How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up In My Computer

How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up In My Computer - Hard Drive Not Detected On Windows 10

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2 жыл бұрын

How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up In My Computer - Hard Drive Not Detected On Windows 10
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What do you do when your external hard drive won't show up on your Windows computer? Keep watching and I'll show you 3 solutions you can try. This works with any external USB hard drive that powers up and is not making any strange noises. However, please watch the entire video before making any changes to your hard drive to avoid losing important data. So when I plug in my device, naturally it would just show up. Here are some simple things to check. Try plugging the drive into another USB port or computer. If the hard drive doesn't show up, then try using different USB cable. For me, swapping out USB cables has worked in the past.
But what if your hard drive powers up but still won't show up in Windows Explorer? It's possible that the drive hasn't been unassigned a drive letter. Without it, the computer knows the drive is there but I can't access it. So let me explain what's happening. When I plug my drive into a USB port, I can hear the chime alert. But it's not listed in the Devices and Drives sections. What I need to do is right click on the Windows Start button and click on Disk Management. In the next window it'll show me a list of all the drives connected to this computer. On the problem disk it has no letter assigned to it. But my computer knows it's there but it's not letting me access it.
Here's how to make it work. Right click on the drive and click Change Drive Letter and Paths. In the next window click the Add button. Then make sure the circle is selected where it says Assign the Following Drive Letter. And in the drop down menu choose a letter. I'll select H. Then as soon as I click OK the contents of my drive pop up and now I can use it like normal. And just so you know, there is no risk of losing data on your external drive by changing drive letters. But the drive letter you choose could affect programs that have linked this hard drive under a different letter. I hope that makes sense!
One situation I've run into before is connecting 2 drives that have been assigned the same letter. If this is the case, the 2nd hard drive will not show up. But following my instructions to change the drive letter will make the 2nd hard drive accessible again.
If nothing else works it's possible that the drive is corrupted or malfunctioning. There may be no way to fix a drive that is suffering from mechanical malfunctions. But if the data is corrupted there is something you can try... but it will also erase all your files! So I want to emphasize that the next step will delete everything on your hard drive! So only proceed if nothing else works!
Once again I've plugged in my external hard drive but it's not showing up in Windows Explorer. I'll right click on the Windows Start button and click on Disk Management. When I've determined that I absolutely can't recover the files on my drive, I'm going to have to reformat it. To do this, right click on the problem drive and this time choose Format. Here I can rename the drive and choose a type of formatting. If you work on Windows only then choose NTFS. If you want the drive to work on both Windows and Mac then choose exFAT. And when you're ready to delete everything click OK. Since my drive is working I'm going to cancel out. But please remember, once you click OK everything on your hard drive will be deleted and there's no way to get it back!
Ok and here's one last thing. It's possible that your drive has been formatted for Apple computers. So it's worth plugging it into a Mac to see if the hard drive will show up there. A Mac formatted drive won't work on a Windows computer and it has to be reformatted so Windows can read it. If any of these tips work, I would immediately back up the drives to a working hard drive to avoid any loss later. Hopefully some of these tips help you get your hard drive working again! If this video was helpful please give me a thumbs up and hit the subscribe button to stay up to date on all my weekly videos!
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Пікірлер: 469

@user-cu3ef2nk7y Жыл бұрын

Didn't think I'd ever understand what exactly the problem was let alone be able to diagnose where it lay and never in my wildest dreams think I'd be able to fix it. But , with your clear and simple instructions, the extreme panic lifted - and I can now access my external hard drives. Still can't believe it!!!! I am so happy!!! May I add my heartfelt thanks to the huge number already posted.

@FXpopat 2 жыл бұрын

Whilst others are showing "Format HDD" solution, you're doing a hero's job! Worked like a charm 🤗

@TheRenderQ 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent! I’m really glad you got your hard drive working again! Yeah formatting the drive shouldn’t be the first step! Who wants to lose their data from the get go? Thanks for watching!

@nsomniak6 Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much. I saved a lot of time and frustration checking the cord with another drive and vice-versa which was much easier than trying all of the other solutions first.

@mikeburgardt8607 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much. The Disk management worked like a charm. Sadly I have been trying to open this drive for over a year now. Other websites told me to use a different computer. That worked but they didnt tell me how to make it work on my computer. What is even sadder is the information I had came from much more popular websites and youtubes with more views. Glad I found you.

@prestigepropertymedia 2 жыл бұрын

I had tried a couple other fixes but your suggestion and directions to assign a drive letter did the trick. Thank you so much! I need the external USB drives to work so I can back up photos.

