Windows 10: Toshiba external hard drive not detectible

I have a Toshiba DWC250 5TB external drive formatted ReFS that I cannot detect in either Disk Management or by using DiskPart/List Disk. Cabling and power are sound. The unit is not user serviceable because the case is not designed to be opened. I use it in a storage pool on Windows 10 Pro. I am having problems with the pool and removed the drive to check for files with a different computer.

I would like to use Diskpart/clean or clean all on it but first I have to get the disk detected. The unit has not shown signs of drive failure so it may be re-useable. Is there a technique to force detection (should it still be useable)? Please note the file system in not NTFS. It is ReFS. I have already detached it from its home PC and attached to a Surface Pro 4 via the Surface Dock to see if I can get it detected, but without success.

:)

 

Switched to W 10: now my external hard drive does not show in File Explorer

My problem is almost the opposite (and I do not know how to switch from Manual to Automatic, or vice-versa).

I switched from W 7 to W 10 today. Now, when I plug in my Toshiba external hard drive (3 TB, I think), the computer plays the little tune of beeps it always does when I plug in a USB key, for example, and plays the unplug beep tune too--so my computer knows
the Toshiba external hard drive is there!

However, the Toshiba external hard drive does not appear in File Explorer, so I cannot drag and drop folders and files from my internal hard drive to my external hard drive, nor from a USB key to the external hard drive.

I think that in Control Panel, under devices, there is an entry corresponding to my Toshiba external hard drive, as it says "3" (but does not say what there are 3 of); when I right click on the icon and then left click on "Properties", the screen says that
the manufacturer of the device is unknown (it says that for at least one other device, also). It does not say if any of the device is free or any portion of it full.

Many thanks in advance for telling me how I can get my Toshiba external hard drive to appear in File Explorer, so that I can use it!

 

DiskManagement does not show internal HDD in W10

My problem is almost the opposite (and I do not know how to switch from Manual to Automatic, or vice-versa).

I switched from W 7 to W 10 today. Now, when I plug in my Toshiba external hard drive (3 TB, I think), the computer plays the little tune of beeps it always does when I plug in a USB key, for example, and plays the unplug beep tune too--so my computer knows
the Toshiba external hard drive is there!

However, the Toshiba external hard drive does not appear in File Explorer, so I cannot drag and drop folders and files from my internal hard drive to my external hard drive, nor from a USB key to the external hard drive.

I think that in Control Panel, under devices, there is an entry corresponding to my Toshiba external hard drive, as it says "3" (but does not say what there are 3 of); when I right click on the icon and then left click on "Properties", the screen says that
the manufacturer of the device is unknown (it says that for at least one other device, also). It does not say if any of the device is free or any portion of it full.

Many thanks in advance for telling me how I can get my Toshiba external hard drive to appear in File Explorer, so that I can use it!

 

You can open the case. Here is a video that will show you where the locking tabs are, but hopefully knowing where the tabs are you can finesse it open a bit easier:
Disasembly and assembly of a TOSHIBA External Hard Drive - YouTube

I would start by plugging it into a black, USB 2.0 port, go into UEFI/BIOS setup and see if the drive is recognized as a possible boot source.

As a last resort, open the case, connect the hard drive via standard SATA and power cables.

Also...when it is connected, does device manager show any unrecognized/troubled devices?

 

I assume you mean a "blue usb 3.0 port."

I have no desire to remove the drive by the means shown in the video. What is your thought in doing that?

I got it to appear in Disk Management just now and it is listed as "unallocated." Minitools Partition Manager now finds it as "Msft storage space" but displays "Bad Disk." Diskpart now finds it and I can select it, but when I issue the clean all command nothing more happens and the disk drops out of sight again.

I don't think it is physically bad, but its use in a storage pool that failed may have caused the issues. Disconnecting a drive from a storage space and reading it on another computer is supposed to work, but that's if nothing has gone wrong with the storage space or pool it is disconnected from.

I am trying to find out if there is a way to reset the disk so it can be formatted.

 

New developments. (There are two drives involved, both same model, one is 4TB and one is 5TB, same issues, which is why I don't think the drives are bad).

I can run the HGST Windows Drive Fitness Test suite. Neither drive shows issues in SMART data. Both pass the short and long tests. I have erased both the MBR and Data on one of them with the HGST tool. The issue seems to be that I cannot initialize either one. I get this error on attempting to initialize (MBR or GPT):

 

There is a great chance the drive has failed.
The video is very clear how to disassemble the enclosure to remove the HDD. Basically, there is a seam, that you have to separate with a flat head screw driver or other tool, guitar pick etc. The enclosure is snapped together, and it should come apart if your keep working it.
Once the HDD is removed you can attach it via a USB Adapter, Dock or other Enclosure with a power adapter. If the drive doesn't spin up, or spins up then down it has failed and needs to be replaced.

 

What I actually meant to post was plug it into a black USB 2.0 port. It's better to use USB 2.0 ports for troubleshooting because usually the drivers for USB 2.0 are more stable and some BIOS/UEFI firmware will not actually have full support for USB 3.0 at that level.

The next thing I would try, without disassembling the case, would be to make a bootable USB flash drive of Kyhi's Recovery Tools. Boot the computer from that - once it is booted, you can remove the flash drive. Plug the hard drive into a black USB 2.0 port and see if you can use one of the utilities included on Kyhi's Recovery Tools to get the drive initialized back to a simple, standard MBR or GPT drive with an NTFS partition on it. MBR will only see 2 TB of the drive.

 

Both devices behave exactly the same. What is the chance that two hard drives failed at exactly the same time? Do you have experience with storage spaces and the effect on a drive from removal from SS? This is not one drive exhibiting the issues, but two. The SMART logs are perfect. The HGST test suite shows all is well. I don't think the drives are shot, I think there is something blocking initialization of them. But what?

 

OK. I understand the usb port advice now. I will try Khyi's.

 

Learned something new today, didn't know Toshiba was using HGST drives.
HGST = formerly Hitachi formerly IBM
I have a Toshiba HDD in my ASUS Desktop acquired back in November, will have to look into that HGST test suite for it.

 

Just Bing on "HGST Windows Drive Fitness Test."

 

Aomei on the iso did the trick. I thought the drives should be reclaimable with a good toolbox. I can now access both drives easily from File Explorer and This Computer. Thanks!

 

Glad it worked out for you!

 

Interestingly, when I try to set up a new storage space, the drives both lose partition information and I have to re-initialize and format. But at least I can do that now. Before I just couldn't manage them at all. I'm starting to wonder if the cum update on Tuesday broke storage spaces. But at least the drives are normal for everything else. Thanks again.