What to Do When Your External Hard Drive Won’t Show Up

  1. Make Sure It’s Plugged In and Powered On. Western Digital My Book. …
  2. Try Another USB Port (or Another PC) …
  3. Update Your Drivers. …
  4. Enable and Format the Drive in Disk Management. …
  5. Clean the Disk and Start From Scratch. …
  6. Remove and Test the Bare Drive.

Besides, What do I do if my hard drive is not detected?


What to Do When Your External Hard Drive Won’t Show Up

  1. Make Sure It’s Plugged In and Powered On. Western Digital My Book. …
  2. Try Another USB Port (or Another PC) …
  3. Update Your Drivers. …
  4. Enable and Format the Drive in Disk Management. …
  5. Clean the Disk and Start From Scratch. …
  6. Remove and Test the Bare Drive.

Keeping this in mind, How do I fix Windows 10 not detecting my hard drive?
How to fix “Hard drive not detected” on Windows 10?

  1. Re-enable the missing drive in the Disk Management.
  2. Reconnect the external hard drive.
  3. Format the drive.
  4. Check the status of the hard drive.
  5. Update the driver.
  6. Update Windows.
  7. Reinstall USB controllers to make the second hard drive recognized.

How do I fix my external hard drive not detected Windows 10?


Fixing driver issues

  1. Open Start.
  2. Search for Device Manager and click the top result to open the experience.
  3. Expand the Disk drives branch.
  4. Right-click the external drive with the problem and click the Update driver option.
  5. Click the Search automatically for updated driver software option.

How do I fix a corrupted hard drive?


Methods to Fix Corrupted Hard Drive

  1. Go to Computer/This PC >> Select Hard Drive >> Choose Properties.
  2. Select Tools >> Error checking >> Check now >> Check local disk >> Start.
  3. Shut down all open and running programs >> wait for the system to check upon the next boot >> restart the PC.

How do I get my hard drive to work again?


Chill it down.

  1. Seal the drive in a zip-lock bag, and remove as much air as possible. Pop the drive into the freezer for a few hours.
  2. Plug the drive back into the computer and give it a try. If it doesn’t work immediately, power down, remove the drive, then smack it on a hard surface such as a table or floor.

How do I get Windows to recognize my hard drive?


Quick Fix for Second Hard Drive Not Detected In Windows 10:

  1. Go to Search, type device manager, and press Enter.
  2. Expand Disk drives, find the second disk drive, right-click on it, and go to Update driver software.
  3. Follow further updates instructions and your hard disk drive will be updated.

How do I re enable my hard drive?


To enable a hard drive using Device Manager, use these steps:

  1. Open Start.
  2. Search for Device Manager and click the top result to open the app.
  3. Expand the Disk drives branch.
  4. Right-click the hard drive in question and select the Properties option. …
  5. Click the Driver tab.
  6. Click the Enable Device button. …
  7. Click the OK button.

How do I get Windows 10 to read my external hard drive?


Here’s how to do it.

  1. Plug your external hard drive into your desktop or laptop PC. …
  2. In the Windows 10 search bar, type This PC.
  3. Click This PC.
  4. Click the external hard drive listed. …
  5. Access any files on the hard drive like you would with an ordinary internal hard drive.

How do I fix my WD external hard drive not showing up on my computer?

Go Disk Management > Find your external hard drive and right click it by choosing Change Drive Letter and Path… Assign the drive with a new letter that doesn’t exist in your PC and mark the Partition as Active. Click OK. Restart PC and your External hard drive will show up and work again.

Why is my external hard drive not showing up in Disk Management?

If hard drive is not showing up in Disk Management and Device Manager, it may be because it is not enabled in System Setup (BIOS). Some motherboard manufacturers disable unused ports in the BIOS by default, which is the common reason for the 2nd hard drive not showing up in Windows 10/8/7.

How do I fix a corrupted hard drive without losing data?


Method 3.


Run CMD to Repair Corrupted External Hard Drive Without Formatting

  1. Press Win+R, type: cmd and click Enter;
  2. Type: diskpart and hit Enter;
  3. Type: list disk and hit Enter;
  4. Type: select disk 0 and hit Enter; (0 stands for the drive letter of your corrupted external hard drive.)

What causes hard disk corruption?

Hard drive data corruption can occur due to mechanical component issues, software errors or even electrical events. … The physical hard disk issues that contribute to corruption are often caused by poor operating conditions, but all hard drives eventually fail due to mechanical stress and wear.

How do you know if your hard drive is corrupted?

Common signs for a failing hard drive include sluggish performance, unusual noises (clicking or loud component sounds), and an increase number of corrupted files. These are textbook symptoms for the inevitably of a failing hard drive and action should be taken quickly to save your files from being lost.

How do I fix an unresponsive external hard drive?


1.


Use CMD for external hard disk check

  1. Press and hold Windows icon and R keys.
  2. Input “cmd” and hit Enter in the pop-up window.
  3. Type “chkdsk f: /f ” and hit Enter to begin the scan process.
  4. Upon completion, you can usually find the external hard disk errors fixed.

How do I get Windows 10 to recognize a new hard drive?


Press Windows Key + X to open Win + X menu and choose Disk Management from the list.

  1. When the Disk Management window opens, you’ll see all connected hard drives listed.
  2. Take a look at the list, and find a drive listed as Disk 1, or Disk 10 (other names are possible, as well).

Why does my external hard drive not show up 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. But this will lost all data.

Why is my hard drive not showing up in file explorer?

Your USB disk may be corrupted, to check for a corrupted disk, plug the disk into another computer to see if the disk is seen in Windows Explorer on that computer. Make sure that you have the driver installed. If the device is still not seen in Windows Explorer on the alternate computer, the disk may be corrupted.

Why is my Mac not detecting my hard drive?

The most direct reason your external hard drive could be detected by macOS but can’t be opened is the file system problem. … Open Disk Utility. You can search for it using Spotlight or via Finder > Go > Utilities. Check on your external hard drive, click the First Aid tab and select Run to start running diagnostics.

What happens if I disable my external hard drive?

Once everything is turned off, you can unplug it. If the drive isn’t ejected correctly, that can lead to corrupt files, folders, and you’ll probably have to end up reformatting the entire drive, which leads to all of your data being erased.

What happens when you disable an external hard drive?

Pulling a memory card out of its reader or removing an external drive out of the USB port could cause corrupted files, unreadable media or both. Ejecting your external storage safely decreases these chances.

Why is my Seagate external hard drive not showing up?

If your Seagate external hard drive is detected, the original cable is the cause. If the problem still appears, connect the external hard drive to another USB port. Then, check whether the Seagate external hard drive is recognized. If so, it can be concluded that there is something wrong with the previous USB port.

How do I format my external hard drive that is not visible?

Use “Start -> right-click “Computer” -> click “Disk Management” in the left pane. Look at the BOTTOM portion of the middle pane in Disk Management – you may have to scroll down to see the disks. Right-click on the new disk to create a volume and format it.