@markg9765 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, didn't even have to follow the video to the end b4 the problem was solved. Assigned drive letter and works perfectly. I am now a new subscriber.

@killerlunalove3459 6 ай бұрын

2 years later and you’re still helping people. Thanks man, you’re a life saver! 😂😁

@RoderikConnors 9 ай бұрын

Thank you! Had a brand new external hard drive that wasn't working. Followed your steps to assign a drive letter. Now it works!!!

@t.alexmoore Жыл бұрын

Wow the disk management step at around 2:20 worked perfectly! Thanks man

@PorterCrow 3 ай бұрын

The video is a little out dated at this point in time, but you nudged me in the right direction and I was able to figure it out. Thank you so much!!

@davehoweth5368 2 жыл бұрын

assigning a letter worked a treat! nice one. Although I couldn't just right click and select a letter, it only gave me a few options and opened a setup wizard when i had to press next to get to the part where I could assign a letter. Nice one mate.

@Soil_Bound Жыл бұрын

Thaank you so much!!!!

@onlyaspoonful8961 Жыл бұрын

THANK YOU!!!

@PlayGirlShani 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you. I couldn't access my external hard drive for over a year. But it's now fixed & I can store games to it again.

@darrelmorgan6266 2 жыл бұрын

This doesn't work. Mine doesn't even register in disk mgmt. It is however listed in device mgr but doesn't show up in dsk mgmt. It opens just fine on another laptop. I find it astonishing that there seems to really be no computer people anywhere I have seen on the net who seem to really understand this issue very well. No offense to the uploader. From what I am seeing this is in fact more often a problem with the host computer and not the hard drive itself. The cable being the issue is even more rare. If an ext HD has opened on your computer for a long time with no issues and then one day it doesn't, it is likely something to do with the computer, not the HD.

@PixelPanterIJ 2 жыл бұрын

Same thing here… Have you found a fix?

@datsunyellow2570 2 жыл бұрын

yeah same here unfortunately :(

@fl0rin09 Жыл бұрын

Same here just recently...no solution found ...

@sebastiangonzalez6142 Жыл бұрын

Same here, still no solution

@romeofranco5204 Жыл бұрын

same no solution

@zegercm 2 жыл бұрын

you just saved me a hundred bucks man! You rock! Power went out here in Upstate NY near Syracuse in one of our famous snow storms and did something to my new external hard drive. Your video got it working again.

@TheRenderQ 2 жыл бұрын

That’s awesome! I’m really glad you were able to get your hard drive working again! I’m sure that’s a big relief! Thanks for watching!

@MartinOscar-hg7bp 5 ай бұрын

@@TheRenderQplease I need your help

@MartinOscar-hg7bp 5 ай бұрын

@@TheRenderQwhen click change letter and paths .my hard drive E show up. Should I change the E to H ang letter?

@jamesacuna7044 2 ай бұрын

thank you.. I've been watching other videos with no avail but your instructions just fix my problem. thank you again

@JMVD48 Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much, the explanation about Disk Management and assigning a new Drive Letter is VERY important to me. 👍

@jonathanlee8185 Жыл бұрын

I have assigned the new external drive as J: and the problem has been fixed. Many thanks to you.

@khalidalbalushi983 2 жыл бұрын

extremely helpful, thanks a lot.

@mariib.c.2735 Жыл бұрын

Oh my goodness, THANK YOU!! THIS HELPED MY ISSUE SO MUCH!

@theothesir Жыл бұрын

Dude! I finally fixed my hard drive issue thanks to your video. I never met you but I love you sir!

@Alaa.M945 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent informative video, really I so appreciated for being this video solved my problem with my usb external hdd…thanks so much 👍👍👍

@John-gj1jr Жыл бұрын

I got to the point where you right click on the drive. The "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." is greyed out. The only options available are the "Delete Volume" and "Help". I thought sure this would work when I saw it. I have 4 partitions on the drive, all of which say "Healthy; (Primary Partition)" and are respectively as 1.00 GB, 500 GB, 500 GB and 862.02 GB. I should say this drive was originally used to store DVR recordings on Dish satellite. A little help, if you please. Thanks,

@John-gj1jr Жыл бұрын

I just watched your other video on this subject where you clicked on "Delete Volume" . Should I delete all the partitions in the above mentioned post?

@philreus1148 Жыл бұрын

Hi John, I've got exactly the same problem...all the options are greyed out except those two. Have you found any solution to this? None of the videos/websites I've found so far address this issue. Any ideas? Thanks.

