USB 3 does not see external hard drive. Why doesn't a computer or laptop see a flash drive and a removable hard drive?
Good afternoon.
External hard disks(HDDs) are becoming more popular day by day, sometimes it seems that very soon they will be more popular than flash drives. And it’s not surprising, because modern models are some kind of box, the size of cellular telephone and contain 1-2 TB of information!
Many users are faced with the fact that the computer does not see external hard drive. Most often, this happens immediately after purchasing a new device. Let's try to figure out in order what's going on here...
If the new external HDD is not visible
Here, new means the disk that you connected to your computer (laptop) for the first time.
1) First what are you doing - go to computer control .
To do this, go to control Panel , then in system and security settings -> administration -> computer control . See screenshots below.
2) Please note to the column on the left. It has a menu - disk management . Let's move on.
All drives (including external ones) connected to the system should be displayed in front of you. Very often the computer does not see the connected external hard drive due to an incorrect drive letter assignment. That's what you need to change!
To do this, click on the external drive right click and select " change drive letter... ". Next, assign the one that is not yet in your OS.
3) If the disk is new, and you connected it to your computer for the first time - it may not be formatted! Therefore, it will not appear in “my computer”.
If this is the case, then you will not be able to change the letter (you simply will not have such a menu). You just need to right click on the external drive and select " create a simple volume... «.
Attention! During this process, all data on the disk (HDD) will be deleted! Be careful.
4) Lack of drivers... (Update from 04/05/2015)
If external hard The disk is new and you don’t see it in “my computer” or “ disk management“, and it works on other devices (for example, a TV or another laptop sees and detects it) - then 99% of the problems are related to the Windows OS and drivers.
Despite the fact that modern Windows 7, 8 operating systems are quite “smart” and when a new device is detected, they automatically search for a driver for it - this does not always happen... The fact is that the Windows 7, 8 OS versions (including all kinds of assemblies from " craftsmen") great amount, yes and various errors no one canceled. Therefore, I don’t recommend excluding this option right away...
1. Check the USB port to see if it is working. For example, connect a phone or camera, even just a regular flash drive. If the device works, then the USB port has nothing to do with it...
2. Go to Device Manager (In Windows 7/8: Control Panel/System and Security/Device Manager) and look at two tabs: Other devices And disk devices.
Windows 7: Device Manager reports that there are no drivers for the “My Passport ULTRA WD” disk in the system.
The screenshot above shows that Windows does not have drivers for an external hard drive, so the computer does not see it. Typically, Windows 7, 8, when you connect a new device, automatically installs a driver for it. If this does not happen for you, you have three options:
a) Click the “Update hardware configuration” command in the device manager. This is usually followed by automatic installation drivers.
b) Search for drivers using special. programs: ;
c) Reinstall Windows (to install, select “clean” licensing system, without any assembly).
Windows 7 - Device Manager: drivers for the external HDD Samsung M3 Portable are installed correctly.
If you can't see your old external hard drive
By old here we mean HDD, which previously worked on your computer and then stopped.
1. First, go to the disk management menu (see above) and change the drive letter. This is definitely worth doing if you have created new partitions on your hard drive.
2. Secondly, check external HDD for viruses. Many viruses disable the ability to see disks or block them ().
3. Go to Device Manager and see if the devices are detected correctly. There should be no yellow exclamation marks (or red ones) that indicate errors. It is also recommended to reinstall the drivers for the USB controller.
4. Sometimes reinstalling Windows OS helps. Anyway, first check performance of hard disk on another computer/laptop/netbook, and then try reinstalling.
It’s also useful to try cleaning your computer from unnecessary junk files and optimize the operation of the registry and programs (here is an article with all the utilities: use a couple...).
5. Try connecting an external HDD to another USB port. It happened that for unknown reasons after connecting to another port, the disk worked perfectly as if nothing had happened. I noticed this several times on Acer laptops.
6. Check the cords.
One time the external hard drive didn't work because the cord was damaged. I didn’t notice it from the very beginning and spent 5-10 minutes looking for the cause...
With the widespread use of USB, last years USB 3.0 hard drives are becoming increasingly popular among computer users. Like any other device, external HDDs also have their drawbacks, one of which we will consider in this article. After connecting the drive to a USB 3.0 port, some users encountered the problem that the drive was unreadable by their operating system. The drive is not recognized in Windows and does not appear in Explorer.
Don't panic prematurely. Although this problem may seem scary, it can be fixed with a couple of effective solutions we will help you resolve the issue. It is not necessary to look for just one among all the methods listed below. Just gradually follow all the steps and the disk will come back to life.
- 1. Restart your computer.
- 2. Check if the hard drive works on another PC.
- 3. Connect other USB devices to see if they work.
Fix Error External USB 3.0 drive not recognized
Method 1: Update USB Driver
1.
Open My computer > select Properties of the system
Alternative way: right click on My computer and select Properties.
2. Open Device Manager located in the left pane.
Useful articles
How to recover data and make it work...
Effective upgrade - how to update your computer...
3. Open USB controllers and next to what you need, if the controller does not have the most latest driver, yellow will appear Exclamation point. Click the device next to it and select Update drivers.
4. Now click on Automatic search updated drivers to install the latest software. Wait for the process to complete and try connecting the hard drive again.
Method 2: Use Disk Management and let the computer recognize the USB 3.0 HDD
1. Open start menu and go to Control Panel.
2. Go to menu Administration and open Computer management.
3. Once the window opens, click Disk management and find the device you need.
4. Right-click on the drive and select Format.
Additional Help
Format the disk and lose it important information may sound very scary for the user, so we will tell you how you can restore your device without losing the necessary files.
