The external hard drive is detected but does not open. thoughts on “The computer does not see the removable hard drive.” If the new external hard drive is not detected

Every day, external hard drives are becoming more and more popular among users. And it’s not surprising, because they are compact, they can be easily connected from one device to another, and they have a decent amount of memory - 1-2 TB. But a situation may occur when the next time you connect, the computer simply does not see the hard drive.

Sometimes this situation occurs when connecting a new hard drive to a computer, sometimes this can happen with your old hard drive.

Your old hard drive

First, let's figure out why the external hard drive that you previously connected to your PC now doesn't want to work.

1. Check the cable that connects it to the computer. The cable must not be damaged and the USB plugs must be properly connected to the cable.

2. Try connecting it to a different USB port on your computer. It also happens that it is the USB port that is faulty.

3. Go to "Device Manager", you can through “Start”, and check if there are yellow exclamation marks or red crosses next to the connected drives. Otherwise, you can reinstall the drivers on the USB ports of your PC or laptop.

4. Check your device for viruses. Sometimes they are the reason it doesn't work.

Then click on the item "Administration".

In the next window, select from the list "Computer Management".

A new window appears, in which we select the item on the left "Disk Management". Now right-click on the external hard drive and select from the menu "Change drive letter or drive path". Select a letter that is not yet in the operating system.

You may also need to change the letter if you bought a brand new external hard drive, but the computer does not see it.

New hard

Now we have gradually come to the question of why the computer does not see the new external hard drive.

1. Change the drive letter by following the steps above.

2. The hard drive has not been formatted. This could be the reason why it is not displayed in "My computer".

To format it, in the window "Computer Management" on the tab "Disk Management" right-click on the external hard drive and select from the menu "Create Simple Volume". Please note that this will delete all data from it!

3. Lack of drivers. If your hard drive does not appear in any "My computer", neither in "Disk Management", but it works, if you connect it to a TV or laptop, then the problem may be related to the operating system and drivers.

First, check if the USB port is working. Just connect your phone or tablet to it. If the device works, then this is not the problem.

Through the Start menu, as described above, go to "Device Manager". Open two tabs there "Disk devices" And "Other devices". If there is an exclamation mark next to the hard one, this indicates that the drivers for it were not installed.

In operating systems Windows 7, 8, when you connect a new device, drivers for it are installed automatically. If this does not happen in your case, then right-click on the hard drive item, opposite which there is an exclamation mark, and select from the menu "Update drivers".

If you need help on how to install drivers, I advise you to read the following articles: installing drivers in Windows 7 manually, how to install a driver on Windows 7.

After you have tried all the methods described in the article, and the computer does not see the external hard drive, you need to take it to a service center, now specialists will deal with this problem.

Rate this article:

Webmaster. Higher education with a degree in Information Security. Author of most articles and computer literacy lessons

Discussion: 11 comments

thanks for the advice, I just created a new volume and that’s it, the only pity is that it was all gone

Answer

Thank you! I connected the external hard drive that I had connected earlier, but the computer stopped seeing it after installing another hard drive inside the computer. It turns out that the letters simply coincided.

Answer

Alesya, yes, you can put Windows on a portable disk.

Answer

Is it possible to install Windows on a portable hard drive?

External hard drives (portable HDDs) are becoming more and more popular every day. This is understandable; a huge amount of memory and relatively small sizes are the main advantages of such devices. And when connected to a computer, they are no different from a regular flash drive.

But everything is not always so good and wonderful. Often, users of removable USB drives face one very important problem: Hard drive not detected! That is, the user connects the device to the computer, but nothing happens, the computer simply does not see it. And there may be several reasons for this; let’s look at the most common ones.

First let's determine what the problem is?

On the hard drive or on the computer itself. Well, of course, first of all, try connecting the drive through a different USB port. Sometimes it helps. 😉
If possible, try connecting your portable HDD to another computer. If the drive is detected, then it is obvious that the problem is in your computer.

Let's start with the simplest:
1) Let's check driver removable disk. To do this you need to go to device Manager. If you have Windows 8 operating system installed, then it can be easily found through search. Or
Start → Control Panel → Equipment and sound → device Manager.
In the manager, select Disk devices and find your disk. Right-click and select "Update driver". You can try removing the driver, restarting your computer, and installing it again.

2) The next reason is letter assigned incorrectly external drive. When I encountered such a problem, the drive letter was not assigned at all, I had to specify it manually. The solution is quite simple. We go along the following path:
Start →Control Panel → system and safety → Administration → Computer management.
Choose Disk management and find your disk. Right-click on it and click "Change drive letter or drive path..." Choose any free letter.

3) In the case when the computer refuses to define both flash drives and hard drives, you need to check USB support in BIOS, it may have been disabled. Fortunately, this doesn't happen often. And not every user will risk setting up something in Bios themselves. But there will be a separate article about this.

