Pc Is Not Reading External Hard Drive

broken image


If not, you can buy a new external SATA-to-USB adapter dock or enclosure, plug your bare drive into that, then connect that to your PC over USB. If it works, then your old enclosure (or its power. I plugged my external hard drive's USB connector into a USB hub that is 2.0, and is connected t my computer, rather than plugging the external drive's USB cable directly into my computer. Through the hub, it worked! My computer is an EliteDesk 800 G1, but has had the same issue, even before upgrading to Windows 10. Make sure the external hard drive is NOT defective/damaged. You can only confirm that when you connect it to a computer. If the computer has no problem at all recognizing it, and it works fine there, check the next point. Yet, if it doesn't work even there, it means you might want to replace it with another drive. Methods to Resolve ‘External Hard Drive Won't Read' Issue Solution 1: Try a Different USB Port to Fix Disk Not Reading in PC. Sometimes, the real problem is with the USB port to. Solution 2: Uninstall External Hard Drive Driver to Fix Won't Reading Issue. If the hard disk drive is outdated.

  1. External Hard Drive Won't Open Windows 10
  2. My Pc Is Not Reading My External Hard Drive
  3. Hard Drive Not Recognized

Summary :

Some people report that their external drives are not recognized by Windows 10 when they use a Sabrent hard drive adapter. In this post, MiniTool Partition Wizard offers you 3 ways to solve the 'Sabrent hard drive adapter not recognized Windows 10' issue.

Quick Navigation :

Pc Is Not Reading External Hard Drive

Sabrent Hard drive Adapter Not Recognized Windows 10

Many people report 'Sabrent hard drive adapter not recognized Windows 10' issue on forums. What is 'Sabrent hard drive adapter not recognized Windows 10' issue? There are mainly two occasions:

1. Computer doesn't recognize an external hard drive that is connected to PC via a Sabrent USB to SATA/IDE hard drive adapter.

I have an older external hard drive...I lost the power cord so I picked up a Sabrent USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE hard drive adapter...I plugged in the external power and connected the cable to the USB - everything lights up, it spins, but computer isn't recognizing the drive. Not in device management, not in device manager, nowhere... --- answers.microsoft.com

2. Computer doesn't recognize a drive that is connected to PC via a Sabrent USB SATA hard drive flat docking station.

I recently purchased a Seagate hard drive and a Sabrent USB 3.0 SATA Hard Drive flat docking station to connect via USB to my laptop...my computer is not recognizing this external hard drive in disk management or file explorer, but I can see it in device manager and devices and printer... ---forums.tomshardware.com

Then, how to solve this problem? Please keep reading to get solutions.

This post focus on hard drive docking station. If you are planning to buy one for your hard drive, you can spend a few minutes to read the post.

How to Fix 'Sabrent Hard drive Adapter Not Recognized Windows 10' Issue

1. Fix Drive Connection

A bad physical connection is among the most common problems that could block Windows 10 from detecting the external drive. Then you should check whether the USB port and the USB cable are good.

If the USB and power cables are working, you'll hear the hard drive spinning, and you'll notice a light indicator. To check if the USB port on your computer is damaged, please unplug the drive and use a different port on the same or another computer.

2. Update Driver

Some people report that updating UAS Mass Storage driver or the USB Controllers driver can solve this problem. Please follow the guide below:

  • Press the Windows Key + Xand choose Device Manager from the list.
  • Go to Viewand check Show hidden devices.
  • Locate USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Mass Storage Device, right-click it, and choose Update driver.
  • Choose Browse my computer for driver software.
  • Click Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
  • Select Show All Devicesand click Next.
  • Select Mass Storage Deviceand click Next to install the driver.

Then, you can use the same method to update the USB Controllers driver.

External hard drive not showing up? MiniTool helps you find the best solutions here to deal with hard drive not showing up issue.

3. Connect to a Windows 7 PC

A user reported that he/she solved the problem by connecting to a Windows 7 PC. The process is as follows:

  • Plugged the external hard drive into an older laptop running windows 7 and this machine recognized it in disk management.
  • The PC would not let you assign a drive letter for it - would only let you 'delete volume'.
  • Deleted the volume for this drive, created a new partition, assigned it a drive letter, and formatted the drive.
  • Unplugged and took it to the windows 10 machine and it would recognized it right away.

Face disk unknown not initialize issue in Windows 10/7/8 when plugging your Western Digital external hard drive? Try solutions here to fix it.

Occasionally, when you plug in any Seagate external hard drive to PC, it may not show up or be detected by your PC. Consequently, the disk itself and the folders and files saved on it become unapproachable and unluckily this is a common problem with Seagate drives. If you don't have any important data on the hard drive, you can just format it easily. However, if it contains lots of important data, how can you recover data from it? In this article, we'll tell you why is your Seagate external hard drive not showing up or detected. Then, we'll cover the methods to fix it as well. And what's important, we'll tell you how to recover data from the hard drive after making it work again.

1Why Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing Up or Detected?

In most cases, you can access the Seagate External Hard Drive through Windows File Explorer. However, there is a great possibility that the hard drive doesn't show up in the devices and drives list. Apart from that, the Seagate external hard drive might also not show up in Disk Management. The problem can be caused by one of the following reasons:

  • Broken USB port or broken USB cable

  • Unsupported File System

  • Partition issues on the hard drive

  • The hard drive driver is corrupted or outdated.

In the following part, we'll talk about how to fix the Seagate external hard drive not showing up in the computers based on the above possibilities.

