How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up In My Computer - Hard Drive Not Detected On Windows 10

[@JBax-y5i]

Didn't think I'd ever understand what exactly the problem was let alone be able to diagnose where it lay and never in my wildest dreams think I'd be able to fix it. But , with your clear and simple instructions, the extreme panic lifted - and I can now access my external hard drives. Still can't believe it!!!! I am so happy!!! May I add my heartfelt thanks to the huge number already posted.

[@jayla7293]

IF IT DOESNT WORK TRY THIS! once you’re on disk management click on the capacity part that says how many gbs the disk has and click on delete volume. for me the option of changing the disk letter wasn’t even there. then click new simple volume and it should give u a little pop up. click next until it’s fully installed. then when u open file explorer you should see it labeled new volume! hope that helps

[@Aradkashef]

Thanks

[@vsemkarmy6384]

worked for me with new simple volume

[@bmj2571]

This one was the solution for me. Thank you very much

[@joshyfruit3420]

does this delete all the files in the disk though?

[@joshyfruit3420]

when I go to disk management, the whole thing is just greyed out.

[@FXpopat]

Whilst others are showing "Format HDD" solution, you're doing a hero's job! Worked like a charm 🤗

[@TheRenderQ]

Excellent! I’m really glad you got your hard drive working again! Yeah formatting the drive shouldn’t be the first step! Who wants to lose their data from the get go? Thanks for watching!

[@darrelmorgan6266]

This doesn't work. Mine doesn't even register in disk mgmt. It is however listed in device mgr but doesn't show up in dsk mgmt. It opens just fine on another laptop. I find it astonishing that there seems to really be no computer people anywhere I have seen on the net who seem to really understand this issue very well. No offense to the uploader. From what I am seeing this is in fact more often a problem with the host computer and not the hard drive itself. The cable being the issue is even more rare. If an ext HD has opened on your computer for a long time with no issues and then one day it doesn't, it is likely something to do with the computer, not the HD.

[@PixelPanterIJ]

Same thing here… Have you found a fix?

[@datsunyellow2570]

yeah same here unfortunately :(

[@fl0rin09]

Same here just recently...no solution found ...

[@sebastiangonzalez6142]

Same here, still no solution

[@romeofranco5204]

same no solution

[@davehoweth5368]

assigning a letter worked a treat! nice one. Although I couldn't just right click and select a letter, it only gave me a few options and opened a setup wizard when i had to press next to get to the part where I could assign a letter. Nice one mate.

[@Soil_Bound]

Thaank you so much!!!!

[@onlyaspoonful8961]

THANK YOU!!!

[@alexanderkukumba5561]

OMG YOU HAVE SAVED MY LIFE THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH. I WISH I COULD PAY YOU, IT FULLY WORKED. FOR YOUR GOOD ADVICE I HAVE FOLLOWED AND SUBSCRIBED YOU. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS VIDEO MEANS TO ME THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE AND CAREER!!!! PLEASE DONT EVER STOP MAKING THESE VIDEOS!

[@TheRenderQ]

Excellent! Really glad you got your hard drive working again! Thanks for watching!

[@killerlunalove3459]

2 years later and you’re still helping people. Thanks man, you’re a life saver! 😂😁

[@chaddavis824]

I watched a dozen other youtube videos trying to find the problem. None of them helped. Thank God I eventually stumbled upon this one! Thank you so much for fixing my problem!

[@John-gj1jr]

I got to the point where you right click on the drive. The "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." is greyed out. The only options available are the "Delete Volume" and "Help". I thought sure this would work when I saw it. I have 4 partitions on the drive, all of which say "Healthy; (Primary Partition)" and are respectively as 1.00 GB, 500 GB, 500 GB and 862.02 GB. I should say this drive was originally used to store DVR recordings on Dish satellite. A little help, if you please. Thanks,

[@John-gj1jr]

I just watched your other video on this subject where you clicked on "Delete Volume" . Should I delete all the partitions in the above mentioned post?

