Sep 05, 2017 So I have a 1TB Toshiba hard drive that I bought about a year ago for my Mac, and it worked fine (and still does) when it's plugged into my Mac. However, when I got a new Windows PC this summer, the drive isn't detected. The blue light on the drive lights up, showing that it recognizes that it's. Nov 28, 2015 I recently bought a Toshiba Hard-Drive with the following features: 500GB; It is a Canivo Basics 3.0; It is USB 3.0 and 2.0 portable hard drive; It has already been formatted NTFS for Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8; The box says that it can be reformatted for Mac; I have a Macbook Pro with Retina Display that I bought this year in late March/early. Dec 29, 2014 Toshiba Canvio,Slim,Connect, basics, 100gb 200gb 300gb 400gb 500gb 1tb, 2tb, 3tb, 4tb, 5tb, 6tb 7tb 8tb 9b 10tb 20tb, 40gb 50gb 60gb 70gb 80gb 90gb. Video Credit: Tech & Design. Using Your Toshiba External Hard drive to Backup To. You can use your Toshiba Canvio drive as a destination for your Time Machine backups. But you can only use drives formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system for a Time Machine backup.
Summary
It happens that a Toshiba external hard drive is not working in Windows, be it not showing up, not recognized, or not showing files. Given the varying situation, we will show you how to fix 'Toshiba external hard drive not working' according to your exact scenario and present you the Toshiba hard drive recovery tool to rescue your data on the storage medium.
1TB Toshiba External Hard Drive Is Not Working and Undetectable, Help!
'Hi there, do you know how to make external hard drive show up in PC when it failed to be detected? I have 1TB Toshiba external hard drive with almost 500GB data saved on it. It suddenly disappeared from my PC but the light of the drive is still on. What's going on with my drive? Do know you how to fix this issue?'
External hard drive not showing up or detected is just one of the many situations that indicate your Toshiba hard drive is not working. To help you fix your problematic device quickly, you should specify your situation according to the steps below before applying the fixes for 'Toshiba external hard drive not working'.
Step 1. Connect your Toshiba hard disk to your computer using the Toshiba cable.
Step 2. Go to 'This PC' > 'Manage' > 'Disk Management'.
Then you will see yourself in one of the following cases:
- The Toshiba external hard drive is not showing in Disk Management or in This PC
- The Toshiba hard drive is showing up in Disk Management but not in This PC
- The Toshiba disk is showing up in both Disk Management and This PC but is inaccessible
- The hard drive is detected but not showing any files
- The Toshiba external hard drive light blinking but not working
Fixes for Toshiba External Hard Drive Not Working
When your Toshiba hard drive is not working, you may find yourself in one of the situations listed above. Identify your situation and follow to see the possible causes and the solutions to fix your Toshiba hard drive.
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Fix 1. Toshiba Not Showing Up | Check the hard drive connection > update Toshiba driver > send for manual repair..Full steps |
Fix 2. Toshiba Not in This PC | Update Toshiba driver > change driver letter..Full steps |
Fix 3. Detectable But Inaccessible | If you find your Toshiba disk isn't showing any files, you can..Full steps |
Fix 4. Detected But Not Showing Files | Try every USB port available; Determine you're using USB 2.0 or 3.0..Full steps |
Fix 5. Light Blinking But Not Working | This is a common issue that happens to external hard drives from all the brands..Full steps |
Situation 1. Toshiba External Hard Drive Is Not Showing Up in This PC and Disk Management
Possible causes: Connection issues, outdated Toshiba external hard drive driver, physical damage on the disk
Based on the possible reasons why your Toshiba external hard drive is not working, you have three methods to try:
Method 1. Check the Hard Drive Connection
There are many tips you can try to check the connection between your Toshiba external hard drive and your computer.
- Connect your Toshiba external hard drive to another USB port, including the rear ones, on your computer
- Use the original cable to connect your hard drive
- Use another cable to connect your Toshiba hard disk
- Connect your Toshiba hard drive to another computer
Method 2. Update the Toshiba External Hard Drive Driver
If the Toshiba hard drive is still not working, try to update the device driver. An outdated or corrupted hard drive driver will cause some problems while using the device. Since your hard drive is not detected by the PC, you cannot update the driver via Device Manager. Go to the official site of Toshiba, then download and install the latest driver by entering your model or the serial number of your disk.
