External harddrive usb doesnt appear in my computer

[dtree12]

Hello,
when i plug the usb cord into my computer for my external harddrive, it doesn't appear in MY COMPUTER...what do i do?

 

[sminlal]

Is this a brand new drive? If so, you may need to partition and format it. Without that the drive will not be assigned a drive letter and it won't show up in Windows Explorer. (CAUTION - this DESTROYS all data on the drive)....

Click "Start" --> right-click "Computer" and select "Manage".

Click "Disk Management" in the left pane.

Scroll down to the BOTTOM of the MIDDLE pane.

You should see your new disk there with a label such as "Disk 1" or "Disk 2", etc. Right-click on the label in order to create a new volume (which partitions the drive) and then again to format it.

Once it's formatted Windows will assign the next available drive letter to it and then it will appear in Windows Explorer.