- External Hard Drive Not Showing Up Windows
- Why Is The External Hard Drive Not Showing Upward
- Why Is The External Hard Drive Not Showing Upper
- Why Is The External Hard Drive Not Showing Up Iphone
Why is my USB flash drive not showing up? The most likely reason the USB flash drive doesn't display is the USB driver problem. If the driver is too outdated, damaged or missing, your device finds no way to communicate with the flash drive, so it can’t display the drive for you (the flash drive is not recognized). External hard drives can also be used with SATA connections, given, of course, that the hard drive itself has a SATA connection, too. This is called external SATA, or eSATA. The way it works is that the external drive attaches to the eSATA connection at the back of the computer next to the other openings for things like the monitor, network. Since the drive doesn't have a drive letter, it will not appear in the 'Change drive letters and paths for OS' window. Clicking Add displays options to add a new drive letter, or mount the drive in a different location. My external hard drive is not showing up in my pc, I have tried 3 different cables it still didn't work! Posted by 1 day ago. My external hard drive is not showing up in my pc, I have tried 3 different cables it still didn't work!
Why is this the case? It is basically an external drive. I want to store on it like i did on onedrive, just have files kept off the computer that i might need later. But i want to maintain space on the macbook for other projects that come and go. Don't understand why it is showing in blue as on my drive.
Summary :
Microsoft excel what is it used for. A USB flash drive could be unrecognized due to various reasons. This article will show you how to solve the issue when the flash drive is blinking but not recognized, and help you recover data from the unrecognized drive with the professional data recovery software.
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Have you ever found your USB device not recognized by computer? Clearly, this is annoying because it stops you from accessing all the files and folders saved on that USB device. Wouldn't you want to work this out so you can continue using the device and regain the data?
According to the investigation, USB flash drive not recognized/USB flash drive not showing up/USB flash drive not detected is a problem that bothers many users. So, today’s topic is how to get a USB flash drive to work & how to recover data from a USB flash drive.
You should recover data from USB quickly as soon as you regain access to them; otherwise, the files & folders may be gone for good at any moment.
The most important thing you need to remember is: stay calm when you find a USB device not showing up. Then, follow these steps to repair your drive.
![Why is the external hard drive not showing updating Why is the external hard drive not showing updating](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/isyourexternalharddrivenotshowingupincmputer-170612103759/95/is-your-external-hard-drive-not-showing-up-in-computer-1-638.jpg?cb=1497263924)
- Complete USB data recovery.
- Repair USB flash drive to make it usable.
A calm head is a decisive factor to help you quickly get out of the woods.
Fix USB Flash Drive Not Showing Up Windows 10
USB Flash Drive Not Showing Up/Recognized/Detected
Is your USB flash drive not recognized by computer? There are many reasons that will make your computer unable to load the USB drive: USB becoming unallocated space, USB driver missing/ outdated/corrupted, etc. The following content shows you how to fix USB device not recognized error in Windows 10. After that, you’ll be told how to recover data from USB drive.
Method 1: Check USB Flash Drive in Disk Management
There are some cases in which the USB flash drive is detected but not showing in Windows Explorer. Thus, you should open Windows Disk Management to check whether your USB device appears.
- Right click on the Start button in the lower left corner of the PC screen.
- Choose Disk Management from the context menu.
- Look for your USB flash drive.
- The USB device would appear in Disk Management but not in Windows Explorer when the USB device has no drive letter or it becomes unallocated.
- Two methods to fix USB flash drive when it shows up in Disk Management but doesn’t appear in File Explorer: change drive letter and create a new partition (you should recover data from the unallocated space in advance).
How to change drive letter in Disk Management:
- Right click on the USB drive.
- Choose Change Drive Letter and Paths.
- Click on the Add button.
- Choose a drive letter you like and click on the OK button to confirm.
How to create a partition in Disk Management:
- Right click on the unallocated space.
- Choose New Simple Volume.
- Keep the default value unchanged/modify them to the one you want and click on the Next button to continue.
- Click on the Finish button and wait a few seconds.
MiniTool Partition Wizard can also help you Change Drive Letter and Create Partition.
Well, what if you find your flash drive not showing up in disk management? Please read the following content to know how to get a computer to recognize your USB flash drive.
Method 2: Unplug the USB Drive
Please unplug your USB flash drive from the current USB port on your computer. Then, plug it into a different port and see what happen. Also, you can unplug the USB flash drive and plug it into another computer. If this method works, it means that the original USB port or computer is damaged. You should check it manually.
If this didn’t work, you should also try to unplug & re-plug the computer.
Unplugging computer is a simple solution to remove the power supply for both the computer and the motherboard. When the motherboard gets powered off, all hardware (including the USB ports) connected to the computer will be cut off. You should wait a few minutes to re-plug the power supply; then, the USB ports will be rebooted and the drivers will be reloaded, so your USB flash drive may be recognized.
- Shut down your computer.
- Unplug your computer from the wall outlet.
- Wait for a few minutes.
