500GB External Storage Shows up as 0gb, Unknown, Not Initialized?

[AaronSenpai]

So I got a Toshiba 500GB External hard drive. When I plugged it in, the drivers were installed and there was the LED light on it. But when I went on 'My Computer/This PC' it didn't show up. When I went on Disk Management, it says unknown and not initialized. Thanks!

Screenshot: http://prnt.sc/f1ac0z

 

[rhysiam]

Have you used it before? You may need to "initialize" the disk. But that will remove all data. That's fine (and normal) if it's brand new... just do that. Than you can create partitions and format it and away you go.

 

[AaronSenpai]

I tried but I can't initialize, it says not enough memory?

 

[rhysiam]

I tried but I can't initialize, it says not enough memory?

That's odd. Can you quote the exact error message - or screen shot the error message you get.

 

[AaronSenpai]

Here: http://prnt.sc/f1arre

 

[rhysiam]

Is this a brand new disk? I don't believe you've answered that question yet.

Can you try the following...

WARNING -> This will delete any data on the disk, so if this has important data on it, do NOT proceed.

Type: diskpart <ENTER>
Type: list disk <ENTER>
Type: select disk # <ENTER> where # is the disk number of your external drive
Type: clean <ENTER>
Type: Exit

Does that work?

 

[AaronSenpai]

I tried that already, still didn't work. And no, it's not brand new, I got it off kijiji for $30

 

[rhysiam]

I tried that already, still didn't work. And no, it's not brand new, I got it off kijiji for $30

Error message please.

BTW... I'm pretty sure the drive is dead. Worth chasing a few error messages to see if there are other options, but that Diskmanager error is a bad one, particularly if you can't clean the drive.

Have you ever used this drive before?

It's possibly worth trying with some other partition software... MiniTool Partition Wizard Free is decent: https://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html

Also try a different USB port and cable if you can too, just in case (unlikely, but worth checking).
Finally, is there another computer you can try it in?

If none of the above works then effectively you've used multiple software and hardware and not been able to talk to drive... very likely dead.

If you have a desktop or spare SATA slot in your laptop, you could try taking the drive out of the USB enclosure and connecting it directly via SATA. There's a good chance the USB <-> SATA controller in the enclosure is the part that failed and the drive itself might be fine. However, having tried the above, I'd return the drive. You haven't got what you paid for so send it back and get your money.