WD My Book Studio 3TB getting it to work with Windows

[Spectral Morn]

Hi guys help needed.

I bought a nice WD 3TB HD (USB3 connection only/metal body) the other day and the nice guy at PC World told me it was compatible with Windows. I asked because I know WD seems to lean more to MACs than PCs. Well it isn't or at least not out of the box :( :doh:

I hook it up and I can see it in devices but not the computer re drives, so I can't use it. I understand it can be reformatted to Windows but having read a bit I can't figure out how to do it based on the info on WDs site. I am sure a more savy computer user would be able to do it in a few minutes, but I am not that breed of person.

So can someone who is give me an idiots guide step by step that I can follow to do this. I plan to use it with a Windows 7 laptop and sometimes with a Windows 8 laptop.

Thank you in advance - oh yes don't assume I know any technical details please explain them :cool:


Regards Neil

[MartinT]

The first thing to look at is whether Disk Management sees it as a drive and has allocated a drive letter to it. Right-click Computer, Manage, Disk Management and look at what it sees for the drive. Is it there? Does it have a drive letter allocated?

[Spectral Morn]

The first thing to look at is whether Disk Management sees it as a drive and has allocated a drive letter to it. Right-click Computer, Manage, Disk Management and look at what it sees for the drive. Is it there? Does it have a drive letter allocated?

Hi Martin - nope nothing.

I know other HDs I have or USB sticks end up here with a number but this WD isn't showing up at all. It may be formatted for MAC not PC.....

Packaging doesn't mention its a dedicated MAC HD but it does say timemachine compatible.

When I connect it and power it up the laptop after awhile says device ready to use but it doesn't show up.


Regards Neil

[purite audio]

Neil Ji, your have to go to the WD website, to reformat, did anything come with the drive, if not look on the support section of the WD site,
Keith.

[Spectral Morn]

Neil Ji, your have to go to the WD website, to reformat, did anything come with the drive, if not look on the support section of the WD site,
Keith.

Hi Keith

Yes done that and frankly I don't understand what it is I am to do lol. Tried following the instructions but what they said would show up didn't so redirected to partitioning - had read and doh. Not confident at all about trying that.


Regards Neil

[Spectral Morn]

This is it http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=200 but the model number is slightly different so the one I bought - special offer - is probably an older model. One I bought is a WDBCPZ0030HAL-EESN

[shevans]

Its a Mac model and formatted to HFS+ So you will need to repartition and format using diskmgmt.msc. In diskmanagement you should see (in the lower window) the partition.

On the WD web-site there is a quick formatter for Windows (external drives) which looks like it will do the job for you.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/search/1/a_id/3868

[Spectral Morn]

Its a Mac model and formatted to HFS+ So you will need to repartition and format using diskmgmt.msc. In diskmanagement you should see (in the lower window) the partition.

On the WD web-site there is a quick formatter for Windows (external drives) which looks like it will do the job for you.



http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/search/1/a_id/3868

Thank you I will give that ago.


Regards Neil

[DaveK]

Hi guys help needed.

and the nice guy at PC World told me it was compatible with Windows.
Regards Neil
Hi Neil,
Never ever assume that the PC World salesmen, repeat, salesmen, know much about anything they sell, particularly at a weekend. They may well have someone in the shop who knows a little about some of the things they sell but matching your enquiry with the one guy in the shop who may know the product is often largely a matter of pot luck. And at the weekend they tend to employ part timers who are only in it to earn a bit of cash. I believe that you can always return it for a full refund as being 'unsuitable' - probably won't see the salesman who sold it to you though :steam:.
Dave.

[MartinT]

Yep, follow the advice given Neil. Reformat it to FAT32 or, even better, NTFS (but only if you don't want to use it on a Mac in future).

[Spectral Morn]

Its a Mac model and formatted to HFS+ So you will need to repartition and format using diskmgmt.msc. In diskmanagement you should see (in the lower window) the partition.

On the WD web-site there is a quick formatter for Windows (external drives) which looks like it will do the job for you.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/search/1/a_id/3868

That worked its now showing on the computer drives section - happy days.


Regards Neil

[Spectral Morn]

Yep, follow the advice given Neil. Reformat it to FAT32 or, even better, NTFS (but only if you don't want to use it on a Mac in future).

It worked Martin I now see it so can use it. Its NTFS now as I will be putting very large files on it and FAT32 won't work with those.


Regards Neil

[Spectral Morn]

Hi Neil,
Never ever assume that the PC World salesmen, repeat, salesmen, know much about anything they sell, particularly at a weekend. They may well have someone in the shop who knows a little about some of the things they sell but matching your enquiry with the one guy in the shop who may know the product is often largely a matter of pot luck. And at the weekend they tend to employ part timers who are only in it to earn a bit of cash. I believe that you can always return it for a full refund as being 'unsuitable' - probably won't see the salesman who sold it to you though :steam:.
Dave.

I agree with you Dave, though I must say I have been dealt with quite well in the past when I have had a problem. Well it was Curry's but that's the same company, they listened to me and changed the item no fuss, no hassle.... simples.


Regards Neil

[Spectral Morn]

Thank you everyone for your help, its sorted now :) :cool:


Regards Neil

[starbucksboss]

Thanks everyone for this thread. I also have this HD and I too found the instructions impossible?

I am going the opposite way...I previously had it set up on my windows computer and now want to put it on my Mac. Is this possible?
Thanks John.

[Spectral Morn]

Thanks everyone for this thread. I also have this HD and I too found the instructions impossible?

I am going the opposite way...I previously had it set up on my windows computer and now want to put it on my Mac. Is this possible?
Thanks John.

Follow to here http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/search/1/a_id/3868 and click on WD Quick Formatter for Mac I guess that will do it.


Regards Neil