Read how to fix external hard drive not recognized by windows. Causes and solutions to the problem of non-recognition of the disk. In this guide, we will try to describe the problem of not recognizing an external drive in the operating system. Windows 10 and present possible ways to eliminate it.
Content:
External hard drive and user data?
Personal computers play a big role in the daily life of every person. They are used by us for work and play, communication with friends and communication. In addition to personal computers, other computer devices have been developed that complement and expand the possibilities of using computer technology for everyone. They greatly simplify any production process, allow you to create, manage, edit and share any projects, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. Also, computers allow you to receive and send correspondence via e-mail; process, view or listen to a variety of images, video streams or music; upload, download or share any information over the network; get the latest news and connect with friends on social networks and much more.
A huge amount of information is constantly stored on personal computers and used by us constantly if necessary. Various storage devices are used to save data: hard drives and solid state drives, external drives, memory cards, etc. Additionally, computer users can store their information remotely on the Internet in various cloud storages, download, upload and share it at will at any time. You can also use various online services and applications for the exchange.
However, no matter how available such methods of storing and exchanging information, users continue to use external drives and drives. Thanks to them, the user always has the information he needs and can use it at any time.
External drives - "USB drives" or external hard drives are very convenient and quite easy to use. But, as is often the case, at some point, the unexpected can happen. In some cases, you can connect your drive to a personal computer with an operating system Windows or another device with "USB ports" and detect that the hard drive is not recognized. This problem can be caused by partition issues on your external drive, wrong file system, bad ports USB, problems with drivers in Windows or other types of problems. In the worst case, the disk itself may simply be permanently corrupted.
The following described steps will be the same for both flash drives USB and large external hard drives that work in a similar way.
Additionally, you can watch our video: "Windows 10, 8, 7 does not see the hard drive or SSD - How to connect!". It will help you if after reinstallation Windows one of the hard disk partitions is no longer displayed in "Explorer", or a new hard drive installed in your computer is also not displayed, although it is visible in the settings "BIOS".
Does the drive show up in the app?
First, you need to check if the operating system detects Windows your drive when you connect it. Connect your removable drive to your computer. If it is an external hard drive, you may need to set the power switch on the hard drive to "On" to activate it. Some heavy duty removable hard drives may even need to be connected with a separate power cable before they will work.
Then open the disk management tool provided in the standard set of operating system applications Windows. This tool allows you to carry out full management of all disks and partitions located on your computer, internal and external, currently connected. can be opened in various ways, but we will only show you some of them. Choose any method of your choice for further application.
Method one: Press together keyboard shortcut Windows+R and open the dialog box "Run". In the request field "Open" enter the command "diskmgmt.msc", then click the button "OK" or key "Input" on keyboard. The application will open.
Method two: On the desktop, find the file explorer shortcut "This computer" and right click on it. In the menu that opens, select a section from the list of available actions "Control".
The application opens, which presents all the main controls and settings for your computer. In the left pane of the window, select the section located at the following address: - -.
Method three "Start" located on "Dashboards" in the lower left corner of the desktop, or press the keyboard shortcut together Windows+X, and open the pop-up menu. Select the section in the list of available applications.
You should see your external drive in the window. And even if it doesn't show up in your computer's file explorer because it doesn't contain any sections, it should show up here.
If you see your drive here, then you can skip straight to the last section of our guide, in which we will show you how to properly format it so that the operating system Windows or other devices may have accessed and recognized it.
If your drive is not shown in the application, then continue to the next section of the guide, where we will try to determine the reason why your drive is not recognized.
Possible causes and solutions to the problem of not recognizing the disk
If the system Windows does not see your disk at all, then there may be a problem with the hardware "USB ports" your computer, a driver problem, or you might just have a bad drive.
First unplug the drive from "USB ports" and try to connect it to another "USB port" your computer. If he works in one "USB port" but doesn't work in another, then yours is probably "USB port" spoiled. If you connected the drive via "USB Hub"(a device that allows you to increase the number of "USB ports" and provides the ability to use them simultaneously), then try connecting the drive to the computer directly. Some "USB Hubs" may not provide enough power to operate the external drive.