[@philreus1148]

Hi John, I've got exactly the same problem...all the options are greyed out except those two. Have you found any solution to this? None of the videos/websites I've found so far address this issue. Any ideas? Thanks.

[@John-gj1jr]

@@philreus1148 I chose the option "Delete Volume and went from there. To be honest, I don't remember all the steps, but it's fairly straight-forward after that. I was able to copy files to the external drive as you would normally. Mine had only been used for Dish dvr recordings, and had four volumes. I deleted them all, since I had no idea I'd ever use them again. I think they were proprietary to Dish anyway. Does your drive in Files say "Healthy; (Primary Partition)" and then list sizes? I hope this helps and wish I could remember more of what I did, but I think this will work. If not, hit me back and I'll try to go through the steps again without actually deleting anything.

[@amptron1776]

@@John-gj1jr Thanks for posting this even though it doesn't help me as I need the files on the external hard drive so can't just delete and start over.

[@semihbarsan]

@@amptron1776 Did you find a solution?

[@prestigepropertymedia]

I had tried a couple other fixes but your suggestion and directions to assign a drive letter did the trick. Thank you so much! I need the external USB drives to work so I can back up photos.

[@t.alexmoore]

Wow the disk management step at around 2:20 worked perfectly! Thanks man

[@DJTonyTorres]

Thank you it worked.. God bless ...

[@sunburnfm]

Right clicking on the problem drive has everything grayed out besides "delete volume" and "help". Any advice?

[@ibrahimkhurram8878]

same

[@markg9765]

Thank you, didn't even have to follow the video to the end b4 the problem was solved. Assigned drive letter and works perfectly. I am now a new subscriber.

[@nattygaming101]

The chime alert @1:04 made me think my hard drive just connected randomly while watching 🤣

[@mrcarrot6137]

Thanks it worked for me. Simply assigning the drive letter!

[@TheRenderQ]

You're welcome! I'm glad you were able to get your hard drive working again!

[@brindleycupido2739]

Excellent video. Most sites start of by talking about formatting drive. How stupid is that and they call it advice. It should be the last step. Yours is great. Step by step. Thanks

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! I’m glad my hard drive tutorial helped!

[@33goldengirl]

I followed your initial steps and plugged my drive into another port. That didn't work. Next step, I plugged my drive into another laptop, and it worked. I then plugged the drive back into my laptop, and it worked! I have no idea why, but I am so relieved! Thank you!

[@movieman95]

Thank you! I've been trying all day to figure out why my external drive was not showing in Windows explorer. This fixed the problem :D

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! Glad you were able to get your external hard drive working again!

[@YounggJedi]

Straight forward & very easy to follow instructions. Thank you, I had to come back & give the video a like / comment , my drive wasn’t showing up but this helped.

[@TheRenderQ]

Really glad you got your hard drive working again!

[@theothesir]

Dude! I finally fixed my hard drive issue thanks to your video. I never met you but I love you sir!

[@jonathanlee8185]

I have assigned the new external drive as J: and the problem has been fixed. Many thanks to you.

[@martynl2015]

Thank you for providing a clear and simple explanation/demonstration of how to fix the problem.

[@Subverttech4]

Thank you so much! I wasn't expecting it but it was trying with a different cable that worked out for me.

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! Glad you were able to get your external hard drive working again! A USB cable often seems like an unlikely problem but it’s easy to try. And in your case it was a faulty cable.

[@ngesub]

when I open the disk management, the interface just blank. but when I unplug the hdd, and open the disk management again, the option show up.

[@nsomniak6]

Thank you so much. I saved a lot of time and frustration checking the cord with another drive and vice-versa which was much easier than trying all of the other solutions first.

[@shtucko]

Thank you, assigning letter helped me

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! So glad that assigning a drive letter worked!

[@zegercm]

you just saved me a hundred bucks man! You rock! Power went out here in Upstate NY near Syracuse in one of our famous snow storms and did something to my new external hard drive. Your video got it working again.

[@TheRenderQ]

That’s awesome! I’m really glad you were able to get your hard drive working again! I’m sure that’s a big relief! Thanks for watching!

