up, sometimes all it can do is report "0 bytes".
    – grawity_u1686
    Commented Jun 12, 2023 at 5:39
  • 1
    Try to initialize and format the device on other USB ports, with other cables and on other computers. If none of these have worked, then the disk is dead.
    – harrymc
    Commented Jun 12, 2023 at 7:36
  • Question updated.
    – Nightmare Games
    Commented Jun 14, 2023 at 5:18

1 Answer 1

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Based on:

Disk 2, Status: Online, Size: 0b, Free: 0b

and

It makes a clicking noise for about 1 minute when I first plug it in

Probably your drive has died.

Based on the clicking it's the drive itself.

You could try if the can remove the disk enclosure and see if the drive allows you to use a USB adapter so you can rule out the enclosure isn't the issue.

Repeated clicking is often an indication the drive not being able to read it's firmware from the disk surface. In turn this is often a result of media or head damage.

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