If the drive does not appear in the window even after you have removed "USB Hub" and connected the disk to another "USB port" on your computer, it's hard to pinpoint if your drive is bad or if the computer itself may be experiencing certain problems. If you have another computer nearby, try connecting the drive there to see if it will be detected there. If the drive doesn't work on whatever computer you plug it into, then it's probably completely broken and will need to be replaced.
If the disk is detected and works on other computers, then there is a high probability that the operating system Windows There are problems with the drivers for your drive. You can check this using the application, which can be opened in various ways. The list of ways to access the application is quite large, but we will describe only three of them.
Method one: Right click on the button "Start" located on "Dashboards" or press the keyboard shortcut together Windows+X and open the popup menu. Select the section from the list of available applications.
Method two: Open the dialog "Run", for example by pressing the keyboard shortcut together Windows+R. In the request field "Open" enter the command "devmgmt.msc" and press the key "Input" or button "OK".
Method three: Open the application window in the way we described earlier in this guide. In the left pane of the window, navigate to the following address: "Computer Management (Local)" – "Utilities" – .
Find a section "Disk Devices" and check for any device with a yellow exclamation mark next to it. This marking of a disk device means that the operating system Windows there are some problems with the driver of this device. Right click device with yellow exclamation mark, select partition "Properties" and see the error message. This message may help you fix the problem - you can search the Internet for a solution to the indicated error and fix the problem.
However, not all problems are easy to fix and they can be quite difficult to fix. If the problem is recent, you may want to start the system reset process using the operating system's internal tools. Windows. Or, in the properties window of the problem disk, go to the tab "Driver". You can then use the button "Update Driver" to install a new updated driver for your device. Or use button "Rollback" to undo any changes and revert to the original driver. Or use the button "Remove device" to remove it from your system, and let the operating system Windows reinstall the driver yourself, and configure it correctly when reconnecting the drive.
Don't forget to press the button "OK" or key "Input" on the keyboard to save your changes.
Disk Partitioning and Formatting
You can use the standard application Windows to fix partition and drive file system problems. If you see that the selected drive is unpartitioned and marked with "Unassigned", then you will have to create a new partition on it. This will allow devices based on Windows or other operating systems, use it.
Use any of the methods described above and open the application. Then right click inside the unallocated space of the connected device and select "Create Simple Volume".
will be launched "Simple Volume Wizard", which will offer you help creating a volume on disk. Click the button "Further" to continue.
Then select a volume size between the minimum and maximum values. Typically, the wizard sets the default size for a simple volume based on the characteristics of your disk. Click the button "Further" to go to the next help page.
Assign a drive letter and click the button "Further".
Choose whether you want to format this volume and what formatting options you want to use, or not format it by checking the appropriate box. By default, you will be prompted to format the volume, you only need to choose which file system you will use. Click the button "Further" and go to the last page.
Here in the main window you will see all your selected options, click the button "Ready" and complete the process of creating a simple volume. If you want to change something, then use the button "Back" to go to the desired page "Simple Volume Wizard" and making the required changes.
If your drive is partitioned but you still don't see it in file explorer, then make sure you give it a drive letter to access it in the operating system Windows. As we described above, this happens automatically, but if you manually cancel the drive letter, then the drive may not appear and be inaccessible in the system Windows.
To assign a drive letter, right-click on the removable drive partition, select "Change Drive Letter or Drive Path...".
Click the button "Add", and then assign a new drive letter by choosing your choice or using the default. For example, give the drive a drive letter "D" and it will be reflected in the file explorer under the specified letter. Then press the buttons "OK" to save changes.
In some cases, the disk may be partitioned, but may have the wrong file system. For example, you can format the drive with the file system "ext4" from Linux or file system HFS Plus from Mac. Operating system Windows cannot read such file systems. So reformat the drive to a newer file system "NTFS" or an older version of the file system FAT32, to Windows was able to recognize her.
To reformat a partition, right-click on it, select the partition "Format…" and select the desired file system.