[@MartinOscar-hg7bp]

​@@TheRenderQplease I need your help

[@MartinOscar-hg7bp]

​@@TheRenderQwhen click change letter and paths .my hard drive E show up. Should I change the E to H ang letter?

[@RoderikConnors]

Thank you! Had a brand new external hard drive that wasn't working. Followed your steps to assign a drive letter. Now it works!!!

[@mikeburgardt8607]

Thanks so much. The Disk management worked like a charm. Sadly I have been trying to open this drive for over a year now. Other websites told me to use a different computer. That worked but they didnt tell me how to make it work on my computer. What is even sadder is the information I had came from much more popular websites and youtubes with more views. Glad I found you.

[@PlayGirlShani]

Thank you. I couldn't access my external hard drive for over a year. But it's now fixed & I can store games to it again.

[@rephgrave]

This has took me for over 4 years to get my hard drive working again, thanks you so much with you help I got it working again

[@TheRenderQ]

Wow! That’s a long time! Glad you kept your hard drive around! Now you’ve got it working again! Thanks for watching!

[@MaverickTheGreat]

GOSH MAN!!, The way you explain it is how it should be explained! I guess the other people aren't very good at explaining things, because I've been going through videos for 2 hours to no avail, UNTIL your video..HUGE THANK YOU!!!! ❤

[@b.joshuahenina]

Great video, great content and well explained in very simple context 👏🏾 well done and thank you 🙏🏾

[@TheRenderQ]

Glad it helped!

[@lynnecarnivale6414]

Thank you so much. The external drive was an added Christmas present for my son. You just helped me to get it working. I am thankful for your help. May GOD BLESS you! Peace, Lynne 🍃💜✝️💜🍃

[@jamesacuna7044]

thank you.. I've been watching other videos with no avail but your instructions just fix my problem. thank you again

[@IsaRaji-b6c]

WORKED FOR ME , ASSIGNED A LETTER TO MY DRIVE AND BOOOOOM, Thanks man

[@TheRenderQ]

Nice! Glad it was as easy as assigning a drive letter. It’s a pretty common problem.

[@Willz0070]

Thank you very much, you just save me a lot of troubles 😢❤❤

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! Glad you were able to get your hard drive working again!

[@NourFrancis]

Thank you! That was very helpful .

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! Glad you got your hard drive working again!

[@Nat-vp5dx]

Tysm my case was the external hard drive didn't show up because i was restoring the capacity after i use it to install window 10. after i use disk management method and it works! thanks again.

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! Really glad you’re got your hard drive figured out! Thanks for watching!

[@plrbere]

@TheRenderQ when i right click on the disk the change letter option doesnt come up do you know how to fix that?

[@richardre2885]

If the hard drive is empty (eg it's new) you can just create a local partition on it called a 'simple' partition and then allocate it as much space a s you want. When you do this your computer will ask to assign a drive letter to it. After this your computer should instantly recognise it. Enjoy.

[@Gedeon89]

Managed to solve it by assigning a letter to it. I thought I had lost of my photos from many, many years ago, thanks so much!

[@leovelazquez-z4g]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT ALL DAY!!!!!!!

[@troyoutcast7559]

Sir my Extrnal hard disk is not showing up in the disk management tool bar too. Please suggest any methods you have.

[@FredCDobbs-lq2lf]

thank you (from the non geek) Been trying to use a external sata drive for back up and it wouldn't show up. You have rendered my sata usable! I'm now a subscriber.

[@GreggSteinerguitar]

thanks so much. worked perfectly.

[@tholekasidlayi6677]

Oh my God! I nearly lost my 1Tera byte hard thinking its not working as new as it is. You saved me. Thank you so much

[@n1ftynina]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I WAS SCARED I LOST MY FILES I JUST HAD TO ADD A DAMN LETTER. LIFE SAVER FOR REAL

[@DevilMayAsian]

Life saver. I had a spare external harddrive with an unused cable. It did the trick!

