[SOLVED] – External Hard Drive Not Showing Up On a Computer
Summary: ‘External hard drive not showing up’ error is generally caused due to a missing drive letter, outdated drivers and more. This blog will guide you on how to fix this error by applying different DIY methods, such as adding a drive letter to the external drive or initializing the hard drive. If there’s no time for troubleshooting and you need to recover important data from the undetectable external drive, download professional data recovery software for a faster recovery.
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My computer isn’t detecting my external hard drive. There’s a lot of important data on the drive. Can anyone tell me what the problem is and how I can get a hold of my files?
This is a common query posted by many users on various technical forums, where they are trying to figure out why the external hard drive is not showing up on their computer after connecting.
This can be an annoying situation, especially when you’re on the clock and need to access critical data immediately. Here, you need to understand that an external hard drive is just another storage device that is prone to damage and corruption.
So, instead of worrying, you should dig deep and start applying various workarounds available to help you recover data from an undetectable storage drive.
Why is my External Hard Drive not Showing Up on the Computer?
There are numerous reasons that tend to make external hard drives undetectable by a computer. It could be anything from the following –
- A sudden power surge that caused an unexpected system shutdown while the external hard drive was in use.
- Mishandling or dropping the external hard drive causing physical damage.
- Abrupt or improper system shutdown while the external hard drive is connected
- Virus/malware infection
- Prolonged or excessive use for extended durations
- External hard drive nearing the end of its lifecycle
- Bad sectors
- Outdated/corrupted drivers
- Unsupported file system
- Insufficient power supply
- Drive corruption causing the drive to appear as a RAW in Disk Management.
When an external hard drive is not recognized by your system, you will neither see it anywhere on your computer nor see any notification indicating a connected device.
Alternatively, you may also see a message, “You need to Format disk Drive E: before you can use it. Do you want to format it now?” flash on the screen upon connecting the external hard drive.
Caution: If you see this message, don’t click the ‘Format disk’ button. This will wipe all the data on the drive, and you will lose all your data.
How to Fix the External Hard Drive Not Showing Up on Your PC?
Now that you know why your external hard drive is not showing up, let’s try to fix this issue using the methods explained ahead.
Pre activity –
Before moving on to the methods, try plugging the external hard drive into another USB port or another computer to see if there’s a problem with the port or the drive itself.
Also, try to change the cable and then connect. Sometimes, the cable is damaged, which results in the hard drive not showing up on your PC. Once you are done doing all checks, start employing the methods to fix the ‘external hard drive isn’t detected’ error –
Method 1: Check for the External Hard Drive in the BIOS
Looking into BIOS is a great way to see if the connected external hard drive is being detected by the computer or not. Carefully follow the steps –
- Restart your computer and continuously press the designated BIOS key to enter BIOS. Usually, the key is displayed on the screen. Or you can try pressing ESC, DEL, F2, or F8.
- Once inside the BIOS, navigate to the Boot tab.
- Locate the boot drive and see if the external hard drive is showing up.
- If it is displayed, then exit the BIOS and reboot your computer.
If your external hard drive is not showing up in the BIOS, it could be due to a faulty cable or loose connection. This could also happen if your external hard drive is uninitialized or unallocated. For this, move to the next solution.
Method 2: Initialize and Assign a Letter to the External Hard Drive
If you have recently purchased an external HDD and is not initialized, this could be the reason behind the external hdd not getting listed in the file explorer or computer. You will first need to initialize and assign a letter to the external hard drive so that the Logical Disk Manager can access it and show it in the File Explorer. To do so –
- Press WINDOWS + R, type diskmgmt.msc in the box and click OK.
- In Disk Management, locate your external hard drive. It should be visible as an ‘Unknown’ drive with the ‘Not initialized’ tag.
- Right-click on it and select ‘Initialize Disk.’
- You will see a pop-up window. Here, select the partition style you want for the drive and click OK.
The external hard drive is now initialized. Because it is still unallocated and doesn’t have a drive letter, it will not show up in the File Explorer. Here’s what to do now –
- In Disk Management, locate the unallocated external hard drive and right-click on it.
