
How to recover files from external hard drive not detected
- download MiniTool Power Data Recovery. Then, install and launch it. Free Download.
- Choose Removable Disk Drive from the main window and select the external hard drive.
- click on the Scan button to scan the selected external hard drive.
- browse the scan results during the scan. Alternatively, you can wait until the end of the scan and then select the files...
How to solve external hard disk detected but not opening?
How to Fix External Hard Disk Detected But Not Opening?
- Solution 1. Check the External Hardware: Power/Data cable. ...
- Solution 2. Restart your PC: Restarting is perhaps the most natural solution to our hard drive being unresponsive. ...
- Solution 3. ...
- Solution 4. ...
- Solution 5. ...
- Solution 6. ...
Why does Windows 10 not recognize an external hard drive?
▐ External hard drive not showing up in Windows 10 Explorer but in Disk Management
- ✔ Solution 1. Assign a drive letter to the external hard drive. When the external has no drive letter, it will be invisible in File Explorer. ...
- ✔ Solution 2. Initialize external hard drive. Select “ Initialize Disk ” and set the disk partition style as MBR or GPT. ...
- Solution 3. Rebuild MBR without data loss. ...
What to do when your external hard drive won't show up?
- Make Sure It's Plugged In and Powered On. ...
- Try Another USB Port (or Another PC) If the drive still isn't working, unplug it and try a different USB port. ...
- Update Your Drivers. ...
- Enable and Format the Drive in Disk Management. ...
- Clean the Disk and Start From Scratch. ...
- Remove and Test the Bare Drive. ...
- Our Favorite External Hard Drives. ...
Why does my computer not recognize external hard drive?
▐ External Hard drive not showing up in Windows 10/11 Disk Management
- Press “ Windows ”+ “ R ”, enter “ devmgmt.msc ” and hit “ Enter ”.
- Click “ Disk Drives ”; if the external hard drive is with a yellow exclamation mark, it is problematic.
- Right-click the problematic drive, select “ Properties ”, and read the message carefully.

Can external hard disk can be repaired?
Generally speaking, the external hard drive errors can be repaired using CMD. What you should note is that regarding "chkdsk f: /f ", the first f should be replaced with the drive letter of the external hard drive.
How do I fix my external hard drive not showing up or detected Windows 10?
If the external hard drive is not showing up in Windows 10, it may be caused by the incompatible file system format. If there is no data on the drive, you can right-click the partition on the drive in Disk Management and select Format to format the drive to NTFS.
What do I do if my external hard drive is not detected?
First of all, you should go to open the Disk Management tool on your computer. Then, browse all the drives in the list to check whether the target...
Why is my USB not showing up?
According to study, the USB drive could disappear due to a lot of reason. The root reason for causing that is the driver of USB is tool old, missin...
Why is my hard drive not showing up in BIOS?
The reason why a hard drive is not recognized in computer BIOS is not so complex. Once the connection between hard drive and PC is incorrect or the...
How do I access my external hard drive?
There are many factors to cause external hard drive disappear from the computer. So the corresponding solutions are diversified. For instance, you...
Why is my external hard drive not showing?
If it's one of the partitions on the external hard drive not normally showing or detected by Windows, it's probably because the file system is corrupted or missing. What's more, if you're using an Apple APFS hard drive on ...
How to find unallocated space on external hard drive?
This is for the case that your external hard disk not detecting in Windows Explorer but showing unallocated space in Disk Management. Step 1. Right-click on the unallocated space area on your external hard disk and choose "New Simple Volume...". Step 2. You'll be welcomed to the new simple volume wizard window, click Next.
How to recover a hard drive from a computer?
Step 1. Connect the external drive to PC for a scan. Connect the external hard disk to your PC and let Windows recognize the disk and assign it a drive letter. Now launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Windows. Find your drive you want to recover and click Scan.
What is easeus data recovery?
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a powerful system recovery software, designed to enable you to recover files you’ve deleted accidentally, potentially lost to malware or an entire hard drive partition.
What is the best data recovery software?
EaseUS Data Recovery W izard Pro has a reputation as one of the best data recovery software programs on the market. It comes with a selection of advanced features, including partition recovery, formatted drive restoration, and corrupted file repair.
What does wirelessness mean on a Seagate external hard drive?
Wirelessness means that you don't rely on Internet connection because a physical USB or eSATA connection will enable you to copy, transfer, exchange data across an external HDD and a running machine! External hard drive not responding Seagate external hard drive not working.
What is a deep scan?
The scan process takes place automatically in two stages, including a quick scan and deep scan. Deep scan is for searching lost data files that even lost file names, so it's worth waiting longer for the whole scan process to finish and find all desired data. You can try to preview the found files one by one by following their original paths from the leftside tree-view pane, or simply use the Filter function to specify the file type of one kind, like pictures, videos, documents, emails, etc.
What to do if external hard drive is not detected?
If your external hard drive is not detected on another computer, it is the error on your hard drive.
Why is my external hard drive not showing up?
If it is the physical damage or connection problem , you can only do some adjustment to fix it. If it is logical damage, you can use some system tool to repair it.