- Re-plug the PC into the outlet.
- Power on the computer to check.
Method 3: Disconnect & Re-connect USB Devices
![Why Is The External Hard Drive Not Showing Up Why Is The External Hard Drive Not Showing Up](https://www.sevenforums.com/attachments/hardware-devices/143670d1486583381t-external-hard-drive-installed-but-not-showing-up-my-computer-capture.jpg)
Please do the following things:
- Eject the USB device from the current computer.
- Reboot the computer.
- Reconnect the USB flash drive to see whether it works now.
- If this fails, please try other USB ports on your computer.
- If it still doesn’t work, please try to connect the USB drive to another computer and see what happens.
Excel equivalent in mac. Please keep reading if you still can’t see your USB flash drive.
Method 4: Enable USB Mass Storage Device
- Right click on the Start button in the lower left corner of the screen.
- Choose Device Manager and scroll down to find Universal Serial Bus controllers.
- Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers by clicking on the arrow in front of it.
- Right click on the option – USB Mass Storage Device.
- Choose Enable device and wait a second until you find the icon for this option has been changed.
- Now, go to check whether your USB drive is recognized on PC.
Method 5: Update the Device Driver
- Right click on the Start button in the lower left corner of the screen.
- Choose Device Manager.
- Expand Disk drives to find your USB flash drive.
- Choose Update driver from the right-click menu of your USB device.
- Decide how do you want to search for drivers and click.
- Complete the rest steps according to prompts.
Method 6: Update Driver of Generic USB Hub
- Open Device Manager the way you like.
- Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
- Find Generic USB Hub and right click on it (if there is more than one Generic USB Hub, please choose the first one).
- Choose Update Driver from the menu.
- Click Browse my computer for driver software.
- Click Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer at the bottom.
- Select Generic USB Hub from the model list.
- Click on the Next button.
- Wait a few seconds.
- Click on the Close button when the drivers have been updated.
- Repeat the process for each Generic USB Hub listed.
Method 7: Disable Power Save of USB Root Hub
- Open Device Manager the way you like.
- Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
- Right click on the USB Root Hub and choose Properties.
- Select the Power Management tab.
- Uncheck the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power option.
- Click on the OK button to confirm.
Method 8: Connect to PC Directly
Don't use the hub.
Many people will buy a hub when the USB ports on their computer are not enough so they can connect more USB drives to the computer. However, if there are too many USB devices connected to the same PC, some of them won’t be recognized. In this case, you should remove the hub and connect your USB flash drive to your PC directly.
Provide sufficient power supply.
Besides, the hub may not supply sufficient power supply which will also result in USB flash drive not recognized on Windows 10 or other systems. Each USB device can only work normally under certain power supply conditions.
If the USB port provides insufficient power supply, these signs will appear:
- The USB indicator does not flash or its state is abnormal.
- The system fails to boot as usual after the USB device was connected to the computer.
- The content in USB device can't be accessed or the access speed is much slower than before.
You should provide a separate external power supply to the USB device.
Method 9: Use Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter
- Press Start + I on the keyboard to open the Settings window.
- Choose Update and Security.
- Select Troubleshoot from the left side.
- Choose Hardware and Devices under Find and fix other problems section.
- Click on Run the troubleshooter button.
- Wait for the process to complete.
Method 10: Uninstall USB Devices
When a USB device is inserted into a computer for the first time, the system will prompt Found New Hardware and start to install the driver.
However, if the installation process is interrupted somehow, it will lead to failure in loading USB drive normally.
How to fix:
- Open Device Manager.
- Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
- Find your USB device (it may be marked with an exclamation point or shown as Unknown Device).
- Right click on your device and choose Uninstall Device.
- Click on the Uninstall button in the pop-up window.
- Wait a moment for the completion.
- Unplug the USB device from the computer and re-connect it to install the driver properly.
Method 11: Uninstall Hidden Devices
In Device Manager, not all the devices that were installed are shown by default. It only lists the frequently used and newly installed devices. Therefore, if the USB device has a conflict with a previously installed device which doesn’t show up in Device Manager, it can’t be detected. Therefore, you should uninstall the hidden devices in order to load your USB flash drive normally.
How to view hidden devices in Device Manager:
- Run Command Prompt as administrator.
- Type set DEVMGR_SHOW_DETAILS=1 and press Enter.
- Type set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1 and press Enter.
- Type start devmgmt.msc and press Enter.
How to uninstall the hidden devices:
- Select the View tab.
- Click Show hidden devices.
- Expand Disk drives, Portable Devices, Universal Serial Bus Controllers or another folder you think could contain the hidden device.
- Look for the Unknown Device or the device which is greyed out.
- Right click on the device and choose Uninstall Device.
- Click Uninstall and wait.
- Refresh the list or you can remove the USB flash drive from computer & connect it again to see whether it can be recognized.
Method 12: Format Drive to FAT32
If the USB flash drive is used on Xbox 360 when you find flash drive can't be recognized, there's a special reason why it is not detected by Xbox 360: the first partition of USB flash drive is not a FAT32 partition.