Method 3. Send for Manual Repair
If you are sure there is physical corruption on your Toshiba external hard drive or the disk is still not working after trying the methods above, you are recommended to send the Toshiba hard drive for manual repair.
Situation 2. Toshiba External Hard Drive Is Showing Up in Disk Management But Not in This PC
Possible Causes: Toshiba external hard drive driver issues, drive letter conflicts
A Toshiba external hard drive that is not working in such a case may be caused by a problematic device driver or a drive letter conflict between your Toshiba external disk and the partition on your computer. The solutions are easy:
Method 1. Update Toshiba External Hard Drive Driver
Since your device is detectable, you can update the driver via the Device Manager.
Step 1. Connect the Toshiba external hard drive to PC, right-click on 'This PC' (in Windows 10) and choose 'Properties'.
Step 2. Click 'Device Manager' then expand “Disk drives”. Find and right-click the problematic USB drive and select 'Update driver'
Step 3. Click 'automatically search for driver software online'.
Step 4. Wait for the driver to be updated, then reboot your computer. Afterward, you can try to reconnect your USB drive to PC and check whether the USB drive shows up or not.
Method 2. Change Driver Letter
Step 1. Go to 'This PC', right-click it and choose 'Manage' > 'Disk Management'.
Step 2. Right-click the volume on your USB flash drive/external hard drive and select 'Change Drive Letter and Paths'.
Step 3. In the new window, click 'Change'.
Step 4. Assign a new drive letter to your USB and click 'OK'.
Situation 3. Toshiba External Hard Drive Is Detectable But Inaccessible
Possible causes: MBR corruption, I/O device error, file system errors..
You may see your Toshiba external hard drive state is 'Not Initialized' or 'No Media' in Disk Managemen, your disk shows RAW file system or the partition on it is lost (showing as unallocated space). All make your device inaccessible. To fix 'Toshiba external hard drive not working' in the last two situations, you can:
Method 1. Recover Data from the Toshiba External Hard Drive and Format It
If the partition on your Toshiba disk is RAW, don't worry. You can use the hard drive recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to recover data from the inaccessible disk and then format the device to assign a new file system to it, which will make it usable again.
To recover data from your RAW drive:
Step 1. Choose the external hard drive
Since you're going to recover data from the external hard drive, run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and under the External Devices tab, choose the exact drive where you lost data. Click Scan.
Step 2. Scan for lost data
The software will start immediately to scan all over the selected drive for all lost data. During the scan, you could see more and more data showing up in the results.
Step 3. I can't find software update on my mac download. Preview and recover data
After the scan is over, check the scan results for the desired data. You can preview the file by double-clicking on it. Click Recover and choose another location to save the recovered data.
Toshiba Canvio External Hard Drive Software Download For Mac
To format your Toshiba disk:
Step 1. Open 'This PC', right-click your RAW drive or RAW disk and choose 'Formatted'.
Step 2. Set a file system (NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT) according to your needs and click 'Start'.
Step 3. In the Warning window, click 'OK' to start formatting your storage medium.
Method 2. Recover Data from the Toshiba Disk and Create Partition
You may see your Toshiba hard drive shows up as unallocated space because the partition is lost. In such a case, you can also use the EaseUS data recovery software to recover data from your Toshiba external hard drive and then create new partitions on it to make it usable. Since the way to perform data recovery has been detailed already, here we will show you how to create new partitions on your disk only.
Step 1. Right-click 'This PC', choose 'Manage' > 'Disk Management'.
Toshiba Hard Drive Software For Mac
Step 2. Right-click the unallocated space and choose 'New Simple Volume'.
Step 3. Follow the wizard to finish the remaining process.
Situation 4. The Toshiba External Hard Drive Is Detected But Not Showing Files
If you find your Toshiba disk isn't showing any files, you can refer to the article about 'pen drive not showing data' to make your files show up again.
Situation 5. Toshiba External Hard Drive Light Blinking But Not Working
This is a common issue that happens to external hard drives from all the brands including Toshiba, Seagate, Samsung, and more. The solutions to 'Toshiba external hard drive not working' in such a case are the same to the ones to 'Seagate external hard drive light blinking but not working', regardless of the brands.
