When connecting your portable (external) USB hard drive to your Toshiba tablet using a USB connection, it may not show up under file manager.

Toshiba tablets require any external hard drive connected through USB to be formatted using exFAT. Many external hard drives by default are formatted NTFS and won’t be recognized by the tablet when connected. The following procedure will guide you through formatting an external hard drive to exFAT to allow connection to your tablet.

NOTE: FAT32 formatted external hard drives can be recognized by the tablet when connected. No need to format to exFAT.

WARNING: Formatting your external hard drive will erase all files, images, videos, etc… from the device. PRIOR TO FORMATTING be sure to connect your external hard drive to your computer and save the files you want to keep to a secure location on your computer. After formatting to exFAT, you can then place the files back onto the external hard drive from the computer.

The first procedure we will be using a Toshiba THRiVE tablet equipped with Android 4.0, Toshiba Canvio 750GB external hard drive and a Toshiba Satellite P775D laptop with Windows 7.

The second procedure uses the same models with Windows 8 Release Preview installed on the laptop.

• Formatting using Windows 7 Laptop
• Formatting using Windows 8 Laptop

This procedure should be similar for most non-Toshiba external hard drives and non-Toshiba laptops equipped with Windows 7 / Windows 8.

Formatting using Windows 7 Laptop

1. Connect the external hard drive to your computer. If not already done, the drivers should automatically install and allow your drive to be read by the laptop.

2. Click on the START menu and select COMPUTER.

3. Locate and select the external hard drive. In this case it is TOSHIBA EXT. Your external hard drive may be labeled differently.

4. Right-Click on the external hard drive and select FORMAT.

5. Format options will open. Locate “File System” and select exFAT from the drop down menu.

WARNING: The next step will erase all files from the external hard drive. Be sure you have saved the files you want to keep onto your computer prior to performing to the next step.

6. Click START to format the external hard drive.

7. When the warning stating “Formatting will erase ALL data…” select OK to continue or CANCEL to quit.

8. When formatting is complete a notification will appear, select OK to finish.

9. Your external hard drive is now formatted to exFAT and can now be read by your Android tablet. Connect the external hard drive to your tablet and go to file manager to view.

10. Verify that the external hard drive has been recognized ("USB Storage" in this example).

Formatting using Windows 8 Laptop

NOTE: Formatting is show using a laptop equipped with Windows 8 Release Preview.

1. Connect the external hard drive to your computer. If not already done, the drivers should automatically install and allow your drive to be read by the laptop.

2. Click on or select Desktop on the Metro screen.

3. Click on the File Explorer folder in the taskbar.

4. Select COMPUTER and ocate and select the external hard drive. In this case it is TOSHIBA EXT. Your external hard drive may be labeled differently.

5. Right-Click on the external hard drive and select FORMAT.

6. Format options will open. Locate “File System” and select exFAT from the drop down menu.

WARNING: The next step will erase all files from the external hard drive. Be sure you have saved the files you want to keep onto your computer prior to performing to the next step.

7. Click START to format the external hard drive.

8. When the warning stating “Formatting will erase ALL data…” select OK to continue or CANCEL to quit.

9. When formatting is complete a notification will appear, select OK to finish.

10. Your external hard drive is now formatted to exFAT and can now be read by your Android tablet. Connect the external hard drive to your tablet and go to file manager to view.

11. Verify that the external hard drive has been recognized ("USB Storage" in this example).