Since Xbox 360 could only recognize the USB flash drive under the condition that its first drive is formatted as FAT32, you must check the file system of USB flash drive to see whether it is FAT32. If not, please get the MiniTool Partition Wizard to help you.
Situation one: if the USB drive is formatted as NTFS, you need to convert NTFS to FAT32 by following steps:
- Run MiniTool Partition Wizard.
- Right click on your USB flash drive.
- Choose Convert NTFS to FAT from the right-click menu.
- Press Apply button in the upper left corner and choose Yes to apply changes.
- Wait for the process to complete.
Please note: the Convert NTFS to FAT is not available in the free edition.
Situation two: if it has another type of file system, please Format Partition to FAT32 by following steps:
- Run MiniTool Partition Wizard.
- Select your USB flash drive.
- Choose Partition from the menu bar.
- Select Format from the submenu.
- Choose FAT32 as the file system and click on the OK button in the Format Partition Window.
- Press Apply and choose Yes in the prompt window to apply changes.
- Wait for the operations to complete.
Just high-five yourself if you solved your problem after reading the above content. However, if accidents happen while you're trying to fix the flash drive not detected problem, data saved in USB flash drive could easily be put in danger. So you must be as careful as you can.
FYI: If you can’t find your USB external hard drive after connecting it to the computer, you should get help from this page:
The problem – external hard drive not showing up/recognized/detected – can be fixed easily by following ways.
Other Possible Solutions
- Try a different USB cable.
- Enable USB support in BIOS.
- Update the BIOS (how to fix PC not booting after BIOS update).
- Kill virus and malware (how to recover files lost due to virus attack).
- Get the latest USB driver package or find the original CD driver from manufacturers' official website.
If the flash drive is not detected on any computer after trying the above methods, it may be damaged physically. Please buy a new USB flash drive to replace it.
Recover Data from USB Flash Drive Not Recognized
Get a Great Tool for USB Drive Data Recovery
The first thing you’re supposed to do is getting MiniTool Power Data Recovery, a piece of reliable data recovery software, and installing it properly on your computer that works fine. (The following content is based on Windows platform; if you’d like to recover data from USB flash drive not recognized on Mac, please resort to Stellar Data Recovery.)
Please don’t worry if you are a novice computer user; MiniTool Power Data Recovery can help you complete USB flash drive data recovery easily in time.
How to Recover Data from USB Flash Drive
You only need to complete the following 3 steps to retrieve lost files from a USB flash drive.
Step 1: install the software and run it immediately to see the main interface. Here, This PC will be selected by default.
- If you only have one partition on the USB flash drive, you may keep it unchanged.
- Otherwise, you should select Removable Disk Drive from the left side.
Step 2: select the USB flash drive from the right-hand panel. Then, perform a full scan on it by clicking on the Scan button in the lower right corner.
Step 3: browse the scan result to pick out all the data you want to recover by adding a check mark into the square box in front of them. Then, press the Save button to set a safe storage location for the files waiting to be recovered.
Related reading:
- This tells all about how to recover deleted files from USB.
- Read this if you want to know how to fix a broken USB drive.
Conclusion
In a word, the USB interface makes it a breeze to exchange data among different computers and devices. But there's a great chance that you may find yourself stuck in this situation: after connecting the USB flash drive to your PC or other devices through a USB port, you disappointedly find the USB flash drive is not being recognized.
This is not a rare problem; hundreds of thousands of users are facing or have met the same situation. Therefore, I summarized 12 common methods and other possible solutions for you to fix the issue, making your USB flash drive show up on the computer and become usable again.
USB Flash Drive Not Recognized FAQ
The most likely reason the USB flash drive doesn't display is the USB driver problem. If the driver is too outdated, damaged or missing, your device finds no way to communicate with the flash drive, so it can’t display the drive for you (the flash drive is not recognized).
- Download the latest version of driver for your USB drive. Move to the text step if it fails.
- Open Device Manager the way you like.
- Look for the device driver for your USB flash drive.
- Right click on it and choose Uninstall device.
- Click Uninstall and wait.
- Close Device Manager and reboot PC.
A USB flash drive can be broken logically or physically. In the former case, you have a good chance of retrieving the lost data from the broken USB drive; while in the latter case, you have no choice but to take chance and send your drive to the professionals.
When the code 43 occurs on your PC, you should realize Windows is informed by the graphics device driver that the certain drive is not working properly. This may be caused by lots of reasons: such as damaged/missing driver and hardware problem.
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.
External Hard Drive Not Showing Up Windows
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. Adobe cc acrobat dc.
Simple Steps to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive:
Why Is The External Hard Drive Not Showing Upward
Step 1: First of all launch AnyRecover software. Then select a disk under the 'External Removable Devices' tab.
Why Is The External Hard Drive Not Showing Upper
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.
Why Is The External Hard Drive Not Showing Up Iphone
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.