Please note that the formatting process will erase all files on your drive. Therefore, if you want to save all important files, then connect the disk to the file system on which you formatted the disk earlier (for example, if you formatted the disk on a computer with Linux or Mac, then connect it to a properly managed computer) and copy your important files before proceeding.
If you cannot access the drive from another device, such as "dvd player", "SMART" TV, game console or media center, then the drive may be formatted for the file system "NTFS". Many devices, even their own Xbox 360 from a corporation Microsoft, can't read "NTFS" from Windows. They can only access drives formatted with the old file system FAT32. To fix this problem, simply reformat the partition "NTFS" back into the system FAT32. Now the disk will be recognized when connected to such devices.
Note that this process will delete files on your external drive. Therefore, if necessary, copy the files from the disk to another device.
Click the button "OK" or key "Input" to start the reformatting process.
By following these steps, you should be able to resolve most drive recognition issues you may encounter. If the drive is not recognized by any computer to which it is connected and never appears in the application window, then it may be completely damaged and you just need to replace it.
Have you ever taken any steps to fix problems with disc recognition? Let us know about it or leave your comments below the article, which methods helped you.
The release of the new operating system Windows 10 took place in July. Therefore, many users have already updated the software and are actively using the new OS, because it is distributed for free. But, as it always happens, the new Windows has its imperfections. For example, many complain that Windows 10 does not see the DVD drive after updating the system.
Why Windows does not see the drive
So, when updating the old OS to the new Windows 10, some users have the following problem: Explorer stops seeing the DVD drive. At the same time, when viewing the hardware through the BIOS, the installed CD / DVD-ROM is displayed correctly.
The reason is usually at the software level of the operating system. But if we consider all the possible reasons, we can distinguish the following:
- failure of the drive driver;
- failure or incompatibility of some programs with the Windows system;
- The CD/DVD drive has failed.
Correcting the first two reasons is quite within the power of the user. What needs to be done for this, we will consider further.
Error Correction Methods
It is worth saying that Windows developers are aware of the existing problem, so you can find one of the solutions to this error on the official Microsoft forum.
Using the command line
When using this option, the sequence of actions is as follows:
After a reboot, the drive will work and display correctly in Windows Explorer.
Using the DVD Drive (Icon) Repair Utility
Another way to fix the situation with a missing CD / DVD-ROM is to use special programs and utilities. One of these programs is CD-DVD Icon Repair, with its help it is very easy to fix the problem, for this:
Finally
If, despite the efforts, the operating system does not see the DVD drive, then you can directly contact the developers of Windows 10.
The official Microsoft website has a Russian-language forum for user support (it is located at: http://answers.microsoft.com/ru-ru). 
Here, after a simple registration, you can ask the community members a question or ask Microsoft experts for help.
The release of the new operating system Windows 10 took place in July. Therefore, many users have already updated the software and are actively using the new OS, because it is distributed for free. But, as it always happens, the new Windows has its imperfections. For example, many complain that Windows 10 does not see the DVD drive after updating the system.
Why Windows does not see the drive
So, when updating the old OS to the new Windows 10, some users have the following problem: Explorer stops seeing the DVD drive. At the same time, when viewing the hardware through the BIOS, the installed CD / DVD-ROM is displayed correctly.
The reason is usually at the software level of the operating system. But if we consider all the possible reasons, we can distinguish the following:
- failure of the drive driver;
- failure or incompatibility of some programs with the Windows system;
- The CD/DVD drive has failed.
Correcting the first two reasons is quite within the power of the user. What needs to be done for this, we will consider further.
Error Correction Methods
It is worth saying that Windows developers are aware of the existing problem, so you can find one of the solutions to this error on the official Microsoft forum.
Using the command line
When using this option, the sequence of actions is as follows:
After a reboot, the drive will work and display correctly in Windows Explorer.
Using the DVD Drive (Icon) Repair Utility
Another way to fix the situation with a missing CD / DVD-ROM is to use special programs and utilities. One of these programs is CD-DVD Icon Repair, with its help it is very easy to fix the problem, for this:
Finally
If, despite the efforts, the operating system does not see the DVD drive, then you can directly contact the developers of Windows 10.
