My toshiba usb external drive fell from a long height and when inserted into the computer it reads installing device driver software but it is not detected. what can i do?

Try another computer, or get an external hard drive case, put it in, plug to USB port. You might want to check your BIOS to see if it is picking it up. If you're reading from FAT32 computer, you will not be able to view NTFS files. You can, however, convert the drive from FAT32 to NTFS, using a 3rd party program. A great one is MiniTool Partition, you don't have to lose the installed Windows, and still manipulate your Hard Drive, size-wise, convert FAT to NTFS and vice-versa

Your Toshiba PX1396U-3T01 external HDD is USB-attached, so you'll need to acquire a
standard USB cable to accomplish the physical layer attachment. USB cables do not have
the same connector at each end - the system (computer) end has a USB "A" connector (flat-shaped), and the device end (HDD) has a USB "B" connector (square-ish shaped).

There is no software (driver) needed for this external HDD - support for USB-attached external
drives (either HDD or flash drives) is built into WinXP, WinVista and Win7.

IF your version of MSwindows doesn't want to recognize the Toshiba when you plug it in, try
START > Run > then type in "diskmgmt.msc"

then select the command "Rescan disks."

If you're running Mac OS or Linux, repost including your OS (operating system) info.

Hello,

Connect the external drive to another computer and observe if it's going to work perfectly on that computer.

Which ever the case may be, here is what you need to do on your computer;

Insert the external drive into your computer

Go to device manager.

Go to the name of the external drive.

Right click on the external drive and click 'Uninstall"

Allow the external drive uninstall from your computer.

If possible uninstall every other device under the "Universal serial bus controller (usb).

Once this is done, disconnect/remove the external drive from your computer.

Restart your computer.

Wait a while for the computer to boot computer. Also whatever you have uninstalled from the device manager, might install automatically. Which ever the case maybe, make sure your computer has finished booting or installing any device before you attempt to insert the external drive into the usb.

Now insert the external drive and wait for the computer to install the external drive, then observe if it will open this time around.

By now it should open. But if it doesn't open, please let me know so that I may direct you further on what next to do.

I wish you good luck.

Regards.

You external unit has to be picked up by your operating system in order to work. Is it a USB external player? Personally I would have just bought the replacement of the original drive online and replaced it instead of band-aiding it with an external drive. Now a hard drive external is different but a DVD or CD drive is just a fix for a problem that does not need to be there by getting a replacement for the original one that is apparently not working. This is not to sound mean towards you it is something for everyone to consider when reading this post. I'm assuming you have XP installed on this lap top and you need a driver.
btjunkie.org is my resource for all of my XP drivers I answer this question a lot from folks that need drivers. If you can I suggest upgrading anyway to Win 7 they are downloaded mostly for you during the install process which makes it a lot easier these days to fix machines. Less time in any event go to that site make sure that you have U torrent a torrent file down-loader program software. Type in the search box once at the btjunkie site XP drivers you will have thousands of them to download on one disk insert the disk then go to devices seek the drivers needed to be found point the seek to your drivers disk and hopefully it can be had. I never have an issue with drivers using the software downloaded from there site. I hope this assists you. It is also for those of you who read this post to keep your driver files with your purchase when you bought the computer. If this is not the case then you will have to hunt them down.
Now Win 7 would be a great software program for this lap top depending on the resources it has. It is all about plug and play. Without the hassle of seeking drivers. Especially with new stuff installed on your computer. The easier the better. I hope this assists you with your project it is a great learning experience for sure. John

Sorry, but if your hard disk fell down and now isn't regognized by the computer the most possible situation is that the disk is destroyed.

Stelios.

I carry a small 8gb usb flash drive on my keychain for situations just like this....you can get them cheap now online or in a local store.....i keep full versions of windows, linux, other necessary repair and recovery software, and most importantly, all drivers that seem important enough to hang onto additional copies. Go here and download the drivers for your device and store them in a flash drive since any computer can read the embedded drivers of these drives......and next time you have a system ask for the drivers, pop your keychain flash drive into the most available usb port and select the drive to be scanned for drivers and install........doing this now will provide you with the ability and flexibility needed to work with higher end and recently released components.
GOOD LUCK AND PLS RATE THIS POST!!!!!!! :D

Ok here is the thing. the driver that you are referring to is native to the XP operating system. Meaning the driver is embedded. If the CD/DVDROM comes up under my computer that means only 1 thing. The driver is ok. if you have tried more than 1 CD and the drive still does not read it., it means only 1 thing. The drive is defective. if you use an external drive via USB you should not have any problems. If you do then you will need to reload Windows but that will be an unlikely event.

Re-install the right driver for your device corresponding to your's operating system ! your system had missed the driver.

mrtunink,
Yellow ! simbol show in the usb devices means your usb driver may be corrupt so OS can't recognised the usb devices, u have to reinstall the driver like that way,

At first right click on my computer icon- then select propertices- then "hardware" - then click on devices manager buttons- then select ur devices and right click on it and click propertices then u finds reinstalls button under its propertices click on it and select install software automatically (recomanded) and click on ok. then windows scarch its driver automatically and install it.

Is the drive partitioned and formatted already?
Does it work on another computer?
Is the drive powered via the usb cable, or does it have an adapter?
Do you have any networked drives on this computer?

When it is connected on your computer,
click Start
right click Computer
click Manage
double click Storage
double click Disk Management

Is it in the list of drives in the lower half of the window?