Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up or Recognized: External hard drives are very useful when you want to increase storage space. They enable you to store data at a place other than your computer’s primary storage and that too at a relatively lower cost. They are easy to use. But, sometimes it may occur that even after connecting your external hard drive to your computer, it doesn’t show up or get recognized. There can be various reasons for your external hard drive not showing up like dead USB ports or driver issues. If your computer fails to detect your external hard drive, here’s what you need to do.
Before you move on to the following methods, you must first ensure that your drive’s power switch is on (if it exists). The lights on the device will indicate that. While most of the external drives are powered over USB itself, some may have a separate power cable. In such a case, you must ensure that the power cable is working fine. If it isn’t working, the power cable or your power outlet may be damaged. If you have checked all of this and your drive doesn’t show up, continue following the given steps.
Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up or Recognized
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Method 1 – Try Using a Different USB Port Or Computer
Try inserting your hard drive in some other USB port to check if there’s an issue with the USB port itself. If your external hard drive shows up on inserting it in another USB port, then your previous USB port may be dead.
Also, try inserting your hard drive on some other computer. If it doesn’t show up on the other computer as well, there may be a problem with the hard drive. It may even be completely dead and you might need to replace it. This way you will know where exactly the problem lies.
Method 2 – Run Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter
The Windows inbuilt troubleshooter may handle this for you by checking and fixing any hardware or USB related issues, so this one is the foremost step. To let Windows troubleshoot this problem,
1.Søg efter Fejlfinding in the Windows search field and then click on it. Alternatively, you can access it in the Settings.
2.Scroll down to ‘Hardware og enheder' og klik på den.
3. Klik på 'Kør fejlfindingsprogrammet’ under Hardware and Devices.
Method 3 – Enable the External Drive If It Isn’t Already
If your external hard drive like WD My Passport Ultra is not showing up or recognized then it may be caused because it is disabled on your computer. You should ensure that your hard drive is enabled by:
1.Tryk på Windows-tasten + R at åbne Løb.
2.Type ‘devmgmt.msc’ and click on OK.
3.In the device management window, double click on the type of your external hard drive. It may be located under ‘Diskdrev'eller'Universal seriel bus controllere'.
4.Double-click on your external hard drive to open its Egenskaber.
5.Now, if you see the ‘Deaktiver enhed’ button, then it means the hard disk is already enabled.
6.But if you see ‘Aktivér enheden’ button, then make sure to click on it in order to enable the external hard drive.
Method 4 – Update External Hard Drive Drivers
Hvis drivers for hard drives are outdated or missing, it can lead to the external hard drive not showing up or recognized. Therefore, you must make sure that the drivers are updated. You can update the drivers manually by searching for the latest version online and downloading them to your computer. For this, you need to gather the required knowledge.
1.Tryk på Windows-tasten + R skriv derefter devmgmt.msc og Enter for at åbne Enhedshåndtering.
2.Udvid Diskdrev or Universal Serial Bus controllere.
3.Now right-click on your External hard drive and select Opdater driver.
4.Choose the option “Søg automatisk efter opdateret driver software".
5.This will automatically look for and install the updated driver of the hardware from the internet.
6.If the above steps were helpful in fixing the issue then very good, if not then continue.
7.Again right-click on your external hard drive and select “opdater driver” but this time on the next screen select “Gennemse min computer til driver software."
8. Vælg nu "Lad mig vælge fra en liste over ledige drivere på min computer".
9.Finally, select the latest driver fra listen og klik Næste.
10.Let the above process finish and restart your PC to save changes.
Method 5 – Create Partitions for your External Drive
If you are connecting your hard drive for the first time, then it is possible that it does not show up because it doesn’t have any partitions. For a previously used hard drive too, partition issues may cause it to not be detected. To partition your drive,
1.Tryk på Windows-tasten + R for at åbne Run.
2.Type ‘diskmgmt.msc’ and click on OK.
3.In the disk management window, right-click on the hard drive and select ‘Ny enkel volumen'.
4.To complete the process follow this guide.
5.Restart your computer and check if you’re able to fix external hard drive not showing up or recognized issue.
Method 6 – Set Or Change the Drive Letter
Once your drive is correctly partitioned, you must assign a drive letter in order to detect your external hard drive. For this,
1.Tryk på Windows-tasten + R for at åbne Run.
2.Type ‘diskmgmt.msc’ and click on OK.
3.In the Disk Management window, Højreklik on the drive that you want to assign a drive letter.
4. Klik på 'Skift drevbogstaver og -stier'.
5.If your drive doesn’t have a drive letter already, click on ‘Tilføj’. Otherwise, click on ‘Skift’ to change the drive letter.
6.Select ‘Tildele følgende drevbogstav’ radio button.
7.Choose a new letter you want to assign from the drop-down menu and click on Ok.
8.Disconnect and re-insert your external hard drive and check if your external hard drive is now recognized or not.
Method 7 – Format the External Hard Drive
If your drive is partitioned and still does not show up, it may be because it was partitioned or formatted earlier using a different file system or OS and the Windows can’t understand it. To format the drive,
1.Press Windows key + R to open Run then type 'diskmgmt.msc’ og tryk på Enter.
2.In the disk management window, right-click on the hard drive and select ‘dannet'.
Bemærk: This will erase all the contents of the drive. You may need to back up your files using the system which the drive was partitioned in.
3.Type any name which you want to give your drive under Volume label field.
4.Select the file systems from FAT, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, or ReFS, according to your use.
5.Now from Allokeringsenhedsstørrelse (Cluster size) drop-down make sure to select Default.
6.Check or uncheck “Udfør et hurtigt format” options depending on whether you want to do a quick format or full format.
7.Next, check or uncheck “Aktiver fil- og mappekomprimering” option according to your preference.
8.Finally, review all your choices and then click OK og klik igen på OK for at bekræfte dine handlinger.
9.Once the Format is complete, you can close Disk Management.
This should definitely fix external hard drive not showing up issue, but if for some reason you’re stuck then follow the next method.
Metode 8 – Deaktiver USB Selective Suspend-indstilling
1.Search for ‘Rediger strømplan’ in the search field located on your taskbar and open it.
2. Klik på 'Skift avancerede strømstyringsindstillinger'.
3.Under USB settings, disable ‘USB-selektiv suspension-indstilling'.
4.Click OK followed by Apply to save changes.
5.Reinsert your hard drive and this time it will show up without any issue.
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