- Click on New Simple Volume.
- You will see the New Simple Volume wizard. Click Next.
- In the next window, it will ask you to specify the volume size. Enter the value and click Next.
- In the next window, choose a drive letter from the drop-down and click Next.
- In the Format Partition window, select the ‘Format this volume with the following settings’ option and then choose the File System, allocation unit size, and Volume label.
- Choose the Perform a quick format option and click on Next.
- On the final window, click on Finish to format the drive and assign a letter to it.
Method 3: Update Storage Controller Drivers
If your external hard drive is not showing up in the file explorer but is being detected by the computer, it could be due to outdated or corrupt storage controller drivers. Follow the steps mentioned here –
- Press WINDOWS + X and click on Device Manager.
- Locate Storage Controller and expand it.
- Right-click on the entry under it and click on Properties.
- Go to the Driver tab and click on Update Driver.
- Follow the steps as prompted by the wizard.
- Restart your computer.
Method 4: Run Hardware and Device Troubleshooter using CMD
This is a typical situation where the connected external hard drive does not show in either the disk management or the File Explorer. In such a situation, you can troubleshoot any device-related issues by running the hardware and device troubleshooter via CMD. To do this –
- Press WINDOWS + R and type cmd. Press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER to open it with administrator privileges.
- Type the following command – msdt.exe –id DeviceDiagnostic and press Enter.
- It will open the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter.
- Click on Next.
- Let the wizard detect the issues. If it displays any issues, click on them one by one and follow the steps as prompted to troubleshoot them.
- Restart your computer.
Note – Also, expand the ‘Disk Drives’ entry and update the drivers of your storage drive.
How to Recover Data from an External Hard Drive that is not Showing Up?
External drive not showing up on a computer can worry anyone as they are mostly used for creating backups of important files and data.
If you are currently in such a situation, worry not as you can recover the lost data from an unrecognized (RAW) drive or volume using a professional data recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery Professional.
It is an easy-to-use software that is light on storage and effective in almost every data loss scenario. Here is a short video to show you the steps involved in performing data recovery.
Another great thing about this software is its built-in Drive Monitor utility. This little addition helps in checking the health and other vitals of any storage drive and informs the user if there is any issue with the drive.
Conclusion
We store our important files and data on external hard drives to maintain a backup of our data and to prepare ourselves for any unexpected data losses. However, it is so frustrating to see our storage drive not getting detected by the computer. If your external hard drive is not showing up on the PC, you can follow the given methods discussed above and access it. Let us know which method helped you fix this issue.
I was transferring files from my phone to my laptop one morning when all the sudden there was a ticking sound under the keyboard. I couldn’t tell if it was the HDD or fan with a wire stuck in the blades. It was working fine until I turned it off due to the noise becoming annoying. When I turned it back on it began to boot but the screen went blue with a recovery page and an error code. After 10 seconds of not touching anything the computer shuts itself off. The error code is stating the bios can’t be found. When I tried plugging it USB into another computer nothing shows but in the original laptop it states the drive is readable just won’t boot. What on the HDD could it be? I sent it out to a professional what will take it apart and look at it.
Hello Brent,
It might happen due to the physical damage to a hard drive. To confirm results, you can run CHKDSK command. If this command doesn’t run, then there is a sure shot reason that your hard drive is physical damage and you have to consult with a data recovery Service Centre.
hello ,I am using Toshiba 1TB external hard disk , all of sudden it stop working . I use this device everyday , It is not detecting in any of the computer , and all my data is in device . please help me I tried all way ,device manager ,device management , recovery tool etc etc . I am just worried about my data that is very important . please help me
Hello Jaidul,
I recommend not to use this drive again and immediately disconnect with the system.
Also, as mentioned by you, that you already use recovery tool and it doesn’t help you. So its best to contact our data recovery service.
Please mail on support[@]stellarinfo.com
Hello,
My hard disk can’t be read. Then I had tried to click show hidden devices at device manager and my hard disk appear on device manager but it not appear on ‘My Computer’. Why????? Please help me!!!
Hello Fadzil,
Sorry to hear your issue!
