External drive not showing up or not detected? 6 repair attempts (2023)

Removable drives such as USB flash drives, SD cards, and external hard drives should be easy to use with your computer. However, in some cases, you may connect your hard drive to a Windows computer or other device with a USB port and find that the external hard drive does not appear.

There are several possible causes for this issue: partitioning problems on the external drive, using the wrong file system, a dead USB port, or driver problems in Windows. In the worst case, the drive itself may be dead.

Let's take a look at what to do when your external hard drive doesn't show up in Windows.

1. Make sure the external drive is turned on

These are preliminary steps, but worth considering. Almost all flash drives and many external hard drives do not need a separate power supply - they are powered via USB. However, some external desktop hard drives have dedicated power cables or at least a physical power switch.

If this is the case and your external hard drive is not showing up, there may be a problem with your device's power cable. Try plugging it into another outlet or replace the power cord (if possible). Before continuing, check for signs of activity, such as a blinking light on the drive or a hum of movement inside the drive.

If you see no sign that the drive is working no matter what you do, the device may be damaged. make sure you knowSigns that your hard drive is failingSo if this happens again, you can catch it early.

Assuming your device is turned on but still not showing up, check the following points in order.

2. Check the drive in Disk Management

First, you need to check if Windows detects the drive when you connect it. Connect the removable drive to your computer (if you haven't already).

then opendisk managementtool. To do this, press itwin + x(or right-click the Start button) to open the Power User menu and selectdisk managementlist. You can also openrundialogueWin + Rand enterdiskmgmt.mscOpen this utility.

As the name suggests, Disk Management allows you to view all the hard drives connected to your computer. it makes youCheck disk size, partitions and other information.

You should see your external drive in the Disk Management window, probably under your primary and secondary drives. Although it does not appear in thethis computerSince it contains no partitions, it should appear here asremovableSound volume.

If you see the drive here, skip to section 5 below. There, you'll partition and/or format your drive properly so Windows and other devices can access it.

If your external drive still doesn't show up in Disk Management, move on. You will need to determine why your drive is not recognized. You may be experiencing hardware issues, driver issues, or a dead drive.

3. Try another USB port and computer

The reason your external drive is not detected may not be your device, but the port you use to connect it to your computer.

Unplug the drive from its current slot and try plugging it into another USB port on your computer. If it works on one USB port but not the other, the USB port may be dead. LookHow to diagnose and repair a dead USB portIf you doubt this.

If you connected the drive to a USB hub, try connecting it directly to the computer. Some USB hubs cannot provide enough power to external drives.

What if the drive still doesn't show up in Disk Management after trying these two steps? It can be difficult to determine if the drive is faulty or if there is something wrong with the computer. If there is another computer nearby, try plugging in the external drive to see if it is detected.

If the drive does not work on any computer you plug it into, the drive is probably bad and needs to be replaced. When testing another machine, don't just checkthis computerMake sure you check that it appears in your computer's Disk Management window, as above. Even if it works, if the drive doesn't have a volume recognized by Windows, it may not show up in File Explorer.

4. Troubleshoot device drivers

If the drive shows up on other computers, or if you don't have another computer nearby to test it, Windows may have a driver problem with your device. You can verify this using Device Manager.

you will find a shortcutdevice managerat the samewin + xThe menu mentioned above. You can also enterDevelopment Management Tools.mscOpen it in the run dialog.

In Device Manager, expand itHard drivecategory and check for devices with a yellow exclamation point next to them. better controlUniversal Serial Bus ControllerFestival too.

If you see an error symbol for any entry, there is a driver problem with the device. Right click on the device in question, selectcharacteristicand see below error messagedevice status.This information can help you solve the problem.

we have exploredHow to fix "This device cannot start (code 10)" error.alsoFix "Unknown USB Device", which provides good steps for troubleshooting driver problems. If these drivers don't solve your problem, there are some more general steps you can take, although driver problems can be difficult to resolve.

If the problem occurred recently,try performing a system restoreRevert changes. If that doesn't help, you can right-click on the affected device in Device Manager and use itdriver updatebutton to install the updated driver.