Starus Partition Recovery will become good choice for any user who is faced with the problem of hard drive unreadability. The program will not only allow you to recover lost data, but also open logically damaged partitions.
Below is brief instructions, which can help you recover information:
1. Connect external hard drive USB disk 3.0 to your computer and run the application. The program will immediately prompt you to scan the device of your choice.
2. Select the logical partition or physical drive you want to scan.
3.
Next, the program will offer you two options for analyzing the disk.
By selecting Quick Scan
, the utility will perform a superficial assessment of the device and find all the main files, however, it is worth mentioning that such a scan is not deep. Full analysis, in turn, will scan the device as thoroughly as possible, which will allow you to find any information that has left its trace.
Once the analysis is complete, you can export documents to any safe location on your computer in two clicks, and then format your external hard drive.
Many Windows users 8.1 have already encountered this problem. It happens that after connecting an external hard drive With USB interface 3.0 to the computer, it does not detect it. The newly connected disk is not detected by the operating system and, accordingly, the data on it is not visible from Windows Explorer. It is possible that the only reason for this problem is incorrect installation USB drivers on the computer.
Therefore, first you need to determine the type of error that occurred. Secondly, you need to run the Computer Troubleshooting Wizard "Hardware" and Device Troubleshooter" or master " Windows USB Troubleshooter" and check what results they give. Utility data in automatic mode check if they are connected correctly USB devices to the computer, correctly classify the problem known to them and try to fix it themselves.
The next thing to do is check the relevance Windows updates Update installed on your computer. Some updates are related to correct operation drivers and mandatory must be installed on the computer. So be sure to check that they are installed on your computer. Also visit the website of the manufacturer of your drive and find the most suitable one. fresh driver for your model external media data.
Download and install the driver on your computer, then check if the connection problem is resolved.
If this doesn't help, try the following steps.
Remove the external drive from the system and disconnect it from the computer
1. First, uninstall and disconnect the external hard drive. To do this, type in the search box “Search box” the name of the device manager utility “ Device Manager" and click on its icon.
3. Immediately after software removal external drive, disconnect from the computer USB cable. Wait one minute and reconnect your device to your computer. The driver will be installed automatically.
Check if you can see external USB drive in Windows Explorer.
This method works well if there are problems with the USB driver itself. This may manifest itself in the form of unstable and incorrect operation of the USB drive.
1. Open Device Manager again and expand the section with USB controllers"Universal Serial Bus"
2. Next, right-click on the first USB controller and click “Uninstall” to uninstall it. Repeat for all other controllers.
3. Reboot your computer. Drivers for all USB controllers will be installed automatically.
1. Click on the battery icon visible in the desktop taskbar. The computer is now set to the power plan you specified. Click on the “Change Plan Settings” link to change it.
2. For the current power plan, in the new dialog box, select the “Change advanced power settings” option, which will allow you to change advanced power settings.
3. In a new window, in the list additional parameters, find the “USB Settings” section. Open it up.
5. If you are using a laptop, click on the “On battery” link and select “Disabled” from the drop-down menu.
6. Click successively on the “Apply” and “OK” buttons.
Before starting your experiments, do not forget to create system point recovery. Also don't forget to rollback changes made back if you noticed that they had no effect.
Lately, subscribers often contact me with the following problem: after connecting to the computer, the external hard drive is not visible. The connection is normal, the drivers are installed without errors, but it does not appear in the list of logical drives in Windows 10 Explorer. Why is this happening. There are several reasons for this problem, both software and hardware.
Before you start troubleshooting, first try disconnecting removable storage from the computer and reconnect it to the adjacent port.
On some models, the cable comes with two USB connectors on one side. The first is used for the main connection, and the second provides extra food. If the second one is not connected, then the device may simply not have enough power.
If you connected the gadget to USB ports 3.0 and the computer does not see external drive, then try connecting it to regular ports. They differ in color. High-speed connectors of the new standard are usually highlighted in color - blue or yellow. Like this:
The usual ones are gray or black. With this step you will exclude possible problems With USB driver 3.0 on a computer or laptop, due to which the removable disk may not be visible.
Now let's move on to software level reasons.
One of the most common cases when a removable external drive is not visible in Explorer is that the operating system Windows system I did not assign a letter for the new logical partition when connecting. Accordingly, it will not appear in the list of logical partitions in Explorer. It's easy to fix.
On the desktop, right-click on the computer icon and select “Computer Management.”
The following window will open:
We find the “Storage Devices” section, and in it - the “Disk Management” item. A list of logical and physical disk. In it we find our external hard drive by volume:
Select a free letter and click on “OK”. Personally, I like to place letters from the very end of the alphabet - X, Y or Z.
Also, if there are problems at work removable USB drive, I would advise opening Device Manager and looking at the “Portable Devices” section:
Your gadget should be displayed here. Right-click on it and select “Properties”.
In the window that appears, on the “General” tab, look in the “Device Status” field. There should be no errors, everything should be fine. Then open the “Driver” tab:
If you still cannot see your external hard drive in Windows Explorer 10, then try updating the driver. In some cases it helps complete removal device and installing the driver again.
P.S.: If all the recommended steps did not bring the expected result, then I would recommend trying to connect your removable drive to another computer or laptop and check its functionality on it, since most likely there is a hardware malfunction.
