I bought a Hitachi z5k320 hard drive trying to install it, and windows, but my computer won't recognize hard drive. how can i get it to recognize the new drive. can't do anything until that happens.

check data cable.
change use port and check the driver on any other PC.
if problem is same after doing so. check hard drive Cage. change driver Cage

A Hitachi USB external hard drive is a device that acts as portable, removable storage for your personal computer. If you need additional space to house files on your computer but don't want to go to the trouble of installing an internal drive inside the case, a USB external hard drive is your best option. These drives are "plug and play" devices, which means that very little can actually go wrong. If you're having problems, fixing them shouldn't take more than a minute or two.

Check your connections. A USB cable needs to be connecting your Hitachi external hard drive to your computer. Your external hard drive's power cable also needs to be plugged into a functional wall outlet, surge protector, extension cord or power strip. Make sure your Hitachi USB external hard drive is turned to "On." An "On/Off" button is present on the front of the unit. If the indicator light around said button is not illuminated, the drive is "Off" and your computer won't be able to recognize it. Press it to turn it on and then try to access your drive again. Format your hard drive. If your Hitachi USB external hard drive doesn't currently have a file system on it, you won't be able to use it to store data. Open up the "Computer" icon in the "Start" menu. Right-click on your USB external hard drive's icon and click "Format." Click "Start." This will install a file system on your Hitachi USB external hard drive. After this process is finished, you will now be able to use your drive. Restart your computer. Certain models of computers (especially older models) won't recognize new hardware unless your computer boots with the hardware already connected. Leave your USB drive plugged in and restart your computer. Once you do this, your Hitachi USB external hard drive should appear as normal in the "Computer" folder with all of your other drives. Hope this helps.

Return it if it's still under warranty.

For remote data recovery and do-it-yourself data recovery see http://FreeDataRecovery.us

Try connecting the external hard drive to another computer to recover/backup your data.
When you have such a large capacity hard drive, it pays to have a second large capacity hard drive to backup your data in the event of the other hard drive dying.Hard drives do fail especially if you accidently drop it.

ry connecting the external hard drive to another computer to recover/backup your data.
When you have such a large capacity hard drive, it pays to have a second large capacity hard drive to backup your data in the event of the other hard drive dying.Hard drives do fail especially if you accidently drop it.

hmmm what backup software are you using, from windows or hitachi? seems if the computer can see the drive, then it's a file formatting issue that you are facing.

Hi Mirel Toma,
You can try and find it here: http://www.hitachigst.com/internal-drives/mobile/travelstar/travelstar-z5k320
or here: http://www.hitachigst.com/support/downloads/
I hope this helps.
Cheers,

The Hitachi XL3000 is formatted for the PC, but your Mac should recognize it. Try another cable or port. Check in Disk Utility to see if the drive appears. If it does, then you can format it for the Mac. You can do this in Disk Utility by clicking on the hard drive on the left side of the window. Then choose the Partition Tab, and change the Volume Scheme drop-down menu to 1 Partition. Then click on the Option button, choose GUID partition map, and click OK. Then choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for the format and click Apply and OK. Your drive should then format for Mac and mount on the desktop. If it does not appear in Disk Utility after changing the cable and port, or trying another computer, then you may need to return it for replacement. I hope this helps.

Hi,

These are quite an old hard drive and they are probably pass there due date, unfortunately the only way is to replace the faulty drive, I have had these problems and after changing to the later SATA versions I have had no problems since.

You can still buy these type of hard drives but they are getting expensive now as the newer versions are the normal fitted type and the cost for the same size can be half the price. Once they become faulty they really just need to be thrown away.

Hope this helps.

Thanks

Jason

Did you format it? The PC won't recognize it until it's formatted, which you can do via Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Computer Management, then click on Disk Management on the left side. You'll see the drive, and have the option to format it right from there.
That's the first thing to check. Let me know if you've already done that and it's still not being recognized.