[@TheRenderQ]

Great! Glad you had an extra USB cable around!

[@PorterCrow]

The video is a little out dated at this point in time, but you nudged me in the right direction and I was able to figure it out. Thank you so much!!

[@xskat5671]

I have a problem, For method 2 when I right-click on the new disk, the option to "Assign the following drive letter" or "Mount in the following NTFS folder" it doesn't give me the option to Assign the following drive letter" (the option you chose in the tutorial). Did I miss something? Which option should I pick? What will happen if I choose, "Mount in the following NTFS folder?"

[@jek7726]

me as well. the option to assign drive letter doesnt show up, only properties is showing.

[@bigballofpaint4407]

@Slaven Harkin Ty so much, was struggling on this part.

[@BYHOLMS.]

@Slaven Harkin Will this method delete my hard drives files?

[@BYHOLMS.]

@Slaven Harkin @TheRenderQ are you able to confirm if this will delete the files on the hard drive?

[@googlespynetwork]

Thanks. Helped with my Samsung 999Pro ssd I just bought. Couldn't figure out if it was the Sabrent enclosure or the ssd. But this worked perfect.

[@kamdarvaibhav]

Thank You for taking all the Efforts in Sharing this Video. Renaming Drive Letter through Disk Management in Windows 7 was helpful and it worked properly

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! So glad the simple fix of assigning the drive letter worked!

[@upcomingcloudrapperluca7645]

Changing letter worked for me. Thanks

[@TheRenderQ]

Nice! Glad the simple solution worked!

[@hopenavajo1391]

Thanks 👍 for the expert advice,it took frustration after frustration, you're awesome.

[@MrKsan05]

Amazing video, it got my new usb external hard drive up and running in about 5 minutes. Thank you. BIG thumbs up

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! So gal you got your hard drives working again!

[@waimeaguyz9074]

Genius personified, worth subscribing to. Thanks for sharing your expertise. Have a good day.

[@luwatobi]

Thank you because this worked for me. Really appreciate it.

[@brianperry9517]

Thanks for the video the first fix worked for me . Thanks

[@whatexitbets]

Thanks I never thought to check the cable it work! thanks so much

[@fayindanimathibela4384]

Thank you, I changed the USB slot and it working, your a star God Bless

[@adrineabad2987]

I watched over 6 videos and couldn't figure it out, thankyou soooooo much W video.

[@bignubeats946]

This actually helped, Geek Squad tried to charge me $400 and I wish I had a found this video two years ago and this video so happened to be two years old thank you so much bro you literally saved me so much money

[@nurse_zach]

Worked great! Thank you so much!

[@khalidalbalushi983]

extremely helpful, thanks a lot.

[@Hardno2021]

Thank You!!

[@mesinlearning]

Changing the Drive Letter is Working for me.. Thanks good strangers..

[@TheRenderQ]

Excellent! Changing the drive letter is easy and I’m glad that helped get your drive working again!

[@arunsnair2960]

Perfectly worked ! Great job dude

[@coolgreekid]

This just fixed my issue! Thank you very much!

[@raynoldakyereko-borkor514]

Will you be able to get your files back using disk drill or any recovery app after formatting it completely?

[@TheRenderQ]

There is no way to recover your files after your format your drive. Formatting a drive will permanently erase all your data. There is no way to get any files back after you format it.

[@princesskarolina]

I see Disk 1 Unknown. But when I right click next to it - nothing shows up. It's just a gray area. No long blue line, as it shown in your video. (I do see options when I right click on Disk 0 for Windows C). Why is that?

[@zaceyles4324]

Im having this same issue

[@RayGuselli]

Massive thanks...this worked for me...assign a drive letter.......Really appreciated....Brilliant...

[@edwardsmash4896]

Thanks you’ve really helped me out

[@AhmedAlShammari9]

I changed the cable and successfully working fine, Thanks.

