WD Essential 2.0 HD recognized but no letter assigned

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  1. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
       #1

    WD Essential 2.0 HD recognized but no letter assigned


    I just connected for the first time a Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 2.0 external hard drive and it appears in my devices as My Book. I cannot access it however. There is no letter assigned to this drive and when I try to assign one using disk management, the option to assign a letter is grayed out and therefore not usable. The drive is showing in the disk management screen and all appears to be well except that there is no letter assigned and I am not able to give it one. Any ideas?

    Thank you,
    Joe
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #2

    Post a screen shot of Disk Management if possible.

    Does Disk Management show that drive as having a file system?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Here is my screenshot:
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails WD Essential 2.0 HD recognized but no letter assigned-disk-mgmt.jpg  
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #4

    Is this a new external drive?

    Have you installed any software on it or altered it in any way?

    I have little experience with external drives, but it's surprising to me that it would show in Disk Management as having an "EFI system partition".

    Are those things supposed to be formatted from the factory?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Hi ignatzatsonic,

    Thank you for your help! I removed the new drive from a sealed box and plugged it into my laptop. I was expecting some kind of setup process to occur but all that happened is a notification popup from the taskbar stating that my device was installed and ready for use. I have tried disconnecting the drive from the computer, removing power to the drive and changing USB ports and there was no change. I googled the problem and all I could find of any use was a reference to the first partition being labelled "EFI system partition" means it is Mac formatted. Not sure if that is true and I was unable to find futher info in that regard. The drive came in a box labelled Windows.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #6

    Hmmmm................

    I assume it came with no instructions that help?

    I'm wondering if you got a Mac package mistakenly placed in a Windows box?

    Have you gone online to Western Digital or contacted their support?

    My immediate inclination would be to wipe all partitions from it and make a new single NTFS partition, format it, and assign a drive letter. That's what I would do on an internal drive.

    BUT I am out of my element on external drives. I suggest you wait for more input from someone more familiar with them.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    ignatzatsonic said:
    My immediate inclination would be to wipe all partitions from it and make a new single NTFS partition, format it, and assign a drive letter.
    How would I go about doing this? I assume it can be done in Disk management?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #8

    Japes21 said:
    ignatzatsonic said:
    My immediate inclination would be to wipe all partitions from it and make a new single NTFS partition, format it, and assign a drive letter.
    How would I go about doing this? I assume it can be done in Disk management?
    Yes. You would just right click a given partition and delete it.

    The result is "unallocated space", which can then be made into partitions as desired.

    But, as per my prior post, I won't ask you to do it as I am uninformed about externals.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    ignatzatsonic said:
    Japes21 said:
    ignatzatsonic said:
    My immediate inclination would be to wipe all partitions from it and make a new single NTFS partition, format it, and assign a drive letter.
    How would I go about doing this? I assume it can be done in Disk management?
    Yes. You would just right click a given partition and delete it.

    The result is "unallocated space", which can then be made into partitions as desired.

    But, as per my prior post, I won't ask you to do it as I am uninformed about externals.
    I cannot change the first partition (the EFI system partition) in any way. All options are grayed out except 'help'. If this is truly formatted for a Mac, perhaps I would have to use a Mac to wipe it, then repartition it on my PC?
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #10

    That may be--or maybe some type of Linux tool?

    If you right click the other partitions, can you see a menu choice from which you could delete a partition/volume?
      My Computer


 
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