4) Another option is the problem with power supply computer. Either there is too much equipment connected to the computer, or, if the computer is not new, the power supply is simply outdated - in both cases it cannot cope with the drive.

Well, what if the disk is not detected on another computer?

Perhaps the problem is again in nutrition. If you connected the drive via an extension cable, try doing it directly using the USB cable that was included when you purchased it.

If the drive has a second connector or its own power supply, connect them.

But sometimes the problem is mechanical damage portable HDD. This option can be assumed if, when power is applied to the disk, it does not make characteristic sounds. The device simply doesn't work. Of course, in in this case You must contact a service center and under no circumstances attempt to disassemble or repair it yourself. This could end badly. 😉

I hope this article will help you solve the problem of an undetectable disk. Good luck! 🙂

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 via 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.

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:
Next we go to "Administration".
Find the label with the name "Computer Management".
Go to the section "Disk Management".
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.
Click on the disk RMB and select the context menu item "Format".
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.
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.

Often users encounter a problem when the external hard drive does not open, what should they do in such a situation?

To bring a non-working device back to life, you need to follow a number of very simple steps.

Recovering a new drive

If you don’t see the new HDD in the “My Computer” folder, you just need to.

This function will allow you to correctly configure hard drive partitions and mark up the data in the storage area. Follow the instructions:

1. Open the control panel menu;

2. Then in the administration tab, click on "computer control";

Rice. 1 – system window “computer management”

3. On the left, click on the disk management menu and wait until data appears on the right side of the window. This may take a few minutes;

Rice. 2 – drive management menu

4. In the window that opens, you will see absolutely all the drives that are available on the computer;

5. In the HDD context menu, click on “Compress volume”. The compression process allows you to select additional unallocated area;

Rice. 3 – volume compression process

6. Wait a few minutes for the system to automatically determine the maximum available space that can be compressed. In the new window, check the settings and click on the confirmation button.

Rice. 4 – space compression

Notice! Often the HDD is not displayed in Explorer due to the incorrect name of its letter. In the disk management window, you can change this option (right-click on the HDD name and select “change letter or path”). Remember that the operating system cannot have 2 disks with the same symbol designation. Then you need to restart your computer and everything will work fine.

You may be interested in:

Driver software update

Due to the lack of necessary drivers and settings, it may not appear at all in the disk management menu. What to do in this case?

To fix the problem, just install the drivers using the standard Windows Device Manager.

We recommend connecting the hard drive to any other computer and testing its operation. If everything is functioning normally, there is a 100% chance that the first computer simply does not have the necessary drivers.

Follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the Start button. In the context menu that appears, find the device manager and open it;

Rice. 5 – opening the dispatcher

2. In a new window, wait for all components connected to the PC to appear. Right-click on the top line - the name of your computer. . To automatically download and install drivers, you will need an Internet connection. Updating the configuration may take some time;

Rice. 6 – hardware update

3. If errors occurred during driver installation, go to the “Other” sections and "Disk devices". In case of errors, the hierarchy element will be marked with an exclamation mark. by clicking on the corresponding item in the context menu.

Rice. 7 – updating the configuration of disk devices in the manager

Thus? you can very easily set up the HDD. After updating, restart your operating system for the changes to take effect.

How to speed up your computer: Optimization tips

HDD does not show up after formatting

A situation often arises when, after deleting data and formatting partitions, the disk stops connecting to the PC.

The user connects the device, but there is no . In this case, the computer detects the disk in the partition "Devices and Printers".

It is possible that the disk file system was damaged during the formatting of the partitions. It can be restored using the command line.

Open this system utility using the Win + R keyboard shortcut and enter cmd in the text field. Click on the "OK" button.

Rice. 8 – open command line

In the window that appears, enter the command chkdsk and drive letter. Press Enter. The system will automatically detect all errors occurring on the drive and eliminate them by changing the file system.

The result of the command is shown in the figure below:

Rice. 9 – running the chkdsk command

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.

← Yandex is blocked. What to do. Citylink, store reviews →

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

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?
Nikolay
Disassembling the removable disk and connecting it to the motherboard helped.
Azamat
Thank you! Previously, such a problem seemed simply insoluble to me.
It helped!
Alexander
Thank you!!!
Kamil
Thank you! Everything worked out!
Dmitriy
I can’t initialize the hard drive, it says: The request was not completed due to an I/O error on the device
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.”
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?
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.
andrei
Thank you!!! It helped!!!)))
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?
Uncle Apo
Thank you. Renaming helped!
Irina
I switched it to another usb port and it helped - he sees it!
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 goes quiet.
I tried, as written above, to deploy the controllers, I only have one: 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.
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”
Irina
Thank you so much!!! You helped me a lot! Everything was explained simply, clearly - and everything worked!!!