How to uninstall a hard drive?
Click “Start” option, run command prompt, type "device manager" or "devmgmt.msc" in the command window, click OK to go . Find the external hard drive, right click it, choose to “Uninstall” option. Unplug the hard drive, and insert your external hard drive again. 2.
How to export regedt32?
Click on “Start” option, run command prompt window, type “regedt32” in the window and press OK to go. To avoid data loss, you can export regedt32, click “export” to make it.
What to do if there is an upper filter?
If there is any upperfilter or lowerfilter at the right side, delete them .
Can a USB port be used to clean a dash?
Sometimes, the USB port can save a lot of dusts, which affect the connection to the computer, you can first check the USB port of your external hard drive, and use a cotton swab to clean the dash.
How to fix external hard drive not detected?
Sometimes, a very simple trick can fix external hard disk not detected problem. Follow the below steps to apply this trick. 1. Shut Down your computer. 2. Disconnect the power cable from your computer and wait for a few minutes. 3. Reconnect the power cable and Start your computer.
Why is my hard drive not detected?
Hard drive not detected error/issue can be caused by the following situations: 1 The USB driver has become unstable, outdated or corrupt 2 USB ports become faulty, damaged or broken 3 Partition issues on your external USB device 4 The USB device is malfunctioned or damaged 5 The wrong file system in an external drive 6 Virus-infected PC
How to update USB driver?
1. Press Windows + R key together and then, type devmgmt.msc in the run dialogue box and click on OK. 2. Expand disk drivers and right-click on the connected external USB drive. 3. Click on properties and select the Driver tab. 4. Click on Update Driver Software and follow the further instruction to update driver.
What happens if you dispose of a device without sanitizing it?
Disposing off your used devices without proper media sanitization can result in the breach of your intellectual property, financial reports, BI data, trade secrets, personal data, and PII. To protect your data privacy, use secure data eraser software to ensure proper media sanitization, while disposing off storage devices like hard drives, SSDs, ...
How to run devmgmt.msc?
1. Press Windows + R key together and then, type devmgmt.msc in the run dialogue box and click on OK.
Why won't my external drive show up in File Explorer?
Sometimes, for unknown reasons that could be related to your connection, driver, settings, or hardware issues, Windows 10 will just refuse to detect the external drive, or it'll detect the device, but it won't appear in File Explorer.
Why is my Windows 10 drive not readable?
If Windows 10 doesn't detect the drive correctly, and it appears in Disk Management with the Unreadable status , you're experiencing read and write errors, corruption, or hardware failure.
How to create a new volume on an external drive?
To create a volume with a new partition and file system, use these steps: Open Start. Search for Create and format hard disk partitions. Click on the top result to open Disk Management. If the external drive doesn't have a partition, right-click the "Unallocated" space, and select the New Simple Volume option.
Why is my hard drive spinning?
If your computer isn't recognizing the storage, make sure to use a good data cable. If the USB and power cables are working, you'll hear the hard drive spinning, and you'll notice a light indicator. Sometimes the problem can be the USB hub as these devices can introduce compatibility and power management issues.
Why isn't my drive available?
When the drive isn't available on your computer, it could also be a driver issue. You can troubleshoot and fix this problem in at least two ways. You can install the most up-to-date driver available, or you can reinstall the same driver to see if it helps the computer detect the drive.
Do flash drives need a power outlet?
Although most small drives and pretty much every flash drive don't require a dedicated power connection, if you're connecting a large external hard drive, you need to make sure that it's plugged into a working power outlet. On small and large drives, sometimes the problem can be the USB cable.
Does Windows 10 recognize NTFS?
Windows 10 only recognizes drives using a supported file system (NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, or ReFS ). If you're connecting a drive formatted using a different OS (macOS or Linux) with an unsupported file system, it won't appear on your computer. In this case, the solution is to format the drive using a supported file system.
What to do if your hard drive is not showing up?
First, we'll check whether Windows detects the hard disk when you plug it in. Plug your removable drive into your computer if it isn't already.
Why isn't my external drive recognized?
3. Try Another USB Port and Computer. The reason your external drive isn't detected may not lie with your device, but instead with the port you're using to connect it to your computer.
How to fix a dead USB port?
Unplug the drive from its current USB port and try plugging it into another port on your computer. Should it work in one USB port but not another, you may have a dead USB port. See how to diagnose and fix dead USB ports if you suspect this.
How to check if a hard drive is a removable drive?
Plug your removable drive into your computer, if it isn't already. Next, open the Disk Management tool. To do so, press Win + X (or right-click the Start button) to open the Power User menu and select Disk Management from the list.
Why isn't my external hard drive showing up?
This problem has several possible causes: partition issues on the external drive, using the wrong file system, dead USB ports, or driver issues in Windows.
What is the code for this device can't start?
We've explored how to fix the "This Device Cannot Start (Code 10) " error as well as fixes for "Unknown USB Device", which provide good troubleshooting steps for driver issues. There are some more general steps you can take if those guides don't work for your issue, though.
What happens if my hard drive doesn't work?
