I need to reformat wd my passport essential 750 GB external disk drive

Just format it with the built-in Windows formatting utility, assuming you're using Windows.

Were it that I could. For some reason, my Windows XP computer thinks this thing is a C D!!! Seems as though WD installs some sort of firmware that makes it emulate a USB connected CD.

This is a 750GB WD My Passport Essential. It now says it is a CD of 641MB AND I have NO DATA readable.

I can't figure out how to get around this firmware to make it look like my other USB drives (I also use for external backup and storage).

More Help!!!

  I went to the WD Community and posted there, too. A very nice person named "Joe" told me to go to: http://www.partition-tool.com/ which I did.

BINGO!!!!    

Problem Solved with just a little effort.

I tried to see if I could mark this as "Solved" but I couldn't find a way.

You "solve" a problem by selecting the best answer. But since it seems like my answer didn't help you, it's cool even if you don't select a best answer.  

That's cool you got the problem sovled.

When disk got reformatted, even the external hard drive, do not write new file to the drive and you could use some free tool to get files from unformat it.

A friend told me get a free copy of data recovery tool here
http://www.icare-recovery.com/giveaway/free-file-restor...