Computer Won T Recognize External Hard Drive Anymore
- Computer Won't Recognize Hard Drive
- External Hard Drive Not Showing Up
- Doesn't Recognize External Hard Drive
- Won't Recognize Usb Hard Drive
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The hard drive driver is corrupted or outdated.
For some reason my USB floppy drive is not found or recognized in Win 7 64 bit, it was working but not anymore. Can't find it in Computer Management-Disk Management but it is listed in Devices and shows no conflicts.:mad.
- Try a Different USB Port or USB Cable. If your Seagate external hard drive is blinking but is not.
- Solution 2: Change the USB Port to Recognize New Hard Drive. In this technique, when the user detects that the current USB port is not detecting the second hard drive in Windows. Then, try to connect it with some another USB port. As there could be a hardware problem with some USB ports. Firstly, remove the new hard drive from the connected USB.
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
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?
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.
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.
Computer Won't Recognize Hard Drive
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.
USB flash drives. It is no wonder, because latest models look like quite small boxes the size of a cell phone but can contain 1-2 TB of data!Many users face the problem of their PC failing to recognize an external drive. Most often it happens immediately after you bought the device. Let’s see what’s going on, step by step.
Contents:
- If The New External HDD Is Still “Invisible”
- Absence Of Drivers
- If An Old External HDD Is Not Recognized
If The New External HDD Is Still “Invisible”
When we say new, we mean an HDD which was connected to your computer (laptop) for the first time.
The first thing you should do is to go to Computer Management.
To do so, go to Control Panel, then to System and Security –> Administrative Tools –> Computer Management.
Pay attention to the column on the left. There is a menu there entitled Disk Management. As you go there, you are going to see all disks (including external disks) connected to your system. Very often a computer fails to see a connected external HDD because it has a drive letter assigned incorrectly. This is what you have to change!
For that purpose, right-click on the external HDD and choose “Change Drive Letter…” Then assign a letter which is not used in your operating system yet.
If it is a new disk, and you connected it to the computer for the first time, it may be not formatted yet! That is why it cannot be represented in “This PC.”
If this is the case, you won’t be able to modify the drive letter (because there won’t be a menu line for that). What you need is to right-click on the external disk and choose “Create a new simple volume…”
Attention! During this process all data on the disk (HDD) will be deleted, so be careful!
Absence Of Drivers
If the external disk is new and you cannot see it either in “This PC” or in “Disk Management,” but it works all right with other devices (for example, it is “visible” for a TV or another laptop) then the chances are 99% that the problem is rooted in Windows and drivers.
In spite of modern versions of Windows being quite “smart” and looking for a driver every time that they find a new device, it is not always that way. The matter is that there are so many versions of Windows (including all kinds of “home-baked” builds made by self-proclaimed experts) and errors can happen even to the most reliable build. That is why we do not recommend crossing out this variant at once.
If this is the case, here is what we recommend:
Go to Device Manager and have a look at the two tabs: Other Devices and Disk Drives.
The screenshot above shows that Windows has no drivers for the external HDD that is why the computer doesn’t recognize it. Usually, when a new device is connected, Windows installs a driver for it automatically.
If it didn’t happen in your case, there are three options to take:
In the Device Manager click on “Scan for hardware changes.” Usually it is followed by automatic installation of drivers.
Reinstall Windows (for the new installation, choose a “clean” licensed version, without any special tweaks). Then you will receive the following picture to prove correctness of the new drivers installed.
If An Old External HDD Is Not Recognized
When we say old, we mean an HDD that has worked with your computer before but no longer does.
First of all, go to the disk management menu (see above) and change the drive letter. It must be done without fail if you created new partitions in your HDD.Secondly, check your external disk for viruses. Many viruses may block access to disks or disable them so they become “invisible.”
Go to the Device Manager and see if devices are shown correctly. There should not be any yellow or red exclamatory marks that represent errors. It is also recommended to reinstall USB controller drivers.
Sometimes, re-installation of Windows can help. Anyway, the first step should be to check the disk for operability with another computer/laptop/netbook, and only then try reinstallation.
It would also be useful to clean the computer from unnecessary junk files and optimize the work of its register and installed programs.
External Hard Drive Not Showing Up
Try connecting the external HDD to a different USB port. There were cases when a disk worked perfectly when it was reconnected to another USB port, for no obvious reasons.
Doesn't Recognize External Hard Drive
Check cables, too. Sometimes an external HDD may not be recognized only because the cable is damaged.
Won't Recognize Usb Hard Drive
In the final part of this article, we have to say something else. When your computer fails to recognize an external HDD, you may have obvious reasons to start thinking about the need to recover your data and turn to hard disk data recovery software
Though sometimes they can work wonders, they are not almighty. The minimum requirement you will need to recover data lost from a flash drive is that your computer recognizes it as a removable media. So your task is to make sure your computer can do it.