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Aug 20, 2012 Toshiba Canvio 3 0 External Hard Drive Operation Manual kcook007 Aug 20, 2012, 9:41 PM I just bought a New Toshiba Canvio 3.0 Portable Drive and there was no user manuaal or instructions in the box.
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Although Toshiba external hard drives are pre-formatted and ready for use right out of the box, there are instances where formatting a portable or desktop hard drive is necessary. For small businesses, a Toshiba external hard drive can be useful in several different professions to create backups of content such as business files, databases, images and presentations. They also can be used to transfer content from one computer to another. When you format a Toshiba hard drive, you make it compatible with your computer to transfer content.
- With Toshiba's Canvio 3.0 Plus Portable Hard Drives, you'll enjoy portable storage space for even the largest digital libraries. Our 1.0TB Drive is capable of storing up to: 285,000 digital photos, or 263,000 digital music files, or 820 downloaded digital movies.
- While Toshiba has made every effort at the time of the press announcement to ensure the accuracy of the information provided herein, product specifications, configurations, warranty, pricing, system/component/options availability are all subject to change without prior notice.
Connect your Toshiba external hard drive to the computer using the USB cable.
2.Click the Windows 'Start' button and click the 'Control Panel.' Click 'System and Security, select 'Administrative Tools' and click 'Computer Management.'
3.Enter your administrator password if Windows asks for it. Click the 'Disk Management' option in the Storage section.
4.Right-click your external drive and click 'Format.' Click 'OK' and click 'OK' again to format the drive with the default settings.
Tips
- By default, Toshiba external hard drives are ready for use right out of the box and do not require formatting. You should only format your drive if Windows doesn't recognize it. (see Reference 2)
- You can also reformat your Toshiba external hard drive as a personal preference if you want to erase saved content completely.
References (2)
About the Author
Kefa Olang has been writing articles online since April 2009. He has been published in the 'Celebration of Young Poets' and has an associate degree in communication and media arts from Dutchess Community College, and a bachelor's degree in broadcasting and mass communication from the State University of New York, Oswego.
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The compact Toshiba Canvio Connect offers a lot more than just its internal storage space. The drive includes backup software for Windows, NTFS drivers that enable Macs to read and write to the Windows file system, and Pogoplug PC, software that turns the drive's host computer into a personal cloud storage server.
Though it's not the fastest drive, the Canvio Connect performed decently in my testing, both with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 -- with the exception that the drive didn't work with some USB 2.0 ports I tried it out with.
If you don't already have a Pogoplug subscription and want to use the service, the Toshiba Canvio Connect is an exciting portable drive to buy, especially if your computer supports USB 3.0. Otherwise, at the suggested prices of $99, $110, $130, $170, and $190 for 500GB, 750GB, 1TB, 1.5TB, and 2TB capacities, respectively, the drive is significantly more expensive than its peers; you should probably wait for its price to come down. For alternatives, check out this list of excellent portable drives.
Design and setup
The Canvio Connect is very compact, about the same size as the WD My Passport Edge, with a shiny plastic chassis that's red on the top and bottom and black on the sides. The drive is also very light -- just 5.3 ounces -- and feels very sturdy in the hand. On one side, it has a Micro-USB 3.0 port, which works with the included standard USB 3.0 cable. This is the only cable you'll need to use the drive since it's bus-powered, meaning it's powered by the USB port to which it's connected.
In my trial, the drive worked with all USB 3.0 ports with no problems. With USB 2.0 ports, however, it was hit-and-miss. A few of the ports I tried it with didn't seem to provide enough juice to power the drive, especially those on the front of a desktop PC. Most, if not all, other portable hard drives I've reviewed had no problems with these front ports.
Toshiba External Hard Drive Software Download
The Canvio Connect comes preformatted in NTFS, so if you're using it with a Windows computer, all you have to do is plug it in. On a Mac, you'll need to install Tuxera NTFS for Mac, included on the drive itself, before you can write to the drive. After that, you can also use the drive to back up your Mac using Time Machine.
For Windows, the Canvio Connect includes NTI Backup Now EZ, an easy-to-use automated backup program that worked very well in my testing.
Toshiba Canvio Hard Drive Drivers
The 'Connect' part of the drive's name derives from the fact that it comes with Pogoplug PC, software that costs $30 if you buy it yourself. Pogoplug PC turns the drive's host computer into a personal cloud server -- as long as the machine is running and connected to the Internet. Now you can access your data, stored on the Canvio itself or on your computer's internal drive, remotely via mobile app. To learn more about how Pogoplug's system works, check out our