Computer Repair

30. How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up in Windows 10

February 20, 2024

Having an external hard drive not show up in Windows 10 can be frustrating. However, there are several troubleshooting steps you can take to resolve the issue. In this comprehensive guide, I will cover all the potential solutions to attempt when your external hard drive is not detected in Windows 10.

Confirm the Hard Drive Is Powered On

The first thing to check is whether the external hard drive is turned on and plugged in correctly. Verify the USB cable is securely connected to both the drive and the appropriate USB port on your computer. If it’s a desktop external drive, check that the power cable is plugged into a working power outlet.

Also, check if the drive needs an external power supply and that it is turned on. Some larger capacity external drives require a separate power source to operate properly. If the external drive has an activity light, check that it is illuminated. If you are connecting the drive to a USB hub, try removing the hub and plugging the external drive directly into the computer.

Try a Different USB Port and Cable

If the drive is powered on but still not appearing, try using a different USB port on your computer. Test each available port if necessary. Faulty USB ports or cables are common causes of external drives not showing up properly. Damaged cables are prone to disconnecting intermittently, which can make the drive not appear when connected.

Ideally, use the external drive’s original cable, or swap in a high-quality cable known to work properly. Check the condition of the USB cable and connectors for any damage or bent pins. If possible, connect the drive to another computer to see if the drive shows up there, which would verify it is not a computer-specific issue.

Reboot Your Computer

Restarting your computer essentially refreshes all connected devices and forces the operating system to re-detect them.

Shut down your computer completely, wait at least 30 seconds, then restart it and check if your external drive shows up as normal.
You can also try rebooting just the external drive by turning it off, waiting a few seconds, and powering it back on again while leaving your computer on.

Enable Legacy USB Support in BIOS

For older computers, you may need to enable Legacy USB Support in your BIOS for USB devices to be detected properly on boot. This setting allows USB devices to use legacy hardware modes that are compatible with older systems.

To do this:

Reboot your computer and press the appropriate key during boot to access the BIOS, such as Delete, F1, or F2. This varies by manufacturer.
Navigate to the Boot Order or Advanced Boot Options.
Enable the “Legacy USB Support” option.
Save changes and exit BIOS. Allow your system to boot normally and check if your drive appears.

Update or Reinstall Drivers

Outdated, corrupt, or missing drivers can prevent external drives from functioning correctly. Updating your USB and chipset drivers can sometimes resolve detection issues with external drives.

Open Device Manager, expand the Universal Serial Bus controllers section, right-click each USB device, and select Update driver. Choose Search automatically for updated driver software.
Also update your chipset drivers from the manufacturer’s website. Reboot after installing for changes to take effect.

If updating does not work, you can uninstall each USB controller completely, reboot to let Windows automatically reinstall fresh copies upon startup.

Enable and Format the Drive in Disk Management

Disk Management is a built-in Windows tool allowing you to view and manage all disks and drives connected to your computer. If your new external drive shows up here but not in Windows Explorer, you just need to initialize it properly.

To use Disk Management to fix an unrecognized external drive:

Type “Disk Management” into the Windows search bar and click on Create and format hard disk partitions.
Your external drive should appear in the list of available disks, but may show as Offline or Not Initialized.
Right-click the disk entry and select Initialize Disk. This will set up the drive so Windows can recognize it.
Right-click the volume showing the capacity of the drive and click Format to create a visible partition. Assign a drive letter like E: or F: to have the drive show up in Windows with a specific letter.
After formatting completes, the external drive should now be accessible and show up like normal in Windows Explorer.

Use DiskPart to Assign a Drive Letter

DiskPart is another command-line disk utility similar to Disk Management. If your external drive shows up in Disk Management but you cannot format it or assign a drive letter, DiskPart may allow you to do so from the command line.

To use DiskPart to fix external drive letter issues:

Type “DiskPart” into the Windows search bar. Right-click DiskPart and choose Run as administrator.
Type list disk to show all connected disks and find your external drive’s disk number.
Type select disk X replacing X with your disk’s number to choose the right external disk.
Type clean to delete all existing partitions and format the disk.
Type create partition primary to create a new primary partition.
Type format fs=ntfs quick to quick format the partition as NTFS.
Type assign letter=X replacing X with whatever drive letter you want to use.
Type exit when done. The external drive should now appear in Explorer with the assigned drive letter.

Run Antivirus Software

Some antivirus software like Windows Defender can interfere with external drives being detected properly. Try disabling your antivirus temporarily to see if that resolves the issue. If so, you can whitelist the drive to always allow access.

Also scan the external drive with your antivirus software to check for potential infections. Malware and viruses could prevent the drive from operating normally. After cleaning any found infections or quarantining suspicious files, Safely Remove the drive and reconnect it.

Use Disk Cleanup to Fix Drive Errors

Disk Cleanup clears system files and frees up space on a drive by deleting temporary files, emptying the recycle bin, etc. For external drives, it can also remove corrupted data and fix file system errors that could prevent the drive from working optimally.

To run Disk Cleanup on your external drive:

Open File Explorer and right-click on the external drive you want to fix. Select Properties.
Click on the Tools tab and under Error Checking click Check. This scans the drive for errors.
If errors are found, check Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. Click Start to begin repairing any issues.
Afterwards, you can run Disk Cleanup on the drive as well to clean out any unnecessary space. Make sure the drive is selected and click OK.

Use CHKDSK Utility

The CHKDSK utility scans drives for logical file system errors or physical damage and repairs them automatically. Running CHKDSK may resolve any underlying file corruption that could cause your external drive to not show up.

To use CHKDSK:

Open the Command Prompt as admin and type chkdsk X: /f where X is the letter of your external drive. Press Enter.
Type Y if prompted to check the drive on next reboot and restart your computer. CHKDSK will scan the drive upon restarting and fix detected errors.
When your computer boots back up, retry accessing your external drive to see if the issue is resolved after repairs complete.
You can also add /r to the CHKDSK command to locate bad sectors on the disk and recover readable data.

Permanently Remove External Drive in Device Manager

As a last resort, you can try uninstalling the external drive from Device Manager entirely, forcing Windows to freshly reinstall it upon reconnecting. This may resolve any software conflicts or driver issues causing detection problems.

To uninstall and reinstall your external drive in Device Manager:

Open Device Manager, expand Disk drives, right-click your external storage device, and select Uninstall device.
Check Delete the driver software for this device and click Uninstall to confirm removal.
Physically disconnect your external drive and restart your computer.
After rebooting, reconnect the external drive and allow Windows to automatically install device drivers for it as a new device.
Open Device Manager again to verify the drive shows back up without any errors or issues.

I hope these steps help you troubleshoot and fix any external hard drive not showing up in Windows 10! Let me know in the comments if you have any other tricks for resolving external drive detection issues.