[dba-Tech] New External Backup Drive

Hello all you hardware experts!

I just got a new WD 2.5" 60 Gb HD that I want to use as an external backup
drive.  I have a NexStar enclosure that currently has my laptop's original
20 Gb drive in it.  (The laptop now has a WD 60 Gb HD).  I want to upsize so
that I can backup using Ghost to backup the entire drive on my laptop.

However, when I install the new drive into the enclosure and plug it in, the
disk is not recognized.  I went to Device Manager and found that the USB
Mass Storage Device Driver is listed, but has a yellow exclamation mark, and
the error given is Device Can't Start (Code 10).

I went to Disk Management under Administrative Tools, and the disk is
recognized, but says that media is not installed.

I suspect that I need to format (or partition) this new disk before it will
work correctly.  How can I do that if the laptop can't run this disk to
begin with?  Should I put it into the laptop as though I was starting with a
new laptop drive?  Or . . . ?

Thanks!
Dan