How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up in 8 DIY Fixes | 2024

If your external hard drive is not showing up in File Explorer or Disk Management, this post provides 8 effective ways to fix the error. If you lose data on your external hard drive, you can run EaseUS data recovery software to recover lost data.

When you suddenly find an external hard drive that is not showing up on the computer, what can you do to solve this error? In the following content, I'd like to tell you what to do if the external hard drive is not detected or recognized.

Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Without Losing Data

You will lose data if you have run the format operation without backing up the external hard disk. But you don't need to panic, and you can restore external hard drive data after formatting. The only thing you need is the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard.

This external hard drive recovery tool can recover lost photos, files, documents, and videos after deleting, formatting, partition loss, OS crash, virus attack, and other data loss scenarios. This software can show both existing and deleted files, and it will be easy to recover formatted hard drives.

 Follow the steps below to get back data from an external hard drive.

Step 1. Scan Not Showing/Formatted External Hard Drive

• Install and run EaseUS Data Recovery on your PC or laptop. 
• Connect the not-recognized external hard drive to your computer.
• Then, click "Search for Lost Data".

Step 2. Filter Recoverable Files on the External Disk

• EaseUS data recovery software will immediately scan the selected drive for all data, including deleted, corrupted, and existing data.
• You can use the Filter feature to quickly locate the files of one kind, such as Pictures, Word, Excel, PDF, videos, emails, etc.

Step 3. Preview and recover data from external hard disk

• Double-clicking a file from the scanned results to preview.
• Choose the files you want and click "Recover" to recover data from the external hard drive.
• Select a different drive to save the recovered files instead of the original one.

Share this recovery guide and help more users fix external hard disks that are not recognized without data loss!

Solve External Hard Drive Not Showing Up in Windows 11/10 Quickly

External hard drive not appearing on file explorer but is on disk management
byu/Ok-Cockroach-741 intechsupport

Sometimes, the external disk is not read for simple reasons, like a loose connection. Check the following fixes to quickly diagnose the external hard disk.

✅Check External HDD in Disk Management

If your external hard drive is not showing in File Explorer, you can check it in Disk Management.

Step 1. Right-click the start (win logo).

Step 2. Select "Disk Management".

Step 3. Browse the drive list to look for your external disk.

If you see the external hard disk showing up in Disk Management as unallocated/not initialized/offline, it could be easy to fix the external HDD not showing the problem. This is what people described as an external hard drive not opening in This PC.

✅Troubleshoot Broken USB Ports/Cables

If the external HDD is not showing up when it's connected via a USB 2.0 port, you can also try a USB 3.0 port to detect the drive. Besides, you can try to connect the external hard drive directly to your PC and see whether your computer can detect the external hard drive.

✅Restart the Computer or External Hard Drive

If your external hard drive has a switch button to turn on/off, you can try to press it to reboot the disk. If your disk doesn't have this button, try to reboot the PC or laptop may miraculously solve the external hard drive recognizing problem.

Do these quick solutions work? Share them now!

How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Detected in 5 Ways

Don't worry if you cannot fix external not reading on your Windows PC. We'll introduce more detailed and effective solutions here:

1. 1. Initialize a New External Drive
2. 2. Assign a New Drive Letter
3. 3. Update the Driver
4. 4. Run Disk Troubleshooter in CMD
5. 5. Format External Hard Drive

Besides, here's a video that can help solve similar issues, such as the WD external hard drive not showing up.

• 00:26 Method 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
• 01:02 Method 2. Recovery Service
• 01:27 Method 3. Windows Disk Repair
• 01:56 More Solutions

✨Method 1. Initialize a New External Drive

Your external hard drive may not be showing because the disk is not initialized. If your external hard drive is a brand-new disk, you need to initialize it first to get it ready. Then, create a new partition on it. Doing so will make your new external hard drive appear on Windows 11/10/8/7.

Step 1. Right-click "This PC" (in Windows 10) and choose "Manage".

Step 2. Go to "Disk Management", right-click your new hard disk, and choose "Initialize Disk".

