Hard Drive Not Detected in Windows 11, 10 – Know How to Recover Data
What should I do if my hard drive not detected or does not appear? Here we give you a complete guide to fixing unknown errors on HDD, external HDD and SSD. Moreover, if you lose data on your hard drive, you can download and run data recovery to recover it.
Problems of Users
“I had a Seagate backup of one terabyte along with an external hard disk. Only recently, when I plugged that into my office laptop (USB 3.0), I faced the issue that the hard drive not showing up ! It was showing up in my system.”
I immediately posted my query in a couple of online forums where someone suggested disk management and I found that it was not in disk management either. Now after another set of instructions received henceforth, I opened device manager and there under the storage controllers, “USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Mass Storage Device” came up; and then I connected the hard disk drive, and apart from that, the hard disk drive was also not detected and to my aghast, the led on this hard disk was also not coming on.
Read Also: How to Turn off Computer without Doing a Shutdown?
Why isn’t My Hard Drive Showing Up?
There are several possible reasons why your external USB hard drive is not showing up:
- USB Port Connection Problem: The USB port, connector, or cable is damaged.
- Power Problem: The external hard drive is not receiving enough power from the computer.
- The Drive is Unstable or Damaged: The USB controller is unstable or damaged.
- Incompatible or Outdated Drivers: You have not installed the latest drivers for your external hard drive.
- Hard Drive Failure: Your external hard drive may need to be repaired or replaced.
How to Fix Hard Drive Not Detected in Windows 11/10? Methods
If your hard drive not showing up in Windows 10, there are several possible solutions.
Fix 1: Change Disk Connection
If the hard drive is not recognized due to a poor connection or mouse gnawing, check that all hard drive connections are correct.
Fix 2: Format the Hard Drive to NTFS
If your hard drive not recognized windows an error due to an unsupported RAW file system or a corrupted file system, you can change the file system to NTFS to fix the error.
1: In Windows 10/8, press Windows key + X and select Disk Management.
2: Locate and right-click your hard drive and select Format.
3: Set the file system to NTFS, check the “Perform a quick format” checkbox and click “OK” to start formatting the drive.
Fix 3: Hard Drive Not Detected Using Change Drive Letter
The hard drive not recognized windows if there is another drive with the same disk in the system. So, you can unmap the hard drive in Windows 10 by changing the drive letter in Windows 10.
Step 1: Open Disk Management and right-click on the hard drive marked as a new volume or partition without a drive letter.
Step 2: Select Change Drive Letter and Path. In the new window, click “Change.”
Step 3: Assign a new letter to your external or internal hard drive and click OK.
Read Also: How to Solve Microsoft Windows Detected a Hard Disk Problem?
Fix 4: Hard Drive Not Showing Up Using Update your Hard Drive Drivers
This method works for hard drives that show up in Disk Management but don’t show up in File Explorer.
1: Right-select this PC and then choose the Manage option.
2: Click on the Device Manager option and expand Disk.
3: Locate and right-click the problematic external or internal drive and select Update Driver.
Step 4: Click Search automatically for drivers Option.
Fix 5: Initialize Hard Drive
For new hard drives or unallocated drives, try initializing the disk and creating a volume on the new hard drive.
- Right-click This PC (in Windows 10) and select Manage.
- Go to “Disk Management”, right-click on the new hard drive and select “Initialize disk”.
- Select the drive and choose MBR or GPT as the partition style, click OK to start.
Fix 6: Enable the HDD in BIOS
If the hard drive is disabled in the BIOS, it will not appear. Therefore, enabling the drive in the BIOS may help.
Initialize the hard drive in BIOS
1: Restart your computer and press F2 or Del until you enter the BIOS.
2: Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, select Embedded Peripherals and press Enter.
3: Use the arrow keys to select “USB Controller.” Change the setting to Enabled.
How to Recover Data from Undetected Hard Drive
If you want to recover data from an undetected hard drive, try HDD Recovery Tool. This utility works with all versions of Windows including 11, 10, 8, 7. It can recover all types of files, including documents, photos, videos, etc., and recover data from internal and external drives. We recommend the free version, which only shows a preview of the entire restoration project.
Final Conclusion
The above-mentioned procedure will surely help you deal with the issue of hard drive not detected in windows 11, 10, 8, 7, etc. However, if you have tried all the above-mentioned methods and nothing has happened, you can use the most recommended Data Recovery Service and solve this hard drive not recognized windows issue.