@John-gj1jr Жыл бұрын

@@philreus1148 I chose the option "Delete Volume and went from there. To be honest, I don't remember all the steps, but it's fairly straight-forward after that. I was able to copy files to the external drive as you would normally. Mine had only been used for Dish dvr recordings, and had four volumes. I deleted them all, since I had no idea I'd ever use them again. I think they were proprietary to Dish anyway. Does your drive in Files say "Healthy; (Primary Partition)" and then list sizes? I hope this helps and wish I could remember more of what I did, but I think this will work. If not, hit me back and I'll try to go through the steps again without actually deleting anything.

@amptron1776 Жыл бұрын

@@John-gj1jr Thanks for posting this even though it doesn't help me as I need the files on the external hard drive so can't just delete and start over.

@LuisCruz-yg6rs 2 жыл бұрын

Ty. the Disk Management drive letter reassignment trick worked for me.

@jopr.5868 Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much, worked like a charm!

@astralislux305 2 жыл бұрын

Right clicking on the problem drive has everything grayed out besides "delete volume" and "help". Any advice?

@ibrahimkhurram8878 2 жыл бұрын

same

@ayoubmorjane7722 2 жыл бұрын

thank you that fixed my issues I noticed that this happened when I plug-in for the first time

@ndukan Жыл бұрын

Very nice! Thank you very very much!!😀

@plrbere 5 ай бұрын

@TheRenderQ when i right click on the disk the change letter option doesnt come up do you know how to fix that?

@zsuzsimeszaros5913 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I am very grateful :)

@nurse_zach 18 күн бұрын

Worked great! Thank you so much!

@33goldengirl 2 ай бұрын

I followed your initial steps and plugged my drive into another port. That didn't work. Next step, I plugged my drive into another laptop, and it worked. I then plugged the drive back into my laptop, and it worked! I have no idea why, but I am so relieved! Thank you!

@ngesub 2 жыл бұрын

when I open the disk management, the interface just blank. but when I unplug the hdd, and open the disk management again, the option show up.

@user-zs8hz1us5s 4 ай бұрын

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT ALL DAY!!!!!!!

@hopenavajo1391 3 ай бұрын

Thanks 👍 for the expert advice,it took frustration after frustration, you're awesome.

@suliemanmohammed2011 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the last part of the video especially. I think my drive has been formatted to an apple mac. I'll see how I can reformat it. Thanks again.

@brindleycupido2739 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent video. Most sites start of by talking about formatting drive. How stupid is that and they call it advice. It should be the last step. Yours is great. Step by step. Thanks

@TheRenderQ 2 жыл бұрын

You’re welcome! I’m glad my hard drive tutorial helped!

@shori200 Жыл бұрын

TYSM I tried to figure out the issue with a few different videos, but struggled to understand. I got mine working from watching your vid tysm

@tperry8130 2 жыл бұрын

Alright this helped me with my problem, thanks!

@whatexitbets 8 ай бұрын

Thanks I never thought to check the cable it work! thanks so much

@Kong-Long 8 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot! Your video just solved my problem 👍

@waimeaguyz9074 2 ай бұрын

Genius personified, worth subscribing to. Thanks for sharing your expertise. Have a good day.

@djjoeykmusic 2 жыл бұрын

Great Video! Thank you so much! You help me..... Thank you

@rephgrave 4 ай бұрын

This has took me for over 4 years to get my hard drive working again, thanks you so much with you help I got it working again

@TheRenderQ 4 ай бұрын

Wow! That’s a long time! Glad you kept your hard drive around! Now you’ve got it working again! Thanks for watching!

@brianperry9517 9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the video the first fix worked for me . Thanks

@arunsnair2960 7 ай бұрын

Perfectly worked ! Great job dude

@mikehalpern384 Жыл бұрын

thanks, i've been trying for 2-3 hours to make an external drive show up in windows explorer. with your video I fixed the problem in 5 minutes ... :-)

@coolgreekid 2 ай бұрын

This just fixed my issue! Thank you very much!

@HarkaneAmineAmineFrei 7 ай бұрын

thank you, the method of naming the disk worked for me

@lpg12338 Жыл бұрын

Good job, thanks, subscribed.

@TartarSauceBeans 2 жыл бұрын

thank you for the help friend!

@monikavanwari2184 10 күн бұрын

Very helpful sir. Thank you very much

@StarlightBettas Жыл бұрын

trying to swap data between two different computers somehow resulted in it no longer showing up on the second computer, and then it stopped showing up on the first computer for seemingly no reason, this may have fixed it so thank you! i can at least look at the files now and select one for backup.

@micksentauzeni8238 11 ай бұрын

thank you so much, the first step worked for me

@jimc3708 Жыл бұрын

worked Great! Thanks for the info😁 subscribed

@hourglassescapes4544 Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for this. I was able to fix 2 drives today.

