Toshiba USB Hard Drive

Hi,
I’ve got a Toshiba USB Hard Drive connected to my Raspberry PI and get the error:

Error when reading SCSC::Untitled.$ –
Not a valid DOS image.

USBDevInfo outputs:

USB release : 0200
Device class : 00
Device subclass : 00
Device protocol : 00
Max packet size : 40
Vendor ID : 0480
Product ID : A004
Device ID : 0132

1. of configs : 1
   Manufacturer : ‘Toshiba’
   Product : ‘External USB HDD’
   Serial number : ‘201107273476’

It’s a 640 GB Drive.

It’s a 640 GB Drive.

Are you using the built-in DOSFS (only good up to 4GiB!) or Fat32FS ?

Are you sure the drive is FAT32, and not FAT32+, exFAT or NTFS?

When using Fat32FS I know get

Error when reading SCSC::Untitled.$ –
Partition not ready

I’m not sure if the drive is FAT etc

Okay. I don’t know if there is a size limit with Fat32FS but at least I know you’re using something better than DOSFS!

Do you have a Windows computer?
If so, do the following (this is correct for XP, hopefully later versions will be fairly similar!):

• Open (File) Explorer. The quickest way is to hold the Windows-logo key, press e, then let go of the Windows-logo key.
• You should see your drives listed, like C: for the main “Local Disk” and maybe D: for CD-ROM drive? Depending on setup and Windows version, you might need to click on “My Computer” to be able to see this stuff.
• Plug in your USB harddisc. Wait for it to initialise.
• A new drive letter should have appeared in the list.
• Right-click over this drive’s icon or title.
• When the menu pops up, choose “Properties”. This is usually near the bottom of the menu.
• The window that appears will tell you the type of filesystem. It should say “FAT32” if it is to work with RISC OS. Anything else (NTFS, etc) will not work.
• Now dismount the drive. Your instruction leaflet should tell you how, but in case it doesn’t… there should be a little icon on the system tray (the bunch of icons lower right with the clock) that looks like a grey diamond shape with a green arrow (pointing to the left and slightly down) above it. Click on that, and you will see one or more messages saying “Safely remove <something something> – Drive (XX)”. Click the correct one, and await Windows telling you it is now okay to disconnect the device.
• Once the drive has been dismounted, it can be unplugged.

Some stuff outside the scope of this message:

1. If your drive cannot be dismounted – you can’t find the way to do it or Windows says NO (wait until you turn your computer off, then unplug the drive; never EVER just pull out the plug of a mounted drive, EVER).
2. If you can’t find the drive (aka “look, Microsoft are messing with the UI again!”).
3. If the drive is not FAT32 (it’ll need formatting…are there any files on it?).

It ia NTFS drive, under Windows 7 the Format choices are NTFS and exFAT.

I’m not worried about the files on there as they are just what Toshiba put there and I attend to use it with RISC OS only.

Sorted reformated the drive on Linux to FAT32.

Thanks.

Best to backup the files from the HD first.
There is a FAT formating program on the same web site as Fat32Fs.
Otherwise you will have to find/search for formating program that runs under Windows- that will format the whole disc.