The official Microsoft website has a Russian-language forum for user support (it is located at: http://answers.microsoft.com/ru-ru).
Here, after a simple registration, you can ask the community members a question or ask Microsoft experts for help.
Each of us has met with the fact that he does not see the OS flash drive and Windows 10 clearly - this is no exception, let's define exactly how these problems look:
- the media is inserted, but Windows does not see it;
- the message "An error has occurred";
- PC freezes;
- suggests formatting;
- - read more on our website
Lack of response
We insert a usb flash drive into windows 10, but it is not detected, the fastest and surest way to determine the problem is to insert a storage device (storage) into another laptop. The situation - repeated, definitely a problem with the carrier, otherwise you need to look for a problem elsewhere. Is there another PC missing in the Availability Zone? Let's do it step by step:
- remove the memory;
- turn off (off) computer;
- after 30 sec. turn on the PC, wait for the Windows to load;
- connect the charger and check if it works.
Heard - not seen
Solid mysticism - the plus is that you at least hear a sound that is pleasant to your heart, an icon hangs in the tray (notification area on the right side of the taskbar), but the laptop / computer again does not see the flash drive, that's what you need to do next.
First go to "Disk Management"
- + [R] → in cmd enter without quotes "diskmgmt.msc" → OK
Insert/eject media if it appears and its status:
"Healthy"
The fact is that either it is not active, or there was a conflict of letters in the names. RMB to our disk → look at possible causes.
- If in the drop-down menu "Make section active" - not active (pale gray), then go to reason 2. If you can choose, left-click and set it active.
- Select in the same menu "Change drive letter ...". Step by step in screenshots below.
"Unallocated"
What should you do if your computer via usb does not see the flash drive on windows 10 h - you need to format it, since the partition has been deleted and / or is faulty:
- right-click → in the pop-up menu, click "Create a simple volume"
During the creation of a new partition, formatirovanie will occur - everything will be deleted.
Drivers is everything
Windows 10 stopped seeing the flash drive due to a driver failure, to fix:
- RMB “Start” → “Device_Manager” → “USB_Controllers” → RMB “USB_Mass Storage” → “Delete”
Upon completion of the removal, remove the memory and insert it again after a minute, the driver will be installed by itself.
Greetings, dear readers.
Some computer users encounter a problem when the drive does not see Windows 10 discs. If you observe such “symptoms” on your device, you should not immediately run to the store for a new reading component. Such an ailment can appear as a result of various reasons. There are many ways to bring an element back to life. In the article below, I will tell you how to do this.
The first thing to start with is to determine the nature of the disease. Check if the problem occurs only when reading some discs or all. So, if it performs its functions selectively, the drive is most likely faulty. If the situation repeats with everyone - a software failure.
How to fix at the software level?( )
What to do when you suddenly stop reading discs? Remember what exactly was installed on the equipment recently. It could be games or programs. Often the problem is virtual managers, such as Alcohol 120, Daemon Tools and the like. In addition, such “symptoms” appear as a result of placing a data recording program, Nero, on a laptop or desktop computer.
To solve the problem, you just need to remove the software installed before. If this does not help, use the System Restore tool. I have talked about this many times before.
If the ailment is gone, we try to install other versions of solutions that will not interfere with the operation of the drive. And in general, it is better to remove all unused software from the device. This has many positives.
Driver( )
In addition, sometimes problems appear as a result of driver failure. The solution is the following:
If the DVD drive continues to refuse to perform its functions, we perform additional movements:
If this does not help, we take a few more steps:
Opening the tree IDE ATA…". We are looking for a controller to which the drive is connected. To do this, open each channel in turn and check " Type».
Find the option Enable DMA and celebrate it. If she was standing there, we remove it. We restart, and then we return it back.
hardware failure( )
Why might the drive not work at the hardware level? There are many options. The first thing to do is to change the connection cable and the power plug.
In addition, you can use a special cleaning disc. It has microbrushes that clean the laser head. But before that, make sure they are flexible.
Well, the worst option is, of course, the complete failure of the component we need. The solution is to buy a new one.