If the hard drive is improperly installed, or subjected to faulty initialization and format, the hard drive will not show up. The external hard drive does not appear External hard drives may also not be included in the list, especially when the drive becomes corrupted or damaged. Hard drive won't appear in File Explorer, BIOS or PC. The only problem is my external hard drive is not showing up in my Scratch Disk, all I see is my internal hard drive with 6GB.I can't really do anything with 6GB because as I'm sure you all know, photoshop likes room to spread it's wings. My 2 other hard disk drives were not showed up in the boot priority, but it does showed up in boot menu, SATA Information on the EZ Mode tab, Boot Override tab in the Advanced Mode, and Hard Drive BBS Priorities. Boot Device Control was set to UEFI and Legacy OPROM. Lauch CSM was enabled as well. My two hard disk drives have drive letter. Many users complained that their external hard drives are connected but not showing on computer or File Explorer the Windows 10/8/7. Some reported that the USB or external hard drive is not showing up on My Computer or File Explorer but showing in Disk Management. Others said that external hard drive shows in device manager but not disk management. Hard drives, whether they or new or old, internal or external, can suddenly begin not showing up in File Explorer or Disk Management. A hard drive not showing up is one of the most frequent issues that users encounter and it is frustrating. It's also scary because you don't have access to your files.
Last updated on 13/04/2018
How do you repair/fix a hard disk/drive which is not detecting/showing up/working/readable in Windows computer or BIOS? Can you recover files from an undetectable/unrecognizable/unreadable hard drive/external HDD in PC of Windows 10/8/8.1/7/Vista/XP?
Answer: Of course! You can fix hard disk drive which is not visible without losing any data with help of data recovery software.
How to Recover Data from Undetected Hard Disk?
My computer isn't detecting my hard drive/HDD, how to recover data?
Answer: A data recovery tool is needed for HDD files recovery when it is no longer being detected by computer.
The biggest trouble is how to recover data from an unrecognized hard disk? Before you checking any reason for this problem, you can use data recovery software to retrieve all files on the undetectable hard disk.
iCare Data Recovery Pro is able to recover data from hard disk even if it is not work. You should make sure that the computer on which the unrecognized hard disk is installed is still bootable. Then, you can free download and install this data recovery program on your computer to perform file recovery.
Free download iCare Data Recovery Pro
The only tip is to avoid installing the software on the disk where data got lost. If there are two hard disks on your computer, you had better install the software on another disk which still works normally.
Attention:
If PC cannot boot anymore since hard disk is not recognized, you can install the software on another computer and connect this hard disk to that computer.
Hard Disk Drive Not Showing up in Computer
A hard disk usually consists of several partitions. If only one partition is not showing up after booting computer normally, you can check following reasons:
1. Partition was deleted by mistake
2. Partition table is corrupted
3. Partition is infected with virus
Solution:
If you encounter this problem, you can go to Disk Management to see if the partition shows there. If the partition got deleted, it shows as unallocated space under Disk Management. However, if partition table is corrupted or got lost due to virus infection, you may need to repartition hard disk or rebuild MBR.
Hard Disk Is Not Recognized in BIOS
What is the best free image editing software. If hard disk is not recognized by BIOS settings, the reasons might be:
1. Hard disk is damaged. If this is the reason, you may need to replace the damaged hard disk with a new one.
2. There is something wrong with hard disk interface or power connector
3. The interface of motherboard has problems or the motherboard is corrupted
4. The hard disk is disabled in BIOS setting.
Resolution:
If BIOS cannot detect hard disk, you can press F2 (it is different on various computers) to enter BIOS setup to check and fix the problem.
Recommend: How to enter BIOS setup on different computers>>
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Many users complained that their external hard drives are connected but not showing on computer or File Explorer the Windows 10/8/7. Some reported that the USB or external hard drive is not showing up on My Computer or File Explorer but showing in Disk Management. Others said that external hard drive shows in device manager but not disk management. To fix these external hard drive issues, this troubleshooting post will be helpful for you.
Case 1: External hard drive shows up in disk management but not file explorer
You may experience that your USB or external drive has been connected to the computer, but it is not showing in File Explorer or My Computer, but shows in Disk Management instead. Under this situation, it will be regarded as an unknown disk and shows the capacity to be 2048 GB in the Disk Management. To fix the problem, please try following methods.
Tip: If your external hard drive shows in device manager but not disk management, you can directly move to the case 2.
1. Assign a Drive Letter to the USB/Hard Drive
Sometimes, the drive might not have been assigned a drive letter by Windows so that USB or external hard drive cannot show on File Explorer but in Disk Management. In this case, you can try to assign a drive letter to the USB or external hard drive in Disk Management.