Other Fixes for Toshiba External Hard Drive Not Working
In addition to the commonest cases, there are other situations in which your Toshiba external hard drive is not working properly. Thus, there are other tips worth trying if the methods above fail to bring your device back to normal.
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Fix 1. Check Power Management | Click Start, type: devmgmt.msc and hit 'Enter'..Full steps |
Fix 2. Reboot to Safe Mode | Go to Settings, click on 'Update & security'. Tab on 'Recovery'..Full steps |
Fix 3. Use Partition Manager | Launch EaseUS Partition Master Free and right-click the partition..Full steps |
Fix 4. Run CMD | Press 'Win + R' to open Run dialog and..Full steps |
Fix 1: Check Power Management for USB Hub
- Click Start, type: devmgmt.msc and hit Enter.
- Open Device Manager and expand 'Universal Serial Bus controllers'.
- Right-click on theUSB Root Hub, click on'Properties'.
- Go to Power Management and uncheck'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'.
If this doesn't work, try Fix 2.
Fix 2: Reboot PC into Safe Mode
In order to thoroughly check out and find the exact problem, you can try to reboot PC into Safe Mode to see where Toshiba external hard drive can work or not:
- Go toSettings, click on 'Update & security'.
- Tab on 'Recovery', select'Advanced Startup'and click 'Restart now'.
- PC will automatically boot into another Startup Settings screen, pressF4to initiate PC reboot into Safe Mode.
- Then check whether the Toshiba external hard disk can be detected or not.
If not, don't worry. Effective fixes and solutions are available to help to fix Toshiba external hard drive not working issue right now.
Disk check can effectively fix and repair some internal errors on your storage devices, even including the hard disk drive not working issue. Here you have two options to get this issue fixed:
Fix 3. Fix Toshiba External Hard Drive Not Working with Free Partition Manager
Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master Free and right-click the partition that you want to check by clicking 'Check File System'.
Step 2. Click 'Start' to continue and let this program check and fix all found errors on the Toshiba external hard drive.
3. Click Finish to complete the process.
Fix 4. Fix Toshiba External Hard Drive Not Working by Running CMD
- Press 'Win + R'to open Run dialog and type cmd to open Command Prompt by hitting 'Enter'.
- Type chkdsk /f c: ('C' is the drive letter of your Toshiba external hard drive) and hit 'Enter' to run the disk check process.
- Type exit to finish the process when the disk check process is finished.
Then you can check to see whether this has worked to repair your Toshiba external hard drive or not.
If you don't have any technical know-how and want to minimize data risks, using third-party software could be a better choice. The Command line is suitable for computer professionals since wrong commands can cause severe problems. Therefore, we strongly recommend you try an automatic command line alternative.
EaseUS Tools M is a practical computer fixing tool that is safe and light-weighted. It's a perfect alternative to CHKDSK command. Use this one-click tool to solve your computer issues.
To fix file system error or disk error:
Step 1: DOWNLOAD EaseUS Tools M for Free and install it.
Step 2: Open the software and select the 'File showing' option.
Step 3: Choose the drive and wait for repairing. After the operation completes, click the 'View' button to check the drive. Ssh terminal app for mac.
- Click on Start and type devmgmt.msc to open Device Manager by hitting Enter.
- Expand'Universal Serial Universal Serial Bus controllers', right-click every USB device found there and select 'Uninstall'.
Then check out whether any device shows up as unrecognized or not:
- If the Toshiba external hard drive shows as unrecognized, go to the driver's tab and delete/uninstall the driver. Then check out whether the external hard drive shows up in My Computer/My PC or not.
- If it doesn't show up, reboot or restart PC.
- If it shows up but disappear later, repeat above steps and go to Disk Management, change the drive letter of your Toshiba external hard drive and reconnect it to PC to let PC detect it again.
The Botton Line
When your Toshiba external hard drive is not working, figure out the specific situation and then follow the corresponding solutions to fix it, which is more time-consuming than trying the tips one by one. If none of the fixes help to fix 'Toshiba hard drive not working', other than sending the device for manual repair, you can also get it replaced if it is still under warranty.