However, this rarely finds new drivers for generic devices like flash drives. Instead, you may want to check the manufacturer's website for the specific driver for your external hard driveGuide to updating Windows driversAsk for more help.

heconduitThey appear incharacteristicEach device's menu in Device Manager has some additional options.reverse driverIt will roll back any recent driver updates (if any), which probably won't have any effect if System Restore doesn't work.

As a last resort, you can useuninstall deviceRemove the device from the system. After restarting, Windows will reinstall the driver and hopefully set it up correctly when you reconnect the drive.

5. Create a new disk volume

If your device previously appeared in Disk Management in #2, or one of the troubleshooting steps above caused Windows to detect it, you're ready to initialize the drive so it can be used. In addition to displaying basic information, Disk Management can also repair a drive's partitioning and file system problems.

If only your removable drive is shownindisposedspace, you will need to create a new partition in it. This allows Windows and other operating systems to use the device. To create a new partition, right-click anywhere on the partitionindisposedspace selectionnew simple volAnd follow the wizard to create a new partition.

After partitioning the drive, you should be able tothis computerpanel and use it normally.

If your drive is partitioned (meaning it contains more thanindisposedspaces) and you still don't see it anywhere else in Windows, make sure it has a set of drive letters. This should happen automatically, but if you manually remove the drive letter for any reason, the volume may not be accessible to Windows.

To change the drive letter, right-click on the removable drive partition and selectChange drive letter and path.If the device does not have letters yet, clickAdd toand select one. If you do, click onChangeand try another one.

something after the alphabet, likegramThei, is standard on removable drives and works great. Avoid preceding letters such asONEYesdo, has been reserved by Windows for other purposes.

After changing the drive letter, it may be necessaryshow all drives on this computerto make sure it appears.

6. Format the external drive

If the drive appears to be partitioned, but Windows still can't access it, it may be partitioned with a different file system.

For example, you may have formatted your drive with the ext4 file system on Linux or APFS on Mac. Windows cannot read these file systems. Therefore, you need to reformat the driveFile systems that Windows can access, such as NTFS, exFAT, or the old FAT32, so that Windows recognizes it.

To reformat the partition in the Disk Management utility, right-click and selectForm.

NoticeFormatting will delete all files on the drive, so you should copy any important files on it to another device before proceeding. If the drive has been formatted for use on a Linux or Mac computer, transfer it to a computer running that operating system to back up the files before formatting.

When formatting, you can optionally give the drive a new name. permissionallocation unit sizeasPredefined;protocolrun a quick formatChecked is also fine. Most importantly, you need to choose oneFile system.Which one you should choose depends on the type of disc and your usage.

What file system should I choose for my external drive?

If you have a small flash drive, it can be formatted asFAT32 format.Despite its age, this file format is still used in small storage devices due to its wide compatibility. However, it is not a perfect choice.

FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4 GB and only supports volumes up to 2 TB. You're less likely to experience these issues with flash drives, but they're still limitations. The main reason to use FAT32 is that it works with almost any device, such as cameras, media players, game consoles, etc.

exFAT, on the other hand, is the more modern successor to FAT32. It's not as common as FAT32, but it doesn't have the file size limitations of the older format. exFAT was also faster in the test.

Therefore, we recommend using exFAT for small removable devices such as flash drives, unless you have specific compatibility reasons for using FAT32. We haveComparison of FAT32 and exFATIf you are interested in learning more about the differences.

Another option isNTFS file system.This is the modern standard file system for Windows, but there is no benefit to using it on a flash drive. Many older devices do not support NTFS and it has a lot of overhead, which is not necessary on smaller drives.

It is good to use NTFS for large external hard drives used only with Windows computers. But if you plan to use the drive on other machines, choose exFAT.

Now your external drive is recognized and displayed again!

Following this procedure should resolve most drive recognition problems you'll encounter when your external hard drive doesn't show up. If you've tested the drive on multiple computers and it never appears in the Disk Management window after following these steps, the drive may be inactive. You could take it to a computer repair shop to have it checked, but at this point, you can be sure it's burned out.

Fortunately, there are many good options for replacing external drives that don't cost much.