STEP 1. Navigate to 'Control Panel'> 'System and Security'> 'Administrative Tools'.
STEP 2. Choose 'Computer Management'. Provide an administrative passcode, if asked.
STEP 3. In Disk Management, find out the unlabeled hard drive and right-click on it to choose 'Change drive letter and paths.'
STEP 4. Click 'Add'> 'OK' to pick out the available drive letter.
STEP 5. If the drive letter does not show on the drive, check if the drive is offline. If it is, right-click the disk number and select Online. And then, follow the instructions again.
NOTE:
If you can't finish the operation in Disk Management, you are able to run 'cmd' to change or assign the drive letter.
Open Command Prompt. (CMD) and type 'diskpart'.
At the DISKPART prompt, enter 'list volume'. ( mark down the number of the simple volume whose drive letter you want to assign)
At the DISKPART prompt, enter 'select volume n[volume's number]' (Select the volume whose drive letter you want to assign)
At the DISKPART prompt, enter 'assign letter=N' (N stands for the drive letter you want to assign)
2. Make sure that the hard drive is enabled and online
Make sure the hard drive is enabled
If the drive has been disabled, the disk will be invisible in File Explorer. When the disk is disabled, follow the steps below to Enable it:
STEP 1. Press 'Windows'+ 'R' on the keyboard to activate run box.
STEP 2. Type 'devmgmt.msc' on the run box to open 'Device Manager'.
STEP 3. If a drive is disabled, the disk drive will be marked with a down arrow. Locate the hard drive you want to enable.
STEP 4. Right-click on it and choose 'Properties'> 'View'tab.
STEP 5. Click on 'Enable Device' button > 'OK'.
STEP 6. After that, check if the down arrow is still there.
Make sure that the drive is online
Sometimes, an external hard drive connected but not showing because the drive is offline. To be detected by Windows, you can follow steps below to check the current status of the disk.
Go to 'Control Panel'> 'System and Security'> 'Administrative Tools'.
Choose 'Computer Management', and locate your disk in 'Disk Management'.
Right-click on it and select 'Online'.
3. Update drivers for USB or external hard drive
When your USB/external drive does not show on file explorer on Windows 10/8/7, you can try to update its driver in Device Manager. As we know, an update is created to fix some glitches for the previous version so as to make USB or external drive showing on My computer again.
STEP 1. Press 'Windows'key + 'R'and enter 'devmgmt.msc' on the run box.
STEP 2. Open 'Device Manager'> Click the 'Scan for hardware changes' icon on the menu.
STEP 3. Right-click on the inaccessible USB/external hard drive and choose 'Update Driver Software.'.
My Hard Drive Will Not Show Up
STEP 4. After the update is finished, restart your PC and check if the device is accessible.
4. Recover data from hard drive that is not showing
When external hard drive issue occurs, an external hard drive is not showing files though they still exist. If any important data is in the USB/external hard drive when external hard drive shows up in Disk Management but not File Explorer, you can employ data recovery to retrieve your data before formatting it. Here we highly recommend you FonePaw Data Recovery which is capable of recovering data from USB/ external hard drive, supporting Window 10/8/7. To recover data from hard drive, you just need few simple steps.
Download
STEP 1. Run FonePaw Data Recovery, and then, select the file types you need.
STEP 2. Next, click on 'Scan' button after selecting your USB/external drive.
STEP 3. Select out the files you want to recover.
STEP 4. https://ameblo.jp/004sirodo-giab/entry-12650234555.html. Finally, click on 'Recover' button to finish data recovery.
STEP 5. After that, you can keep on formatting your inaccessible USB/external hard drive.
Case 2: External hard drive shows up in Device Manager but not Disk Management or File Explorer
Unlike case 1, USB or external hard drive sometimes is invisible in File Explorer or Disk Management, but it can be detected in Device Manager, for example, an external HDD won't show up in explorer, but it shows in Device Manager. To fix the issue, several methods can be listed below. Office 365 update download.
1. Make sure the USB or external hard drive is available. If it is not showing up in Disk Management or File Explorer, you can try to plug it into other USB port of your computer. What's more, you can connect your external drive to other computers to check if it works.
New Hard Drive Not Detected
2. Partition and format the external hard drive.
Go to 'Computer Management'. > Right-click on black bar of the invisible drive to choose 'New Partition.'> Follow the instruction to finish the Partition.
Right-click on the drive and select 'Format'.
3. Disable and re-enable the USB controller.
Navigate to 'Device Manager'. > Find 'Unknown USB Device' and right-click on it. > Choose 'Uninstall'.
After restarting your PC, enable the USB controller again.
External Hard Drive Not In Disk Management
Now, your issue - external hard drive not showing Windows 10/8/7 has been resolved. To manage the data on USB/external hard drive, read here:
