Windows 7: the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable

hello,

I just purchased a new external harddrive...2TB my passport.
when performing a standard backup of my computer from windows 7, it failed twice*.
now, even after restart, my computer cannot access the new drive, neither from windows explorer nor cmd prompt...both say "E:\ is not accessible the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable". also, under disk management screen it now indicates the file system as RAW and 100% empty (although the status indicates healthy).



my question is, is the hardware damaged? or will reformatting be sufficient.
I am not concerned about any data recovery...just whether or not I must return the harddrive for a new one.

thanks
-pson


* I gather from the internet because of some idiotic windows 7 issue that it falls asleep during backup process, but wondering if others could validate this as a known problem

Hi,

In Disk Management, do you see the option to "Initialise Disk" when clicking on the USB drive? Do that, and the disk should no longer show as RAW, and be usuable.

Once you have that, let bus know and we can recommend some tests to check the USB drive out further.

Regards,
Golden

thanks.
just to be sure, by "usb drive" it's not a flash drive...

ok, I don't have an option "initialise disk", only "format..."

Hi,

Thats correct - by USB drive, I mean an external drive which connects by USB to the PC.

Go ahead and format it as NTFS if you no longer require those contents. Then check that it doesn't display as RAW.

Regards,
Golden

thanks to all!
I returned/exchanged the external hard drive, and the new one seems to be working properly now.