If the drive doesn't work on any computer you plug it into, the drive itself is likely dead and you'll need to replace it. When you try another machine, be sure to check whether it appears in the computer's Disk Management window, as discussed above.
Why is my external hard drive not responding?
It can be caused by some technical glitch in your operating system, or it might be due to the drive's internal hardware failure. It can also occur when you fail to plug in the device through the USB port properly.
Why plug in external hard drive?
It is advised that you plug in the external hard drive on some other System to check whether there is some kind of issue with your PC.
How to use CHKDSK?
You can use the CHKDSK facility by using the command prompt on your PC. Before using the check disk command, it is important to know what type of functions it performs to fix specific disk-related problems.
How to pause disk recovery scan?
You can pause or stop the disk recovery scan by clicking the Pause/or Stop button.
What does troubleshooter scan for?
The troubleshooter will start scanning for irregularities in the PC.
How to update my hard drive?
Right-click on your Hard Drive's driver. Click on Properties. Click on the Driver tab and click on Update Driver. Click on "Search automatically for updated driver software", or you can click on "Browse my computer for driver software" if you have the driver file on your PC.
What happens if you remove your device from your computer?
If you continue to remove your device casually from the computer, it may cause some sort of damage to the driver of your hard drive. This hassle can be fixed by reinstalling or updating the external hard drives, which can fix any problem with your storage device.
How to see if external hard drive is working?
First of all, you need to unplug the external hard drive and plug it into another USB port to see if it works. If you have connected the drive via USB hub, connect it to computer itself. Then, if you can see the drive in Disk Management but not in This PC, you take measures narrative in previous part.
What if the external hard drive shows but is unrecognized in Windows 10/11?
If the external hard drive's file system is corrupted or incompatible with Windows 10/11, it won't be accessible even it shows up in Windows 10/11 File Explorer. If you open it, you can receive an error, like " X drive is not accessable access is denied ". In such a case, you can format external hard drive to certain file system compatible with Windows system.
How to initialize an external hard drive?
When the external hard drive is not initialized and appears as an unallocated space or without showing disk capacity, you can initialize it as follows: 1. Right click the hard drive that needs to be initialized. 2. Select “ Initialize Disk ” and set the disk partition style as MBR or GPT.
How to assign a drive letter to an external hard drive?
At this time, you should assign a drive letter. Firstly, right click the partition that doesn’t have a drive letter and choose “ Change Drive Letter and Path.. .”. Then click on “Add”, choose a drive letter ...
Why is my MBR not initialized?
It is well-known that MBR or Master Boot Record is essential to a hard drive. When it is damaged by some accidents such as virus attacks or inappropriate operation, the hard drive might display as unknown and not initialized external hard drive in Disk Management.
Does formatting an external hard drive delete all data?
Warning: Formatting external hard drive partition will delete all data on it. If there is any important data, you’d better backup or transfer it to somewhere before formatting.
How to check if external drive is working?
There is also a quick and easy way to check to see whether there are problems with the driver required by your external drive using Device Manager. Follow these steps: 1 Press the Windows key – or just click the Start button – type devmgmt.msc and press Enter. 2 Double click Disk drives to expand the group, and then double click on the entry for your external drive. In the properties dialog that appears, move to the Driver tab and click the Update Driver button. 3 In the Update Drivers window that appears, click Search automatically for drivers and sit back and wait while Windows searches for and installs any new driver that may be available. 4 If nothing is found, click Search for updates drivers on Windows Update and then click Check for updates. If all of this fails, it is worth using the Uninstall button back on the properties screen to delete the current driver. After doing this, restart your computer and you should find that Windows automatically detects your drive and installs the necessary driver.
Why is My External Hard Drive Not Showing Up?
As with so many computing problems, the potential reason for an external hard drive not showing up are numerous. Of course, it could be the case that the drive in question is physically damaged and is not working, but there are plenty of other reasons too.
How to restore all files on Disk Drill?
If you want to restore all of the files that Disk Drill has found, click the Recover all button to the upper right of the screen. You can then choose the drive and folder to which you would like to save the data – make sure to choose a destination other than the drive you are recovery from, or you risk wiping out files completely.
How to get back data from a drive that won't show up?
There are two stages to getting back data from a drive which does not show up in Windows, starting with getting the operating system to detect it. Then you can turn to data recovery software to begin gathering files from the drive and saving it in a safe location. We’re going to take a look at how you can use Disk Drill data recovery tool ...
Why is my USB cable faulty?
If you are connecting a drive using a USB cable, it could be the case that the cable itself is faulty. It is also possible that the USB port you are connecting to is damaged, and this would also lead to problems with a smaller USB drive. You may have run out of USB ports and had to resort to using a USB hub in order to be able to plug in more peripherals, and this can cause problems with power.
What is an external hard drive?
By external drive, we mean both a standard hard drive in an external enclosure, and smaller options such as USB drives. You might well wonder “how is this going to be possible? How can I recover data from a drive if it is not even detected?”
What tool can be used to assign a drive letter to a missing drive?
The Disk Management tool can be used to assign a drive letter to a missing drive.