[@romanmeshko2550]

Thanks a lot for the video. Solution with disk management and adding a letter helped :)

[@hubert5004]

Thank you very much, this is the best advice I found on the internet, even WD corp does't know what is the problem but you help me a lot, thank you for everything and if someone is reading my comment then at 1:00 is solution of my problem.

[@mikehalpern384]

thanks, i've been trying for 2-3 hours to make an external drive show up in windows explorer. with your video I fixed the problem in 5 minutes ... :-)

[@monikavanwari2184]

Very helpful sir. Thank you very much

[@Thealbertbp]

Thanks for the help, very useful video.

[@LuisCruz-yg6rs]

Ty. the Disk Management drive letter reassignment trick worked for me.

[@ThexMonarchy]

Thank you so so much ❤

[@csabadomokos2154]

It worked! Thank you so much for your help!

[@MaryoNagy]

Thank you very much ❤❤ My hard drive is working again

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! So glad you got your hard drive working again!

[@charleekarina6359]

Thank you so so very much for this video, I wish I have seen it before, I gave away one of my hard drives because I thought it didn't work. But now I know how to. Thank you ❤

[@michaelhakim4369]

thank you so much ,that was helpful

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! So glad you got your hard drive working again!

[@jopr.5868]

Thank you so much, worked like a charm!

[@mariib.c.2735]

Oh my goodness, THANK YOU!! THIS HELPED MY ISSUE SO MUCH!

[@Kong-Long]

Thanks a lot! Your video just solved my problem 👍

[@sdh568]

I have a 2TB external HDD not being detected by my PC. When I go to Disk Management, I immediately get a prompt saying unreadable disk must be initialized before Disk Management can access it, and an option with MBR pre-selected for partitioning. I run the process and it says "The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error."

[@bradsmith8796]

Thank you! I didn't think the problem was with the cable because that cable was working perfectly to charge my phone's external battery pack. But after watching this video I found the cable that came with the external drive and it started right up. Apparently there's a difference. Thanks for the help!

[@TheRenderQ]

So glad you tried another cable. I had that experience too. And when I changed my USB cable my hard drive worked!

[@hourglassescapes4544]

Thank you so much for this. I was able to fix 2 drives today.

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! So glad you got your hard drives working again! Thanks for watching!

[@MariaHelenaAlvesRamos-y4v]

It worked! Thanks mate!

[@TheRenderQ]

You’re welcome! So glad you got your hard drive working again!

[@donuts9549]

1st tip worked... resetting my pc now. thanks

[@Alaa.M945]

Excellent informative video, really I so appreciated for being this video solved my problem with my usb external hdd…thanks so much 👍👍👍

[@Amine-p4o]

thank you, the method of naming the disk worked for me

[@Jexo_storm]

Thank you So much, I had so much content on my hard drive but ever since I had updated to windows 11 the drive stop showing but now its fixed

[@madukawhitney2950]

What if it doesn’t make the sound when you plug it in and it doesn’t show up either

[@TheRenderQ]

If you don’t hear the chime when you plug in your external drive here try a different USB port and for sure try a different USB cable. I had to change the USB cable on one of my drives to make it work. Also try plugging it it in on another computer if possible to be sure the problem isn’t isolated to your computer. If you can tell the drive is powered up and spinning it’s a good possibility you will get it working with one of those tips. Hope you get your external drive working soon!

[@madukawhitney2950]

@@TheRenderQ hello thank you for the reply. I already tried all of these and it didn’t work. I changed the USB port, changed the wire, tried it on 3 other laptops and also checked the disk management to see if it would appear but none of it worked🥺💔

[@madukawhitney2950]

Maybe it’s damaged beyond repair or something

[@StarlightBettas]

trying to swap data between two different computers somehow resulted in it no longer showing up on the second computer, and then it stopped showing up on the first computer for seemingly no reason, this may have fixed it so thank you! i can at least look at the files now and select one for backup.

[@EnlightenedCrow]

Worked for me, thankss!

[@TheRenderQ]

You're welcome!

[@JMVD48]

Thank you very much, the explanation about Disk Management and assigning a new Drive Letter is VERY important to me. 👍