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There are many reasons why External Hard Drive Not Showing Up in when you connect it to your computer. Sometimes the problem is just a small bit of corruption that can be fixed with a quick scan. Even Windows’s built-in Chkdsk can sometimes fix these kinds of problems. In more serious cases, physical damage to a disc could make it so that it can’t be found. If the disk’s controller gets broken, it usually can’t be fixed without the help of a professional.
More and more people are using external hard drives. They are perfect for work and for putting important things away. Both of them are easy to use. This is because all you have to do to get them to show up is connect them to your Windows PC. Because of this, a lot of people store their important things on hard drives so that they can get to them later.
Fix: External Hard Drive Not Showing Up in Windows
Uninstall problematic drivers
- Open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start button.
- Expand Disk drives, find your portable hard drive, right-click it, and choose “Uninstall device” from the menu.
- Click Remove to get rid of the driver.
- Now click the icon that says “Check for hardware changes.” Windows will set up your portable hard drive with the drivers that came with it.
Install Mass Store Device driver
- Right-click the Start button and choose Device Manager.
- Find your portable hard drive, right-click it, and choose Update driver.
- Choose to look for driver software on my computer.
- Choose Let me choose from a list of drivers already on my computer.
- Now choose the driver for the Mass Storage Device and install it.
Manually update your drivers
- Press the Windows key + X and then choose Device Manager from the list.
- Find the section called “Disk drives” and expand it.
- Check to see if any of the devices on the list have a yellow “!” next to them. If your device has a question mark next to it, there might be a problem with the driver. Select Update Driver when you right-click the device.
- Choose to have the computer look for driver software on its own.
Check the Drive in Disk Management
First, you should see if Windows can see the hard drive when you plug it in. If you haven’t already, connect your removable drive to your computer. Next, open the tool for managing discs. To do this, press Win+X or right-click the Start button to open the Power User menu, then choose Disk Management from the list.
You can also open this tool by pressing Win+R and typing diskmgmt.msc into the Run window.
Disk Management is just what it sounds like: it Can you fix a dead external hard drivees you see all the hard drives that are connected to your computer. It lets you look at sizes, partitions, and other information about a disc.
Update or Reinstall the Device Driver
- Select Device Manager by pressing Windows + X.
- You can check the status of the external hard drive by expanding Disk drives in the Device Manager window. If the drive has a yellow or red mark next to it, it means there is a problem with the driver.
- To install the latest driver, right-click the external hard drive, click Update driver, and then choose “Search automatically for updated driver software.”
- You could also choose “Uninstall device” to get rid of the driver. Start up your computer again, and the driver will be reinstalled automatically.
Disable USB Selective Suspend Setting
- Type “power plan” into the search box to find it.
- Choose Choose an electricity plan from the list of results.
- Click Change plan settings next to the plan that is being used right now.
- Click Advanced power settings to change them.
- Find USB settings and click the plus sign (+) to make it bigger.
- Click the plus sign (+) to make the USB selective suspend setting bigger.
- Change the setting to “Off.”
- To confirm, click the Apply button, and to close, click the OK button.
Repair the System Built-in Drivers
- During the boot process, press F8 or another button to get into safe mode. To get into normal mode, choose restart or shut down the computer and then turn it back on (to repair the registry).
- If the problem keeps happening, go back into safe mode and choose System Restore to take your computer back to a time when the problem wasn’t there.
- If the problem keeps happening, use the system disc to fix it. Open the command prompt, type SFC/scannow, press Enter, and then put in the original system disc to fix the system.
- If the problem keeps happening, set the CD-ROM as the first boot device in the BIOS. Then, put in the system installation disc and press the R key to choose repair installation.
- If the problem still happens, I suggest that you reinstall your operating system.
If the issues still Resides and you are not able to fix the problem by following the steps mentioned above the new can go to their Microsoft Support Center and ask for more.
FAQ
Why is my computer not detecting my external hard drive
There are several things that could cause this problem: problems with the partitions on the external drive, using the wrong file system, dead USB ports, or driver problems in Windows. In the worst case, the drive itself might not work.
How do I get Windows 10 to recognize my external hard drive
Right-click the Windows icon on the toolbar, and then click Device Manager. Open the Disk Drives menu and find your hard drive. If your hard drive isn’t listed there, expand Universal Serial Bus controllers. Click the right mouse button on your hard drive, then click Update driver.
How do I fix an undetected Seagate external hard drive
- Try plugging the drive into a different computer port.
- Whenever you can, try a different cable.
- Try using the drive on a different computer.
- Check to see if the drive light is on.
- Try using a different outlet.
Can you fix a dead external hard drive
There could be a problem with drivers that are too old; updating them will help bring a dead external hard drive back to life. To do this, just click the mouse a few times: Open the Device Manager and go to Drives > Portable devices. Hover over the right drive and click the right mouse button. Choose Software Driver Update.