@TheRenderQ Жыл бұрын

You’re welcome! So glad you got your hard drives working again! Thanks for watching!

@Artahe 2 жыл бұрын

Well, that helped, thanks! Which is... interesting, because my problem was that my drive didn't have a letter assigned, which is weird because it actually had, but it somehow lost it? Anyway, it worked for me so cheers!

@raynoldakyereko-borkor514 4 ай бұрын

Will you be able to get your files back using disk drill or any recovery app after formatting it completely?

@TheRenderQ 4 ай бұрын

There is no way to recover your files after your format your drive. Formatting a drive will permanently erase all your data. There is no way to get any files back after you format it.

@sakkeihminen7008 Жыл бұрын

thank you so much. great and simple video overall

@HellDivingChicken 2 жыл бұрын

thank you this helped tons

@digitalspaceman Жыл бұрын

Hi thanks for tutorial , my drive doesn't show on device manager windows 10, I plug it to macbook pro and it shows also on disk utility tool , I can format it as well to msdos, extfat and various journaled macos ,any of those formats work on my windows laptop there's not option to format it to nfts , how can I do something in order to make it showing up on windows 10 ?

@GreggSteinerguitar 7 ай бұрын

thanks so much. worked perfectly.

@FredCDobbs-lq2lf 25 күн бұрын

thank you (from the non geek) Been trying to use a external sata drive for back up and it wouldn't show up. You have rendered my sata usable! I'm now a subscriber.

@alexanderkukumba5561 3 ай бұрын

OMG YOU HAVE SAVED MY LIFE THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH. I WISH I COULD PAY YOU, IT FULLY WORKED. FOR YOUR GOOD ADVICE I HAVE FOLLOWED AND SUBSCRIBED YOU. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS VIDEO MEANS TO ME THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE AND CAREER!!!! PLEASE DONT EVER STOP MAKING THESE VIDEOS!

@TheRenderQ 3 ай бұрын

Excellent! Really glad you got your hard drive working again! Thanks for watching!

@troyoutcast7559 2 жыл бұрын

Sir my Extrnal hard disk is not showing up in the disk management tool bar too. Please suggest any methods you have.

@Hardno2021 5 ай бұрын

Thank You!!

@TheAmbasador99 Жыл бұрын

This will help me to look like a genius when I'll use it to help someone, thanks.

@williamsrdan 2 жыл бұрын

I'm having the problem of an internal drive that disappears... Some times it's there, some times it isn't. It's a laptop and my power source is not stable: 255w solar and a single 12v 100Ah battery. I used to have 510w, but one of the panels flew off of my rv roof on the road. Also, how can I get my external drives to keep their letters? I have 3 external drives, plus several thumb drives and memory cards, but they always default to the lowest letter passed C, which means when the internal drive disappears, externals end up becoming the D drive, pushing the internal D drive to an E or F. Constantly having to tell Lightroom, Premier, and iTunes which drive letter files are now on, and/or changing the letter in Manager again.

@TheRenderQ 2 жыл бұрын

I’m not sure what’s going on with your internal drives. Possibly a loose data or power cable/connection? And I know what’s happening with your drive letters changing can really mess up applications that depend on data on a certain drive letter. You could try to set 2 of your drives to specific letters and then connect and disconnect them in different orders to see if they keep their assigned letter. At least that’s how I think it works. If you don’t assign a letter then the computer will just assign the external drive to the next available letter. I’ve had problems on my work computer sometimes because we have a bunch of network drives and then when I get a few external drives connected it can really cause confusion in the letters. Hopefully you get some sort of stability in your drive letters so you won’t have to mess too much with your applications having to relink paths.

@MayankVishesh Ай бұрын

Thank you so much. After assigning disk letter it is working fine.

@princesskarolina Жыл бұрын

I see Disk 1 Unknown. But when I right click next to it - nothing shows up. It's just a gray area. No long blue line, as it shown in your video. (I do see options when I right click on Disk 0 for Windows C). Why is that?

@alanbeckett4 5 ай бұрын

Awesome video, REALLY useful!

@TBruce1380 Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Windows 10 does this alot!

@RayGuselli 3 ай бұрын

Massive thanks...this worked for me...assign a drive letter.......Really appreciated....Brilliant...

@makudoharaga5290 2 жыл бұрын

OMG thank you so much! Now my drive really shows up. But I have this question: when I connect my external drive to my computer, 2 others drive name USB Drive (D) and (E) show up. Both "No Media", one EFI System Partition, other Primary Partition, both shows their storage and free space on Disk Management but not show on This PC. Can you explain what are those drives?

