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The computer does not see the external hard drive: what is the reason, how to fix it. External HDD not detected? Tips on how to fix



External hard drives are becoming more and more popular among PC users every day. The thing is that very often there is a catastrophic lack of space on the built-in storage device, and in order not to change the media, you can use an HDD (external hard drive). The modern model of such a device is a small box containing 1-2 TB of information. But what to do if the computer does not see the external hard drive, moreover, immediately after purchasing a new device. Today we will try to understand the situation and tell you what to do if the computer does not see the removable hard drive, depending on the cause of the problem.

The computer does not see the external hard drive. Causes

Before solving the problem, you need to understand the cause of the problem. Let's look at the main ones.

Malnutrition

If the hard drive is large enough, then its absence in the “File Manager” may be caused by insufficient power. This situation occurs if you are using a USB hub that already has other devices connected. All USB interfaces, depending on the type, produce different power.

Important! Try inserting the connecting cable into different USB sockets. One of the connectors may be able to provide sufficient power to operate the device. Or connect the media directly to the port.

Broken connecting cable

Replacing the cable will help correct the situation.

The hard drive model has a different connection, not USB

Today there are a huge number of devices on the market that have different parameters and connections. Some devices require a separate cable to connect power. All these nuances must be checked during purchase according to the technical description.

Important! Perhaps you connected the device as usual - via USB, but you needed to use an additional power cable.

Settings problem

If the computer does not see the external hard drive, the reasons may also be the following:

  • Driver problem. If the operating system cannot correctly determine the drivers for the external drive, then you should download them from the official website. If you have new media, then the drivers must be recorded on it.

Important! Extract them on another computer that has managed to recognize the device.

  • USB support is not enabled in the BIOS. If another computer recognizes the external drive, check whether USB support is enabled on your PC.
  • Device malfunction. If manipulations with the USB connection do not produce results, then check the functionality of the device by connecting it to another computer; the drive may be faulty. In case of mechanical failures, contact the service center.

Important! To prevent these problems and solve them:

  • Choose a cord for connecting the device that is as short in length and as thick as possible. All this significantly affects power transmission.
  • The problem with insufficient power can be solved in this way: connect a cable with two connectors at one end to different sockets on the system unit case. Thus, the device will receive electricity from two sources.

What to do if the problem is in the settings

In order for the computer to identify the device, the removable storage medium must have a name in the management interface. But sometimes it happens that the disk is not detected due to incorrect configuration in the BIOS. You can correct the situation by going to the settings and changing the configuration to another one suggested from the list. After these manipulations, restart your computer.

Detailed instructions:

  1. Click the Start menu.
  2. Click “Computer Control Panel”.
  3. Make sure you are viewing items by category (it says “Browse” in the top right corner).
  4. Click on “System and Security”.
  5. Find the “Administration” item.
  6. In the window that opens, find the item called “Computer Management”.
  7. In the left window that opens, select “Disk Management”. You should be able to see all drives connected to the system, including external ones. Your task is to change the letter of the removable drive to one that is not in the operating system.
  8. Find your external information source in the window, then right-click on it and select “Change drive letter or drive path.”
  9. In the window that opens, select “Edit”.
  10. Choose any letter you like.
  11. Click OK.

Important! If you are connecting a new drive to your computer for the first time, most likely it is not formatted, so it will not appear in the “My Computer” window. In this case, you will not be able to change the letter. Right-click on the external drive and select “Create Simple Volume,” but remember that this process will delete all data on the storage medium.

Application problems

Problems with the fact that the computer does not see the external hard drive often arise after working with programs such as Acronis and Alcohol, and other similar applications for creating virtual storage devices. While working with such programs, the PC switches to communicating with virtual disks, but stops seeing real ones.

In this situation, it is necessary to return the system to its previous state or completely remove the program along with all settings.

Important! Check to see if there are any previously created virtual disks left in the system. If present, remove them and restart the computer, resetting the CMOS settings to default settings.

