Format External USB HDD that is write-protected

[Kelsenellenelvian]

No ponch they don't come like that...

[dencorso]

Here's a cropped internet gathered image of the part of the label that was hidden under the overlaid P/N label.

Your drive should be set as master, hence "drive 0", for working in the enclosure... so do unbend the pins away from each other, and let's see whether this has any effect, please.

[Ponch]

No ponch they don't come like that...

The question was for the O.P.. Ever heard of the "black swan" theory ?

[jaclaz]

Hey , read the specs.

That drive needs 1.0 A at 5 V.

An USB connector ONLY can provide 500 mA.

Unless you use an external power adapter or a USB Y cable:

that drive won't ever be able to spin up. as it simply won't get enough "juice" from a single USB port.

jaclaz

[cableghost]

I've never seen one so this might be a stupid question ... but... no switch on the enclosure itself that says "Writing Enable/Disable" ?

No; just an activity light and USB port.

[cableghost]

Here's a cropped internet gathered image of the part of the label that was hidden under the overlaid P/N label.

Your drive should be set as master, hence "drive 0", for working in the enclosure... so do unbend the pins away from each other, and let's see whether this has any effect, please.

Thanks, but that's the way I had initially tried it.

My computer sees it (Computer Mgmt Console) but I cannot do anything else with it.

[cableghost]

Hey , read the specs.

That drive needs 1.0 A at 5 V.

An USB connector ONLY can provide 500 mA.

Unless you use an external power adapter or a USB Y cable:

I'm using a Y-cable, plugged into two separate controllers.

I hear the disk spin up. In another partition program I have, it indicates the disk as 'Read-only' and the surface test says all sectors 'Bad', though I think that is a generic response, besides, I've never seen all secotrs bad on a disk, unless it was super-heated.

[dencorso]

Get a common SATA/PATA --> USB adapter, having an external power source. They're quite cheap nowadays. Then test the drive with it. I bet both your connectors are just below the 500 mA, which is common, and your drive is getting underfed. I do think now we've hit jackpot.

[zamarac]

Test the drive with Victoria for DOS. It will show right away the power issue and if its locked. You can also unlock it that way by following Help.

Edited January 7, 2012 by zamarac

[cableghost]

Test the drive with Victoria for DOS. It will show right away the power issue and if its locked. You can also unlock it that way by following Help.

Thanks for the recommendation, but unsure what I should be looking for. Attached is a screenshot of it.

attachment=33748:victoria_screenshot.jpg]

[cableghost]

It's a quite good pic. I've downloaded it and reattached it to this post, for everybody to have access to it, so that you can delete your attachment from your previous post (to prevent filling your attachment quota too fast). Later I'll get back to the subject, but now I'll have to go. Happy New Year!

Later: here're the specs... this may be a small step forward, but a step forward it is.

Thank you.

[jaclaz]

Test the drive with Victoria for DOS. It will show right away the power issue and if its locked. You can also unlock it that way by following Help.

Thanks for the recommendation, but unsure what I should be looking for. Attached is a screenshot of it.

Just for the record what zamarac suggested was Victoria for DOS.

What you got is Victoria for Windows.

With the former you need to attach the drive DIRECTLY (no USB adapter in between) to the IDE/PATA bus.

With the second you can use a KNOWN TO BE FUNCTIONAL USB converter, BUT the amount of "access" you will have to the drive is limited when compared to directly attaching it.

A (rather skimpy) help file for Victoria for Windows is here:

http://forum.hddguru.com/victoria-for-windows-detailed-english-manual-release-t6902.html

jaclaz