[Self-check and Repair]: How to Fix an External Hard Drive Not Detected in Windows 10

External hard drives remain a favorite for Windows and Mac users to store terabytes of data, keep backups, and wirelessly transfer files between computers thanks to their large capacity and affordability. A wireless connection means you don't have to rely on an internet connection, as physical USB or eSATA connections let you copy, transfer, and exchange data between the external drive and a running machine!

Therefore, to make full use of an external hard drive on a computer, it must be properly connected and detected first. What if the external hard drive is not detected after connection? Do you have the same problem? Now, this page will offer you all the possible solutions to fix the external hard drive not detected issue in Windows 10.

Identify the issue and apply three quick fixes.

There are several reasons why an external hard drive might not be detected:

• Virus infection
• Loose connection
• USB port malfunction
• Inadequate power supply
• Outdated, corrupted, or unstable drivers
• Drive letter conflict
• Damaged or incompatible file system

To get an easier start, you cannot go wrong with some simple techniques that have been shown to work well for most affected users.

#1. Try connecting to another USB port.

If the external hard drive is recognized on another USB port, the previous one you used might be damaged. You can leave this page with peace of mind and head to other pages to figure out how to solve the issue of USB port not working.

If none of the USB ports on your computer recognize the external disk, we can assume that the problem lies with the storage device. You'll need to read on to test all possible solutions.

#2. Power down the supply

It's like starting from scratch. Turn off your computer, unplug the power cord (and any USB devices), wait a moment, plug everything back in, and turn the computer back on. Your system should be reset and able to read the external hard drive. Still no luck? Read on.

#3. Check Windows Disk Management

When we say that a connected drive is not being detected, recognized, or is not showing up, it typically refers to Windows Explorer.

However, that's not the real sign of an external hard drive not detected. Sometimes, an external hard drive with missing file system (RAW file system) or with lost drive letter or turned into unallocated space won't show up in File Explorer but can be found in Disk Management.

In Windows 10, open Disk Management using one of the following methods:

• Access it through This PC > Manage > Disk Management, or • Press Windows + R, type diskmgmt.msc, and press Enter.

Do you see any strange drives in there? Any odd statuses or characters in the Disk Drives section might indicate that your external hard drive is showing up abnormally, as if Windows isn't detecting it.

More than half of people can see their external hard drive in Disk Management, but can't access the data on it. Try to recover your valuable data before attempting to get Windows to recognize the external hard drive.

Recover Data from External Hard Drive Detected in Disk Management with UTF-8 Encoding

In Disk Management, an external HDD or USB storage device is usually not accessible. Apart from the RAW file system and unallocated status we've mentioned, it may also show up as Unknown Disk, Uninitialized. Each of these undetected hard drive statuses has its own fix, but you must perform data recovery first because the following operations might compromise your data and make it difficult to retrieve.

With a professional Data Recovery Wizard tool, you can complete a full recovery from external hard drive in 3 simple steps. If you'd like to spend a few more minutes on data recovery, check out the in-depth video tutorial guide below.

Click on the button below to download the Windows Data Recovery Wizard, and then follow the wizard to install it on your computer.

Follow the below three-step guide to recover data from an external hard drive not recognized by Windows 10:

Step 1. Select and scan the external hard drive

• Download and install the Data Recovery tool on your desktop or laptop.
• Connect the external hard drive to your computer.
• Run the Data Recovery Wizard, and select the external hard drive from the list of external drives. Then, click on Scan to look for lost data.

Step 2: Review the scan results

• The data recovery software will immediately scan all data on the selected drive, including deleted, corrupted, and existing files.
• You can use the filter feature to quickly locate a specific type of file, such as images, Word documents, Excel sheets, PDFs, videos, emails, and more.

Step 3: Preview and recover the data

• Double-click a file from the scan results to preview it.
• Select the files you want and click "Recover."
• Choose a location different from the original drive to save your recovered files.

Having performed the self-check and moved the necessary data to a safe location, it's now time to reconnect the drive and finally get it showing up in Windows 10.

Create a new simple volume

This applies if your external hard drive is not showing up in Windows Explorer but appears as unallocated space in Disk Management.

Step 1: Right-click on the unallocated space of the external hard drive and select "New Simple Volume".

Step 2. In the New Simple Volume Wizard, click Next.

Step 3. For Volume Size, you can accept the default volume size and click Next.

Step 4: Assign a suitable drive letter to the hard disk from the drop-down list, and click “Next.”

Step 5. Choose a compatible file system to format the drive. External hard drives are usually formatted with either NTFS or exFAT. Pick one of these and check the "Quick Format" box to quickly finish the formatting process. Then, click "Next."

Step 6: Finish the New Simple Volume Wizard. Click Finish to confirm.

Format the external hard drive with a recognizable file system

Alternatively, you can try this if your external hard drive is partitioned. If one of the partitions on your external hard drive isn't showing up or being detected by Windows, it might be due to a damaged or missing file system. Also, if you're using an Apple APFS-formatted drive on a Windows 10 computer, Windows won't recognize it because it's an exclusive macOS file system. All these reasons can lead to Windows failing to read a connected external hard drive, and fixing the file system might resolve the issue.

Step 1: Right-click the problematic external hard drive partition and select “Format…”

Step 2: Type in a label for the partition, choose NTFS or FAT/FAT32 file system and perform a quick format. Click “OK”.

Step 3. Click OK to format the partition.

Update outdated and corrupted drivers

The last thing an average computer user wants to do is mess with drivers, but it's not as complicated as it sounds, and an undetected problem might be fixed by this step.

You will update the driver for an external storage device through Device Manager in Windows. Here's how:

Step 1: Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog box, then type devmgmt.msc in the field and press Enter.

Step 2: Expand the "Disk Drives" section. Look for any devices with a yellow or red exclamation point next to them. If you see such a symbol, it means there's a problem with the driver for that device. Right-click on it and select "Properties."

Step 3. On the Driver tab, try updating the driver first, and then click OK.

Step 4. After that, restart your computer, and Windows will automatically install the latest drivers compatible with your external device.

If the driver update fails, try uninstalling and reinstalling the driver in Step 3.

External Hard Drive Data Recovery Video Guide

This kind of physical hard drive issue bothers people from all walks of life. For the parts where external hard drive not detected, the above solutions can do the fix. However, some might find these solutions not working for their specific cases. It's normal as the severity of the damage determines the possibility of a full recovery. Seek professional service when you feel incapable of handling the storage drive yourself.

幸亏, as long as the hard drive is detected by Disk Management, you can use Data Recovery Wizard to perform a full data recovery without further damaging the faulty hard drive.