Possible Reasons may be
1) USB Port Issue
2) Drivers are not updated
3) Windows sometimes named the drive to a letter that is already in use.
4) At times the unpartitioned drive is also a reason for becoming invisible or inaccessible external drive
If the above common fixes can’t help to provide the data. We recommend to download the below-mentioned software and try to see the lost files in the preview section.
If you wish to recover the files so we recommend you to try the demo version of Stellar Data Recovery Professional from the below-mentioned link:
Download Link
After installing the software, please follow the below mentioned steps to create an image of the drive as your drive contains bad sectors:
1. Run Stellar Windows Data Recovery software.
2. From Select What to Recover screen, select the type of data i.e. Everything, Documents, Folders & Emails or Multimedia Files, you want to recover. Click on Next.
3. On Select Location screen, select Recover from Disk Images from Other Locations and click on Scan button.
4. Now select Create Image option and click Next.
5. From Create Image screen, select the drive or partition for which you wish to create an image.
6. To create an image of the entire drive or partition click on Start Imaging.
7. In ‘Create Media Image to Save’ dialog box, locate the destination where image file should be saved. In the File Name text box, type name. Click on Save.
8. Click on Scan to start the recovery process.
Hi team,
I have an internal HDD, Im using it external HDD using external casing. I connected HDD to friends laptop and it got affected by .lnk virus. Now it is not detecting in any systems. I have already formatted HDD one year ago and recovered the data but if I format it again I’ll get the old data also. And I don’t want that to happen. I want only the data which is present it right now. Help to get rid of .lnk and get the data. Thanks
Hello Vishal,
Sorry to hear about your problem.
In a current scenario, the old data of yours will not be recovered ( which you don’t wish to get back) since it was overwritten by new data (during the period of 1 year).
We recommend to download the below-mentioned software and try to see the lost files in the preview section.
As you wish to recover the files so we recommend you to try the demo version of Stellar Data Recovery Professional from the below-mentioned link:
Download Link
After installing the software, please follow the below-mentioned steps to create an image of the drive as your drive contains bad sectors:
1. Run Stellar Windows Data Recovery software.
2. From Select What to Recover screen, select the type of data i.e. Everything, Documents, Folders & Emails or Multimedia Files, you want to recover. Click on Next.
3. On Select Location screen, select Recover from Disk Images from Other Locations and click on Scan button.
4. Now select Create Image option and click Next.
5. From Create Image screen, select the drive or partition for which you wish to create an image.
6. To create an image of the entire drive or partition click on Start Imaging.
7. In ‘Create Media Image to Save’ dialog box, locate the destination where image file should be saved. In the File Name text box, type name. Click on Save.
8. Click on Scan to start the recovery process.
My device light is being on and making a little noise and beep on startup but not showing on the computer .Device Manager is giving code 10 error on USB universal hub.How I Can recover my data now ? is there any hardware tool or method to recover data?
Hello Aamir,
We would like to know whether there is any clicking or grinding noise coming from your hard drive. If yes then your drive is physically damaged and we recommend you not to connect the drive to the system as it may get further damaged.
You can avail our data recovery services to recover the data from the physically damaged drive. Please write to support[@]stellarinfo.com so that our support team can assist you further.
If there is no clicking or grinding noise coming from your drive then you can download the demo version of Stellar Data Recovery Professional from the below mentioned link:
Download Link
After installing the software, kindly follow the below-mentioned steps to perform the scan on your drive:
1. Run Stellar Windows Data Recovery.
2. From ‘Select What to Recover screen’, select the type of data i.e. Everything, Documents, Folders & Emails or Multimedia Files, you want to recover.
3. Click on Next.
4. On ‘Select Location’ screen, select Can’t Find Drive from Other Locations.
5. Click on ‘Scan’ button.
6. In the ‘Select Drive’ section all the hard drives connected to the system are listed with their details. From this section, choose a hard drive you want to scan for lost partitions and click Search. A scan for lost or deleted partitions will be performed in the selected disk or drive.
7. Any ‘lost partition’ detected, will be listed in the ‘Partition Found’ section.
8. From the list of partitions found, select any desired partition and click on ‘Scan’ to continue with the recovery process.