Solving the problem with drivers

If the external drive is new, and it is not in the “My Computer” window, then 99% of this phenomenon is related to the drivers. Proceed as follows:

  1. From the control panel, go to the “Device Manager” tab. Make sure you browse the menu by the small icons (top right corner).
  2. Expand the “Disk Devices” tab.
  3. Notice whether the drive displays an exclamation point in a yellow triangle. If the triangle is present, then update the driver.

Important! If you don’t find your drive, try finding it in “Other devices”.

  1. Uninstall the old driver by right-clicking on the device and selecting the “Uninstall” task.
  2. Unplug the device and plug it back in a minute into the USB port. The driver should be automatically detected and installed.

Important! Typically, the Windows 7 and 8 operating system, when you connect any new device, automatically installs a driver for it. If this does not happen, then click the “Actions” -> “Update hardware configuration” command in the device manager or download the driver from the official website of the HDD device manufacturer.

If you can't see your old external hard drive

If external media previously worked on your computer and then stopped, then proceed as follows:

  1. Check the USB through which you connect the drive by connecting any other device (phone, player, printer, etc.). If necessary, reinstall the USB controller driver.
  2. Check the cords for damage. The wire must not be damaged, and the USB plugs must be tightly connected to the computer and HDD. If necessary, replace the cord with a new one.
  3. Go to the control menu and change the drive letter as described above. Be sure to do this if you have created new partitions on your hard drive.
  4. Check your external HDD for viruses. Some viruses block disks and disable the ability to see them.
  5. Go to “Device Manager” and find out if the device is detected correctly. There should be no yellow or red exclamation marks to indicate errors.
  6. Check the performance of the hard drive on another computer or laptop. In this case, reinstalling the operating system may help.

This problem happens The computer does not see the removable disk. It doesn't show up anywhere, even though it worked fine until recently. The information there is very important and needs to be saved, so I want to restore access to the removable hard drive without contacting specialists at the service center.

Read the article carefully and perhaps it will help solve the problem.

The easiest way to check the serviceability or save information on another medium is to connect a removable hard drive to another computer. If the hard drive is detected on another computer, then the problem is in your computer.

Another way is to try recover removable hard drive on your own using your computer. To do this, right-click on the “My Computer” icon and select “Manage” from the context menu.

In the window that opens, select “Disk Management”, here you will see all the disks connected to the computer and if your disk is working, it will definitely be displayed here.


To open a removable hard drive, it is enough to rename the drive and restore access to it. To do this, right-click on the desired drive and select “Change drive letter or drive path” from the context menu.


In the window that opens, select a letter and click “OK.” Sometimes a reboot is needed, but most often it is not.

If your removable hard drive is not visible in Disk Management, then there is probably a problem with the hard drive itself or a conflict between the controller and the computer.

Here's a little about the design of a removable hard drive. Simply put, it's a regular hard drive in a box. The box also contains a controller responsible for input and output of information.

If you have skills in working with computer components, then the health of the hard drive itself can be checked. To do this, disassemble the removable drive and disconnect the HDD, then remove the cover from the system unit and connect the hard drive directly to the motherboard. Practice shows that the motherboard detects disks many times more consistently than controllers. We turn on the computer, if the disk is detected, then the controller is at fault.

If the above remedies do not help, then it is better to contact a service center

And finally, if you decide to buy a removable hard drive, buy devices from well-known companies, their failures are much less frequent.

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19 thoughts on “ The computer does not recognize the removable hard drive”

  1. Nobel

    I have a problem that the computer does not see the removable hard drive, but the laptop does. Can I reinstall the operating system?

  2. Nikolay

    Disassembling the removable disk and connecting it to the motherboard helped.

  3. Azamat

    Thank you! Previously, such a problem seemed simply insoluble to me.
    It helped!

  4. Alexander

    Thank you!!!

  5. Kamil

    Thank you! Everything worked out!

  6. Dmitriy

    I can’t initialize the hard drive, it says: The request was not completed due to an I/O error on the device

  7. admin

    Dmitry, here’s what they write about this on the Microsoft website:

    “This problem may occur if Windows is using a transfer mode that is not supported by your CD-ROM drive.
    To resolve the issue, you need to change the transfer mode for the CD drive in the IDE channel properties. To do this, follow these steps:
    From the Start menu, right-click My Computer and select Manage.
    In the Computer Management (Local) group, select Device Manager.
    In the right pane, expand IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.
    Right-click the channel that your CD-ROM drive is connected to and select Properties. This is usually the Secondary IDE Channel.
    On the Advanced Settings tab, select PIO Only in the Transfer Mode field for the CD drive. This is usually Device 1. Then click OK.
    If you change the transfer mode for Secondary IDE Channel Device 1 and the problem persists, it is probably not the correct device for the CD drive. Use the following procedure to change the transfer mode back to DMA if available. Then repeat the steps to change the transfer mode for IDE devices in the following order until the problem is resolved.
    Primary IDE channel, device 1
    Secondary IDE channel, device 0
    Note. Primary IDE channel, device 1 corresponds to the boot disk. This is a hard drive on which the operating system is usually installed.”

  8. Andrey

    The 4TB removable hard drive works non-stop for the second day, regardless of whether the computer is turned on or not, whether it is connected via USB or not. Not a single computer sees it (I logged in with both XP and 8; I searched through “disk management”, turned on the display of hidden and system files, even restored the system just in case, rebooted the computer several times: I can’t stop it). If I disconnect it from the network, I’ll kill the hard drive (judging by the sound and temperature, it’s working as hard as it can). How can you stop it so that it does not lead to mechanical damage?

  9. admin

    Andrey, why are you so sure that you will kill the disk when disconnected from the network? It is also possible that there is nothing left to kill.

  10. andrei

    Thank you!!! It helped!!!)))

  11. Sergey

    It wouldn’t help if it were all that easy), the computer also doesn’t see the hard drive, although when connected to the computer it detects it and the light is on (works), there’s a virus on it, I threw the films onto the hard drive and stopped opening, the same films were thrown onto the Windows laptop a little did not fly, the antivirus saved it. Maybe there is some other way to open it or format it?

  12. Uncle Apo

    Thank you. Renaming helped!

  13. Irina

    I switched it to another usb port and it helped - he sees it!

  14. Denis 02/10/2015

    Good afternoon Problem with External Drive Seagate FA GoFlex Desk USB Device. In the “Devices and Printers” menu, the computer sees the disk; when you call up the context menu, it says that it is working normally and that drivers do not need to be updated. The disk cannot be seen through “Computer”. Through “Computer Management” in the “Disk Management” field in the upper part it is also not there (that is, you cannot change the letter), but it is in the lower part with the status “Not initialized”. When I try to initialize it gives an error. It is also displayed in the “Device Manager” in the “Disk Devices” submenu.
    I tried to connect it to a different connector and to an old computer - no result. When you try to turn it off and on again, it starts to make noise, as if something is twisting and cannot turn it all the way, and then it goes quiet.
    I tried, as written above, to deploy the controllers, I only have one there: Intel (R) 8 Series.... and in its properties there is no “Advanced parameters” tab, and in those tabs that exist, they do not have “Transfer mode”.
    Please tell me what can be done.

  15. Tatiana

    Good afternoon Problem with External Drive ADATA HDD CH94 USB Devise
    In the “Devices and Printers” menu, the computer sees the disk; when you call up the context menu, it says that it is working normally and that drivers do not need to be updated. The disk is not visible through “Computer”... And it is also displayed in the “Device Manager” in the “Disk Devices” submenu.
    When I try to turn it off and on again I get no results. I updated the drivers. Please tell me what else can be done. It doesn't open on another computer either. It shows that the disk is working, but I can’t open it. It requires formatting when loading, but I have important information there, I'm afraid it will be erased. Help me please. And also about the shutdown it writes: “the device is not removable and cannot be removed”

  16. Irina

    Thank you so much!!! You helped me a lot! Everything was explained simply, clearly - and everything worked!!!

But it happens that the PC does not recognize the external drive.

Can't read new external drive

Here, the concept of new means that HDD that has not been used before on a given personal computer.


The open window will display a list of all disks used on the computer.

The first reason that the disk is unreadable may be that the name contains the wrong designation. To fix this “problem”, right-click on the name and select “change drive letter...”. We put another letter in the name that is not on the PC.

Disk required format. If so, then the external media is not visible, and the name cannot be changed. Right-click on the external drive, then “create simple volume...”.

On the device it is possible no required drivers. In this case, when connected to any other computer, the external drive will be displayed. We check the USB port (to check, insert another device into the port, say a camera). If the PC recognizes the camera, the port is working.

To install drivers, you need to go to "Device Manager" and "Update hardware configuration". The problem should go away.

The external drive is not new

  • In “disk management” we change the letter in the name.
  • Another reason could be viruses on external media.
  • We check the “device manager” for errors; if there are exclamation marks, this indicates an error. Reinstalling the drivers.
  • Another option is to clean your PC from unnecessary files.
  • Check the functionality of the HDD when connected to another USB port. And do not forget that the connecting cord can also fail.

External HDDs and SSDs are becoming more and more popular every day. This is not at all surprising, because this small box can contain a huge amount of information - up to 1-6 terabytes! For comparison, today not every PC even has an internal 1TB hard drive.

But what to do when your computer or laptop does not see the external hard drive? In this article we will look at why this happens and how to properly solve this problem.

If the new external hard drive is not detected

In this situation, we mean a portable drive that you just purchased for your PC. First thing to do:

1. Go to Control Panel/Make sure that “Small Icons”/Administration is selected in the “View” menu.


3. In the left column, go to the “Disk Management” menu.



4. Wait 5-10 seconds for the configuration to update, after which both internal and external media that are connected to the computer or netbook will be displayed. Quite often, a PC may not read media due to incorrect letter assignment.

This is what needs to be changed. To do this, you need to right-click on our device and select “Change letter”.


Another option why the laptop does not recognize the new hard drive is that it is not formatted

In this case, you won’t even be able to change the name to something else. You need to right-click on the disk again, a menu will appear, and then click “Create Volume”. However, be careful! In this case, all information will be deleted from the HDD.

A not so common problem is that the chip on the motherboard responsible for the functionality of the USB ports has failed. In 99% of cases, the solution to the problem is to repair the board.

Lack of drivers is another most common reason

If the hard drive is not visible either in Disk Management or in My Computer, but at the same time functions fully on other equipment, this is precisely the problem. Of course, modern Windows 7, 8, 10 are smart operating systems that search for and install drivers themselves in a fully automatic mode. However, sometimes they also make mistakes.

In this situation it is necessary:

1. Check the operation of the USB ports (2.0/3.0). If other devices work through them, then the problem is not with them at all.

2. If everything is fine with the USB ports, but the hard drive still doesn’t work:

Go to Control Panel/Make sure that “Small Icons”/Device Manager is selected in the “View” menu and select the “Other Devices” and “Disk Devices” sections.

There you can find out whether the drivers for the connected media are installed.


If there are red or yellow identification icons next to the name of the connected device (see screenshot above), it means that the drivers were not installed or were installed with errors; to fix this, you need to do one of the following options:

1. Click “Update hardware configuration”, after which the installation will occur automatically.

2. Use a special program to install the necessary drivers “DriverPack Solution, Driver Booster or others”

3. Reinstall Windows OS.

After completing simple steps, the HDD will operate as usual.

If the old external HDD is not displayed

In this case, we are talking about a hard drive that was previously functioning on your PC, but it stopped seeing it. In such a situation you should:


Now you know how to find out the reason why the computer does not show the removable drive, and you can solve it yourself!

An external hard drive is a portable storage device containing a storage device (HDD or SSD) and a controller for interacting with a computer via USB. When connecting such devices to a PC, sometimes some problems are observed, in particular, the absence of a disk in the “Computer” folder. We will talk about this problem in this article.

There are several reasons causing this problem. If a new drive is connected, then perhaps Windows “forgot” to report this and offer to install drivers and format the media. In the case of old drives, this may be the creation of partitions on another computer using programs, the presence of a blocking virus, as well as the usual malfunction of the controller, the disk itself, cable or port on the PC.

Another reason is lack of nutrition. Let's start with it.

Reason 1: Nutrition

Quite often, due to the shortage of USB ports, users connect several devices to one socket through a hub (splitter). If connected devices require power from the USB connector, a power shortage may occur. This leads to a problem: the hard drive may not start and, accordingly, may not appear in the system. The same situation can arise when ports are overloaded with energy-intensive devices.

In this situation, you can do the following: try to free up one of the ports for an external drive or, as a last resort, purchase a hub with additional power. Some portable drives may also require additional power supply, as evidenced by the presence of not only a USB cord included, but also a power cable. Such a cable may have two connectors for connecting to USB or a completely separate power supply.

Reason 2: Unformatted disk

When you connect a new blank disk to your PC, the system usually reports that the media is not formatted and prompts you to do so. In some cases this does not happen and it may be necessary to perform this procedure manually.

  1. Let's go to "Control Panel". You can do this from the menu "Start" or press the keyboard shortcut Win+R and enter the command:

  2. Next we go to "Administration".

  3. Find the label with the name "Computer Management".

  4. Go to the section "Disk Management".

  5. We are looking for our disk in the list. You can distinguish it from others by its size, as well as by the RAW file system.

  6. Click on the disk RMB and select the context menu item "Format".

  7. Next, select the label (name) and file system. Place a checkmark opposite "Quick format" and press OK. All that remains is to wait for the process to complete.

  8. A new disk has appeared in the folder "Computer".

Reason 3: Drive letter

This problem can arise when performing disk operations - formatting, partitioning - on another computer using special software.

In such cases, you must set the letter manually in the snap-in "Disk Management".

Reason 4: Drivers

The operating system is very complex software and that is why various failures often occur in it. In normal mode, Windows itself installs standard drivers for new devices, but this does not always happen. If the system does not start driver installation when you connect an external drive, you can try restarting the computer. In most cases this is enough. If the situation does not change, you will have to “work with your hands.”

If the software for the disk cannot be installed, you need to check the branch "Disk devices". If there is a drive with a yellow icon, this means that the OS does not have such a driver or it is damaged.

A forced installation will help solve the problem. You can find software for the device manually on the manufacturer’s website (perhaps it came with a driver disk) or try to download it automatically from the network.

Reason 5: Viruses

Virus programs, among other nasty things, can prevent the initialization of external drives in the system. Most often they are located on the removable drive itself, but they may also be present on your PC. First, check your system drive and, if you have one, your second hard drive for viruses.

You won’t be able to check the external drive using the tools given in the article above, since it cannot be initialized. Only a bootable flash drive with an anti-virus scanner, for example, will help here. With its help, you can scan the media for viruses without loading system files and services, and therefore the subject of attack.

Reason 6: Physical problems

Physical malfunctions include failure of the disk or controller itself, failure of ports on the computer, as well as a banal “breaking” of the USB or power cable.
To determine the problem, you can do the following:

  • Replace cables with known good ones.
  • Connect the drive to other USB ports; if it works, then the connector is faulty.
  • Remove the device and connect the drive directly to the motherboard (don't forget to turn off the computer before doing this). If the media is detected, then there is a controller malfunction; if not, then the disk. You can try to restore a non-working HDD at a service center, otherwise it will end up in the trash.