@corosta 2 жыл бұрын

Changing the letter was the issue.. thanks loads

@adrineabad2987 4 ай бұрын

I watched over 6 videos and couldn't figure it out, thankyou soooooo much W video.

@AhmedAlShammari9 2 ай бұрын

I changed the cable and successfully working fine, Thanks.

@Bioluv193 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your video. I found out that the cable that goes from the external hard drive to the computer is not working and I need to get another one.

@IoannisTheodoridis-ml6nt Жыл бұрын

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

@Mika_N_DJTonyTorres 5 ай бұрын

Thank you it worked.. God bless ...

@robmcclendon6223 Ай бұрын

Thank you so very much.

@manitahir3885 2 ай бұрын

Thanks man really appreciate it.

@topmangarbuja8240 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much Method 2 worked for me.

@TheRenderQ 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent! Glad assigning a drive letter got your hard drive working again! Thanks for watching!

@mesinlearning 3 ай бұрын

Changing the Drive Letter is Working for me.. Thanks good strangers..

@TheRenderQ 3 ай бұрын

Excellent! Changing the drive letter is easy and I’m glad that helped get your drive working again!

@upcomingcloudrapperluca7645 Ай бұрын

Changing letter worked for me. Thanks

@TheRenderQ Ай бұрын

Nice! Glad the simple solution worked!

@DA_C.H.A.I.R.M.A.N-up2vw 22 күн бұрын

Thanks so much for the help it worked❤

@ericchips9314 3 ай бұрын

My ext HDs have always loaded, but recently stopped. I noticed this started happening after I installed more software. Could it be an issue with memory?

@Nat-vp5dx 2 жыл бұрын

Tysm my case was the external hard drive didn't show up because i was restoring the capacity after i use it to install window 10. after i use disk management method and it works! thanks again.

@TheRenderQ 2 жыл бұрын

You’re welcome! Really glad you’re got your hard drive figured out! Thanks for watching!

@CamaguNcoso Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much I needed to assign a letter to the drive

@kylesimpson6729 2 жыл бұрын

For me I plugged mine into my xbox, downloaded some games and then after about a week I plugged it back into my pc because it had one of the games I wanted to play on it but when I plug it in I hear it and it lights up but nothing appears even when I go to that thing where it says allocated and stuff there isn't one for my hard drive

@murielleangelalano 2 ай бұрын

thank you so much...fixed my external hard drive wd element.......

@luckyblackcat3311 2 жыл бұрын

You're amazing tysm!

@matthewbell2150 Жыл бұрын

thank you so much. had picturs of my grandfather whoo died 2 years ago on it. was able to save them. now backed up onto computer and another hard drive for safty.

@Triffidtraps 9 ай бұрын

Thank you for this video it solved my missing hard drive problem in windows 10 by manually assigning a drive letter like you suggested :)

@HashPapi Жыл бұрын

I did a very similar thing to work mine, however "Format..." and "Change Drive Letter" didn't show up when I right clicked. The reason was because all the space in the Disk was Unallocated. For some reason, though... I went through the Computer Management app and went to Disk Management from there, and the rest of the video worked. Had to set up to disk was the problem for me I guess. I hope this helps anyone else with a similar problem to me. Video still helped me generate the idea!

@xskat5671 2 жыл бұрын

I have a problem, For method 2 when I right-click on the new disk, the option to "Assign the following drive letter" or "Mount in the following NTFS folder" it doesn't give me the option to Assign the following drive letter" (the option you chose in the tutorial). Did I miss something? Which option should I pick? What will happen if I choose, "Mount in the following NTFS folder?"

@jek7726 2 жыл бұрын

me as well. the option to assign drive letter doesnt show up, only properties is showing.

@bigballofpaint4407 2 жыл бұрын

@Slaven Harkin Ty so much, was struggling on this part.

@BYHOLMS. Жыл бұрын

@Slaven Harkin Will this method delete my hard drives files?

@BYHOLMS. Жыл бұрын

@Slaven Harkin @TheRenderQ are you able to confirm if this will delete the files on the hard drive?

@jonathanmutinda9234 11 ай бұрын

you've just saved me man..Thanks so much

@googlespynetwork Ай бұрын

Thanks. Helped with my Samsung 999Pro ssd I just bought. Couldn't figure out if it was the Sabrent enclosure or the ssd. But this worked perfect.

@kabo0m 10 ай бұрын

@TheRenderQ My external works on my laptop but not on the computer that was just upgraded (hardware). It is still Windows 10 Pro but the external isn't even listed to change the drive letter or assign one. I am still at a loss as I had backed everything up to it that I needed for the upgrade. Help??