Note: If you can’t find your desired partition in the Partition Found section, you can choose Deep Scan option to perform a comprehensive scan of the selected drive for deleted or lost partition.
Sir, need your help.
Yesterday after Desktop restart, a black screen is coming with big mesage “Try to load boot scanner and then press any key.
Can I get my old data? Plz suggest..
Hello Dipankar,
Sorry to hear about your PC machine.
Assuming you have Windows system, I recommend reading this informative post – Read More
It definitely solves all your queries and recovers your data back.
Best Regards
Jyoti Prakash
hello my hdd is not detecting.. what should i do now??/
Hello Shibam,
Please try these common fixes
1) Try plugging in the hard drive into another USB port. If it works that means the problem is with your system’s USB port.
2) Try connecting the hard drive to another computer.
3) Reassign drive letter to the hard drive. For this:
Go to Start -> My Computer.
In the window that opens, take a note of all the letters already assigned to drives.
Now click on “Map a network drive” and in the window that opens, click on the “Drive” button.
From the drop-down, choose a drive letter that’s not in use.
Browse and navigate to the unrecognized external hard drive and then click on “OK”.
Click on the “Finish” button to close the window.
Restart the computer and then reconnect the drive and see if it works
Sir my HD is not detecting,there is most important data in it. When I went to my near computer centre they said that its mbar is not working. Can I get my old data? Plz suggest me..
HI Jyoti Mam
i am using seagate 2TB external Hard drive but now not detected & not showing in Device Manager also.
I want recover all data. please suggest me what should i do.
Regards
Hemant
Hi Hemant,
Please follow the procedure mentioned in this article: Read More
Hi,
My problem is that from one day to another my desktop PC didn’t start, a black screen appears mentioning that no bootable device found. I turned off and then turning it on and off then Windows 10 started normally. Sadly the next day the same thing, but after a lot of tries turning it on and off several times, the PC didn’t start.
Because of the error message, I assumed that it was obviously a problem with the Hard Disk, so I proceeded to extract the Disk and putting in an external 3.5 HD case, connected to my laptop via USB and then the power cable to the power outlet and I was really sad finding that the disk doesn’t show up in My Computer in Windows explorer as normally all external data devices appear.
In the Windows Disk Management interface, the Disk shows up but as this:
In the Disk name column:
Disk3
Unknown
232.89 GB
Uninitialized
And in the Space column:
232.89 GB
Unallocated
Can your Software help me dealing with this, to recover all my data?………. In the event that the answer is yes, do I need the Home or PRO version?..by the way , what is the important differences between them?
It is worth mentioning that I want to recover not only photos, music and videos, but also, .EXE, .AI, .CDR, .JSP files among others.
Thanks in advance
Best Regards….
Hello,
We recommend you to try the demo version of Stellar Windows Data Recovery Professional from the below-mentioned link:
Download Link
Please follow the below-mentioned steps to perform the scan on your drive:
1. Run Stellar Windows Data Recovery.
2. From Select What to Recover screen, select the type of data i.e. Everything, Documents, Folders & Emails or Multimedia Files, you want to recover.
3. Click on Next.
4. On Select Location screen, select Can’t Find Drive from Other Locations.
5. Click on Scan button.
6. In the Select Drive section, all the hard drives connected to the system are listed with their details. From this section, choose a hard drive you want to scan for lost partitions and click on Search. A scan for lost or deleted partitions will be performed in the selected disk or drive.
7. Any ‘lost partition’ detected, will be listed in the Partition Found section.
8. From the list of partitions found, select any desired partition and click Scan to continue with the recovery process.
Note: If you can’t find your desired partition in the Partition Found section, you can choose Deep Scan option to perform a comprehensive scan of the selected drive for deleted or lost partition.
Once the scanning is completed then you can check the preview of the files to know the possibility of recovery.
The Professional version of the software contains ‘Create Image’ & ‘Add Header’ features which are not included in the Home version. ‘Create Image’ option will allow you to create an image of your drive which contains bad sectors. You can add a header or hex value of a file by using the ‘Add Header’ option.