2Fix Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing Up or Detected in Windows 10/8/7

Seagate external hard drive is always used to back up important data or transfer data between computers. So, it's essential to make it works fine all the time. The following are some solutions to solve 'Seagate external hard drive not showing up or detected'.

  • Method 1: Try a Different USB Port or USB Cable

  • Method 2: Initializing the External Hard Drive

  • Method 3: Create a New Partition

  • Method 4: Change or Assign Drive Letter

  • Method 5: Reformat Hard Drive

  • Method 6: Update or Reinstall the Device Driver

Method 1: Try a Different USB Port or USB Cable

External Hard Drive Won't Open Windows 10

If your Seagate external hard drive is blinking but is not detected by your PC, then you can try to unplug it from the USB port and should plug it into a different USB port. Besides, you can reboot your PC and try to connect your Seagate external hard drive to the computer again. You can also connect it to a different computer or use a different USB cable. If this simple solution works then your problem is resolved. If not then move on to the other solutions offered here.

Method 2: Initializing the External Hard Drive

When you find the Seagate external hard drive is not showing up in your computer, the first place you should check is Disk Management. You can right click on the Windows button and choose 'Disk Management' from the list. Or press Windows button + R to bring out the dialog. Enter diskmgmt.msc to proceed. This will also open Disk Management.

You'll see the available hard drives which are connected and recognized by the computer. If you are attaching a brand new external hard drive to the computer for the first time, you'll see it here but it's not initialized. Follow the simple steps below to initialize the disk.

Step 1: Right click on the disk and select 'Initialize Disk'.

Step 2: Choose a proper partition style and click 'OK' to confirm it.

Method 3: Create a New Partition

If you see that your disk is simply unallocated, you only need to create a new partition for it. Here's how to do it.

Step 1: Right click on the unallocated disk and choose 'New Simple Volume' from the options.

Step 2: A 'New Simple Volume Wizard' will show up. Follow the wizard to specify the volume size and assign drive letter or path.

Once done, remove the Seagate external hard drive and connect it to the computer again. Then, you'll find that the disk is detected and showing up in the Windows File Explorer.

Method 4: Change or Assign Drive Letter

If the Seagate external hard drive does not have a drive letter or the drive letter conflicts with other disks, the hard drive won't show up in your computer. Under this circumstance, you need to assign or change the drive letter.

Step 1: Right click on your hard drive and select 'Change Drive Letter and Paths'.

Step 2: Select 'Add' option if your hard drive doesn't have a drive letter, and select 'Change' option if it already has one and you want to change it.

Step 3: Choose a letter for the drive and that's all.

Method 5: Reformat Hard Drive

As we have mentioned in the Part 1, the unsupported File System will cause the 'Seagate external hard drive not showing up' issue. If you find your hard drive is partitioned but still not show up in your computer, it is possible that it's partitioned with a different file system. For example, if you have formatted the hard drive with APFS File System on Mac, this problem will certainly happen when you connect the hard drive to Windows computers. To fix it, you need to reformat your Seagate external hard drive with NTFS File System or FAT32 File System.

Step 1: To do this, right click on the hard drive and select 'Format' option.

Step 2: Choose 'NTFS' or 'FAT32' from the File Sysetem.

Note: Reformat your Seagate external hard drive with new File System with erase all the data on it. If you can, please remember to back up your data before formatting. However, if you do not have the chance to back up the data, you can use a professional tool to recover the data after formatting.

Method 6: Update or Reinstall the Device Driver

Maybe your Windows has a driver problem with your device and by using the Device Manager you can check it. You can open Device Manager by pressing Win+R together to open the 'Run' dialog then enter devmgmt.msc. Next, Expand the Disk drives category and check for any devices with a yellow exclamation point next to them, right-click on its name and select 'Update Driver'. If it works then it's ok otherwise uninstall and then reinstall the driver. To uninstall the driver, click on Uninstall that will help you completely uninstall Drivers.

3Bonus: How to Recover Files from Formatted Seagate External Hard Drive?

My Pc Is Not Reading My External Hard Drive

Due to the 'Seagate external hard drive not showing up' issue, you might not be able to back up your data before initializing or reformatting the hard drive. Luckily, there are loads of powerful data recovery programs nowadays. One such program is iMyFone AnyRecover which can help you recover data from the formatted hard drive easily and quickly. Furthermore, it is compatible with all the versions of Windows. Together with the accessible interface, the software does not require any technical knowledge. You can do it by yourself without anyone's assistance.

Why Choose iMyFone AnyRecover?

It proves helpful to support 1000+ file types including documents, musics, images, audios, emails, archives and others.

Hard Drive Not Recognized

Based on the all-round scan and deep scan, it guarantees the highest recovery rate in the market.

After scaning, you can preview the data freely. And you can use the free version to recover 3 files for free.

By using the program, your data security is 100% ensured.

Simple Steps to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive:

Step 1: First of all launch AnyRecover software. Then select a disk under the 'External Removable Devices' tab.

Step 2: After selecting the location, hit 'Start' button to start scanning.

Step 3: The program will start scanning, and show you all the lost files in the list. You can select to preview them and click 'Recover' to get back your data.

Overall, it is not too difficult to fix Seagate external hard drive not showing up only if you take proper action. If you tried the above-mentioned solutions and the Seagate external hard drive still not detected or recognized the cause might be the hard drive itself. If you accidentally format your Seagate external hard drive, iMyFone AnyRecover can help you recover data from it.





broken image