Step 3. Select the disk, choose MBR or GPT as its partition style, and click "OK" to start.

Step 4. Right-click on the unallocated space on your new drive and select "New Simple Volume...".

Step 5. On the new hard drive, set the volume size, drive letter, and file system to NTFS.

Step 6. Click "Finish" when the process completes.

Then, you can see the external hard drive show up on This PC.

Method 2. Assign a New Drive Letter

Your external could be missing from This PC if it doesn't have a drive letter. Thus, you can fix this error by changing the drive letter.

Step 1. Go to "Disk Management", and right-click the disk partition which has no drive letter.

Step 2. Choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths" from the context menu.

Step 3. Click the "Add" button in the pop-up window.

Step 4. Assign a drive letter to the partition and click "OK" to confirm.

Most people can find their external hard drive in Disk Management after being assigned a drive letter.

Method 3. Update the Driver

If the external hard drive works with one computer and fails to be detected by another, you can try to update the external hard drive driver.

Step 1. Right-click "This PC" and choose "Manage".

Step 2. Click "Device Manager," then expand "Universal Serial Bus Controllers".

Step 3. Right-click the device and select "Update driver".

Step 4. Choose "Search automatically for updated driver software" and restart your computer.

When the process is complete, you can open Disk Management to check if the external hard drive shows up. If the methods fail to help you, contact the external hard drive seller for refund and exchange services.

Method 4. Run Disk Troubleshooter in CMD

Windows has many built-in utilities that can help solve system or disk issues, and you can try to repair an external hard drive in Command Prompt:

Step 1. Type in cmd and run it as administrator.

Step 2. Type in msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic in the Command Prompt window.

Step 3. After pressing the Enter key, you'll see a new window pop up. Choose "Advanced" > "Next".

Method 5. Format External Hard Drive

Your external hard drive could also disappear from This PC if the file system is not compatible with Windows 11/10/8/7. Fat32, exFAT, and NTFS have their compatibilities and limitations. If you are using an APFS drive on a Windows 10 computer, your drive doesn't show up. Therefore, you can change the file system to fix the external hard drive not showing an error.

Step 1. Keep the external hard drive connected to the PC.

Step 2. Open Disk Management and right-click the external hard drive with the RAW or unknown file system.

Step 3. Select "Format" and set "NTFS" or "exFAT" for the external hard drive.

Step 4. Select "OK" to finish the formatting.

You can also format an external disk in Mac Disk Utility to fix the external hard drive not showing up on Mac. If you need to retrieve formatted data from your external HDD, download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard now!

Possible Reasons for an External Hard Drive Not Showing Up 

Whether you connect a brand new hard drive or an old one to your computer, you may encounter the error "External hard drive not showing up." Just like the case says, the external hard drive is showing up on devices but not on this PC. This is not a rare case; it happens to many people. To determine why an external hard drive doesn't show up, you must read the possible causes.

• Insufficient power supply/broken USB port
• Partition problems
• Lack of drive letter
• File system issues
• Outdated drivers

Conclusion

Removable hard drives are pretty intuitive and helpful in our daily lives. But sometimes your PC won't recognize the hard drive when you plug it in. You don't have to worry about it because you have learned six tested ways to fix this error. By the way, if you have data loss problems during the repair process, you can turn to EaseUS data recovery software.

External Hard Drive Not Read by PC FAQs

After learning all the fixes, you can check these frequently asked questions to get more information:

1. Why does my laptop not read the external hard drive?

Your laptop may not be able to read the external hard drive because of a loose connection, damaged USB ports, physical damage to the disk, the wrong file system, the disk not initialized, or an outdated driver.

2. How can I fix an external disk that is not showing up in File Explore but in Disk Management?

If so, your new disk may not be initialized. To prepare your external disk fully, go to Disk Management, right-click your new hard disk, and choose "Initialize Disk." Then, choose the partition type and file system.

3. Can I format the external hard drive to fix the drive that is not recognized?

You may fix the issue after formatting the external hard drive when the computer cannot recognize your disk because of a wrong file system. Be careful when applying the disk format utility because it will erase everything on the disk.