Windows Wont Recognize External Drive

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One can get Windows 10 to recognize a new hard drive using the above described manual methods. Somehow, your important files and folders lost from your disk. Then, it is advised to use a smart professional tool like SysTools Hard Drive Deleted Data Recovery Tool. As this tool is capable to get your files back within few mouse clicks. Make Seagate external hard drive show up in disk management. The first thing you need to do is to check if it is showing up in disk management. If yes, you can skip to the next step. And if not, you should first update the disk driver to make the Seagate external hard drive recognized by Windows and show up in disk management. USB 3.0 External Hard Drive not recognized in Windows 10 Download this PC Repair Tool to quickly find & fix Windows errors automatically Many Windows 10/8.1 users have run into this problem.

'My 1TB WD external hard drive is not working on my Windows 10 PC and I can do nothing to the drive since it fails to show up in This PC.
I've changed the USB port but it still not working.
I don't know what reasons have made the drive not responding, and neither I know any solutions. I've saved quite a lot of important files inside the drive. If you have any methods to fix my issue and make the WD external hard drive work again, please help me. Thank you.'

Though it's no longer a new problem that external hard drive fails to work or suddenly fail to show up in PC. But it's still a tough issue for ordinary users when their external hard drive, USB or SD card etc devices suddenly become unrecognized, not working or responding in PC. Here below, you'll find 1 quick fix and 4 methods to fix WD external hard drive not working issue. If your external hard drive or storage devices are having this issue, relax and just follow to get your problem fixed right here now.

Quick fix WD external hard drive not showing up/unrecognized/responding error

1. Click Start > Type: devmgmt.msc in the Search box and hit Enter.
2. Open Device Manager > Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
3. Right-click on the USB Root Hub > Select Properties.
4. Go to Power Management and uncheck Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

After this, reboot PC and reconnect WD external hard drive to your PC, then you'll be able to use the drive again.
If this quick fix doesn't work, relax and just follow below-offered methods to repair not working WD external hard drive or devices now.

Fix WD external hard drive not recognized error

Here you have two methods to follow and fix WD external hard drive not recognized or undetectable error in Windows 10/8/7:

Method 1. Reboot PC into Safe Mode to make WD external hard drive recognizable

  • Go to Setting > Update & security.
  • Tab on Recovery > Advanced Startup > Restart now.
  • PC will automatically boot into another Startup Settings screen.
  • Press F4 to initiate PC reboot into Safe Mode.
  • Then check whether the WD external hard disk can be detected or not.

Method 2. Change drive letter to make unrecognized WD external hard drive detectable

The other way is to change the drive letter with Disk Management tool so to make unrecognized or undetectable WD external hard drive to show up in PC:

  • Right-click on This PC/My Computer > Select Manage.
  • Go Disk Management > Find your external hard drive and right click it by choosing Change Drive Letter and Path...
  • Assign the drive with a new letter that doesn't exist in your PC and mark the Partition as Active.
  • Click OK.
  • Restart PC and your External hard drive will show up and work again.

Fix WD external hard drive not working/responding issue

When WD external hard drive, USB or other brands of storage devices are not working or not responding to any operations in your PC, don't worry. You can follow below-offered methods to get problems fixed right now:

Method 1. Update WD external hard drive driver to make it work

1. Click on Start > Type: devmgmt.msc in Search to open Device Manager by hitting Enter.
2. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers > Right-click every USB device found there and select Uninstall.
3. Then check out whether any devices show up as unrecognized or not:

  • If WD external hard drive shows unrecognized, go to drivers tab and delete/uninstall the driver; Then check out whether the external hard drive shows up in My Computer/My PC or not.
  • If it doesn't show up, reboot or restart PC;
  • If it shows up but disappears later, repeat above steps and go to Disk Management, change the drive letter of your WD external hard drive and reconnect it to PC to let PC detect it again.

Method 2. Repair corrupted system files/bad sectors on not working WD external hard drive

Corrupted system files or bad sectors on WD external hard drive or other storage devices would block your device from working or responding in Windows PC.

Professional partition manager software from EaseUS will repair bad sectors and fix corrupted system files to make your WD external hard drive work again. Free download, install it and follow below guide steps to fix bad sectors and corrupted system files on your drive now:

Step 1: Open EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Then locate the disk, right-click the partition you want to check, and choose 'Check File System'.

Step 2: In the Check File System window, keep the 'Try to fix errors if found' option selected and click 'Start'.

Step 3: The software will begin checking your partition file system on your disk. When it has completed, click 'Finish'.

Extra Tip: WD external hard drive recovery

After fixing not working external hard drive on your Windows PC, you may continue using it for storing fancy data again.
But if you lost files or valuable data on the drive, don't worry. Professional WD external hard drive recovery solution offered by EaseUS hard drive recovery software is what you exactly need. It will simply restore lost files from WD external hard drive within 3 simple steps on Windows 10/8/7 etc PC.
If you lost files after fixing WD external hard drive not working issue or cannot access saved data in your storage devices, just free download EaseUS hard drive recovery software and let it help now.

Dec 16, 2020 • Filed to: USB Recovery • Proven solutions

One common problem users of USB drives experience is a USB drives not showing error. If your device is not able to detect your drive it will be impossible for you to access the data it contains. In this article, you will learn how to fix a not showing error using simple tricks that work.

Part 1: Overview of the error

USB not showing error may occur as a result of several hardware and software problems. Some of these problems may include

USB drive not detected: This is a common problem faced by many users. With the solutions we will provide you, the problem can be fixed.

USB drive not showing: Some people may notice that their USB flash drive is not showing even after connecting it to their PC.

External drives not recognized by Windows 10: This is a problem that may befall both your flash drive and your external drive. The solution we will recommend can work for both.

Windows USB is not working: Your PC may detect the USB drive but it may not work no matter what you do. The fault may lie in your drivers which has to be updated to resolve the problem.

USB Port not functioning: Another problem has to do with a faulty USB port. This also can be resolved with the information provided by this article.

Part 2: How to Fix USB not showing up in Windows 10

Step 1 – Diagnose the Problem

To identify where the fault lies you will have to perform a complete diagnosis using the Disk Management system.

  • Tap the Windows key and the X key at the same time. Pick Disk Management

How To Find External Hard Drive Pc

  • Search for your USB drive listed as a Removable disk. If you can locate it, proceed to the next step
  • If you can’t find the drive try the following

Change to a different port in case the port you are using is not working

Avoid using USB Hubs because hubs may present a problem of their own. It’s better to connect the drive directly

You may also want to consider trying a different computer. If you still can’t find the drive it may be that the drive is dead.

Check to see if your USB drive has a power button. If it does, make sure the power is on.

Windows Wont Recognize External Drive

Step 2: Fix the Problem

the accurate description for the particular issue you want to address. If Windows is asking you to format a partition once you insert your USB drive it will display a notification like this one below.

Don’t rush to perform a partition just yet as this action may wipe off all your data. You may be seeing such notification because the drive was formatted before and the file system has isn’t supported by Windows. However, if the files in the drive are not important you can format it.

If your computer cannot see the drive but other computers can then it means that the USB driver on your computer is faulty. To fix the problem, follow these steps.

  • Press Windows key with the X button at the same time
  • Expand Disk Drivers category and the Universal Serial Bus Controllers to check if any device is marked with a yellow exclamation

( If you see other marks like a question mark an error notification or a down arrow mark or maybe an error code, make sure you type the code into the search bar to get solutions)

  • If you find any driver with a yellow exclamation mark, double click the mark to view the Properties window.
  • Navigate to the Drivers tab and pick the update driver option provided
  • Wait for Microsoft to locate an appropriate driver and hope that it will bring back your flash drive.

These two methods have proven to be very effective in fixing a USB Drives not showing up in Windows 10 problem but in a few cases, they may prove ineffective. If it doesn’t work for you seek alternative solutions or discard the USB drive if other solutions fail.

Video Tutorial on How to Fix USB Device Not Recognized

Part 3. How to Recover Data After Fixing the USB Drive Not Showing Up Issue

Suppose you formatted your drive in process of fixing the 'USB Drive not Showing up' error, you might later realize that you need the lost data. It’s easy to lose data. And if you’re wondering if there is a way to recover data lost from a USB drive, the answer is yes.

Losing important data is quite a scary scenario.

However, with the right tool, it is possible to recover nearly all the lost data—depending on the situation of the data loss.

And out there, is a world of data recovery options. The only problem is that not all deliver data recovery solution in the right way. But let’s only focus on one of the prominent software that has proven to deliver results for Windows 10—Recoverit.

Why Recoverit Data Recovery is suggested?

1. Indispensable Data Recovery Solutions

Utilize an ultimate and professional data recovery solution that is nearly 100% reliable.

Recoverit scrapes deeper into your USB drive, to recover over 1000 file formats, from all file system, NTFS, FAT, HFS, APFS. It is non-oppressive in recovery. It recovers photos, video, audio, emails, archive files,

2. Ridiculously High Recovery Rate

Recover nearly 100% of all your lost data with a tool that has one of the highest recovery rates in the industry. The tool utilizes sophisticated utility that drills deeper into your USB drive, find all the pieces of your lost data, and neatly arrange them to improve the chances of retrieving usable data.

3. No-Brainer Data recovery

Recover all of your lost data in only 3 simple steps.

No coding. No long-tied procedures. No BS. Only a 3-clicks procedure--Select, Scan, Preview, and Recover. Very simple.

4. Clutter-free User Interface

Recover data readily using a seamlessly designed user interface that allows you to get your lost data back nearly effortlessly.

The developer of the tool combines the use of graphics and words to present flawless navigation through the software as you are retrieving your data.

The UI functions flawlessly with a smooth transition without any lag.

Step-by-step Guide to Recover Data Lost in a USB drive with Recoverit

After launching the app and connecting your USB drive to the system, proceed with the following steps to recover data lost in a flash drive.

Step 1. Select a location

Windows 10 Does Not Recognize External Hd

Windows Wont Recognize External Drive

Choose the USB drive you want to recover by selecting its location. Then, click on the ‘Start’ button to let the program begin the recovery process.

Step 2. Scan the location

Hit the ‘Start’ button to begin the scanning of the storage media. The scanning duration will depend on the number of files the system needs to scan. You have the leisure of stopping the scan process and resuming it at your convenience.

How To Access External Hard Drives

Step 3. Preview and Recover

After the scan, hit the ‘Preview’ button to have a look at the data you wish to recover. Then select the data you wish to recover and hit the Recover button to retrieve your files back.

You mustn’t save the recovered file in the save USB dive they were before. Choose a different safer storage device to prevent data overwriting.

Windows Does Not Recognize External Drive

USB Solution

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