Hello, I have just purchased my first external hard-drive, a 3 TB Western Digital My Book Essential, and im having problems. When I first plugged it in my computer, I accidently let windows install the drivers instead of going to “cancel”. Now, the drive isnt appearing under “My Computer”. When I try partitioning it, it says “The operation cannot be completed because the disk is not initialized.” When i try initializing it, it says “The media is write protected”. I have no idea what to do, and I have done nothing with it yet. I just installed windows drivers, and now I’m stuck. Also, the light on it is extremely dim and not flashing. Please help me! I want my 3 TB 
Make sure the drive is plugged into the wall for a start. Partitioning isn’t something most of do very often. Here’s a little help http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3865 What OS are you using?
Joe
It’s plugged in, and its an extremely dim light. I already tried those instructions but it says “The operation cannot be completed because the disk is not initialized.”. I am using Windows Vista Buisness
If this means anything, the “Safely remove hardware” thing comes up, and the only thing there is “USB Mass Storage Device”
Please help, my nerdy life depends on it D=
Is this a USB 3.0 drive? and is your OS updated to run USB 3.0? Drives larger than 2T need to be formatted GPT instead of MRB. Go into disk management delete the driver disconnect drive reboot system the reconnect drive. Try plugging into a port on back of PC and don’t use a hub. It should load a fresh driver then and let if load. Also disable your AV while you plug the drive in. See if any of them make a difference. Try the WD formatter and see if that works any better
Joe
Ok I’ll try that, and it is USB 3.0. Wish me luck :\
Whats a hub
Didnt work, Windows reinstalled it as soon as i plugged it in
help please
Did you try going into Disk Management and initializing it there?
Joe
