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
Certifique-se de criar um ponto de restauração caso algo dê errado.
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.Search for Resolução de problemas in the Windows search field and then click on it. Alternatively, you can access it in the Settings.
2.Scroll down to ‘Hardware e dispositivos' e clique nele.
3.Click on ‘Executar a resolução de problemas’ 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. Pressione Tecla do Windows + R para abrir Corre.
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 ‘Unidades de disco'ou'Controladores de barramento serial universal'.
4.Double-click on your external hard drive to open its Propriedades.
5.Now, if you see the ‘Desativar dispositivo’ button, then it means the hard disk is already enabled.
6.But if you see ‘Ativar dispositivo’ button, then make sure to click on it in order to enable the external hard drive.
Method 4 – Update External Hard Drive Drivers
Se o 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. Pressione Tecla do Windows + R então digite devmgmt.msc and Enter to open Device Manager.
2.Expandir Unidades de disco or Universal Serial Bus controllers.
3.Now right-click on your External hard drive and select Atualize o driver.
4.Choose the option “Procure automaticamente o software de driver atualizado".
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 “Atualizar driver”Mas desta vez na próxima tela selecione“Procure no meu computador por software de driver."
8.Agora selecione “Deixe-me escolher em uma lista de drivers disponíveis no meu computador. "
9. Finalmente, select the latest driver da lista e clique Avançar.
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. Pressione Tecla do Windows + R para abrir o Run.
2.Type ‘diskmgmt.msc’ and click on OK.
3.In the disk management window, right-click on the hard drive and select ‘Novo volume simples'.
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. Pressione Tecla do Windows + R para abrir o Run.
2.Type ‘diskmgmt.msc’ and click on OK.
3.In the Disk Management window, botão direito do mouse on the drive that you want to assign a drive letter.
4.Click on ‘Alterar letras de unidade e caminhos'.
5.If your drive doesn’t have a drive letter already, click on ‘Adicionar’. Otherwise, click on ‘Mudar’ to change the drive letter.
6.Select ‘Atribuir letra de unidade GMT’ 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’ e pressione Enter.
2.In the disk management window, right-click on the hard drive and select ‘Formato'.
Observação: 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.Agora de Tamanho da unidade de alocação (Cluster size) drop-down make sure to select Default.
6.Check or uncheck “Execute um formato rápido” options depending on whether you want to do a quick format or full format.
7.Next, check or uncheck “Ativar compactação de arquivos e pastas” option according to your preference.
8.Finally, review all your choices and then click OK e novamente clique em OK para confirmar suas ações.
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.
Method 8 – Disable USB Selective Suspend Setting
1.Search for ‘Editar plano de energia’ in the search field located on your taskbar and open it.
2.Click on ‘Alterar configurações de energia avançadas'.
3.Under USB settings, disable ‘Configuração de suspensão seletiva de USB'.
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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