External removable media in the form of USB drives have recently become as popular as regular flash drives. There is more space on them, but they are not immune from the occurrence of malfunctions and errors in work. There can be quite a few reasons for this. However, it is not always possible to correct them manually. That is why it is recommended to use system utilities if the system does not see the external HDD.
Causes of problems
First, let's look at the main reasons that can lead to the fact that in operating system not defined external hard disk. There can be quite a lot of them: system errors, incorrect access settings, lack of power, and even physical damage to the removable media surface.
BIOS settings
Before turning to the use of utilities, it is worth saying that not a single program for checking hard drive will not be able to determine it if the device is simply not enabled in the system. Often, the reason may be BIOS settings. For example, if you go to the "Device Manager" in the "Control Panel" and set the display of hidden devices, the disk present in the system will be displayed in the list, but the system itself in the device properties will display a message about the need to reconnect.
Connection external hard disk, as a rule, is made precisely in the BIOS settings, which are called up on computers or laptops by pressing the Del, F2 or F12 key. It all depends on the manufacturer of the BIOS and the computer terminal itself. In the Boot or Advanced section, you can select priority boot devices and other equipment components. In this case, an external USB hard drive must be connected to the connectors before turning on the terminal. In some cases, you may need to enable disk availability using the Enable parameter.
Driver Issues
If the external hard drive is not detected, you may need to reinstall the drivers. You can do this in the same "Device Manager" or use the original driver disk that comes with the removable device.
Lack of nutrition
Sometimes the cause of errors can be a lack of power. If you have two power cables, both must be turned on. In some cases, if an external hard drive is not detected, you can disassemble it and connect it directly to a computer terminal. But if a person is not a specialist in this field, it is not recommended to perform such a procedure yourself.
Incorrect disk ID assignment
When the system does not see an external hard drive, the reason may also be the wrong letter assignment this disk or disk partition. It may very well be that it is already being used by another device. In this case, you should go to the computer management system (disk management) and simply change the letter of the removable media.
Correcting errors using standard Windows tools
Windows operating systems have their own tools and utilities for checking or formatting disks and media of all types. Connecting a USB hard drive is done in a standard way. But sometimes a situation may arise when a removable hard drive is visible in the system, for example, in the "Device Manager", and access to it from "Explorer" or any other file manager No. In other words, the external hard drive won't open. In this case, you can correct errors using standard operating system tools.
Volume creation
First you need to go to "Disk Management" and select a removable media that is not accessible. By right-clicking the mouse, you can call the volume creation utility. But it allows you to use the "Create a simple volume" command and the "Settings Wizard", in which the media size is first set, then a letter is assigned, and then the external hard drive is formatted with a pre-selection of the type file system. Please note that in this case, all data on the removable hard drive will be automatically destroyed. Upon completion of the "Wizard", it remains only to click the "Finish" button, after which the removable media with all its characteristics will automatically appear in the system.
If you later need to restore an external hard drive, you can use special applications, which allow you to recover data on a removable hard drive even after full formatting. But even in this case, it is not always possible to recover information.
Check disk
One of the easiest standard means Windows operating systems is a program to check the hard drive. By right-clicking on the disk icon, you need to open the "Properties" menu and select the "Tools" tab, where you can find the "Perform check" button. At the beginning of the work, you can set the automatic correction of bad sectors.
The program can also be called using the command line, which specifies chkdsk and the parameter external media. But this is the simplest and not always effective way. In this case, it is better to turn to professional utilities that are offered for operating systems. Windows third-party manufacturers.
HDD Scan Software
To date, there are quite a few specialized programs for checking hard drives of all types, including removable media. One of the most popular and most powerful utilities is a software product HDD Scan.
The first advantage HDD programs Scan is that it does not require installation, that is, it is available as a so-called portable version (Portable). The folder with the program can be placed anywhere on the hard drive or on the same flash drive. To start, an executable file of the same name with the extension .exe is used, after which you can proceed to the main operations.
For inexperienced users, the most preferred mode may be the "smart" scanning of removable media and fixing errors on it, called S.M.A.R.T. After selecting the hard drive, you just need to click on this button. The utility will then issue detailed specifications in the form of a table with parameters, in which attributes that are within the norm will be indicated in green. Yellow and red colors report errors or some incorrect parameters.
A rather interesting function is the Surface Test command, which checks the surface of a removable hard drive. The bug fix is that the clusters of the file system are transferred to undamaged areas of the disk, and the damaged surface is blocked and not used in the future.
In general, this utility has a lot of tools for working with disks of all types. But without knowledge in English the interface will have to dig. This is due to the fact that the application itself has too many functions designed for advanced users.
Norton Disc Doctor
Not less than interesting program for working with hard drives is and portable version Norton Disc Doctor (NDD) application. It does not require installation and creates absolutely no entries in the system registry. It is also noteworthy that the size of the application is only 15.7 MB.
The operation of this application is very similar to the principles used in other programs, however, this utility is as automated as possible and is designed even for inexperienced users.
After starting the program, the main window appears, in which all hard drives and removable media available in the system are listed. You can tick all or select one component. In this case, we are interested in an external hard drive. We put a tick on it and start the check, having previously checked the box "Fix errors" on the left side.
For more advanced users, there is a settings button on the right, where you can configure the program to your liking. But in most cases this is not required, since the factory settings are optimal for all types of hard drives.
Conclusion
Of course, this is just a small fraction of those programs and features that are designed to help users of computers and laptops if an external hard drive is not detected.
If you compare some programs with each other, then it is impossible to give preference to any one utility. Each program, although it uses almost the same algorithms for working with hard drives, still has its own differences, advantages and disadvantages.
For example, it will not be easy for a novice or inexperienced user to work with the HDD Scan software product. The interface itself may seem somewhat overloaded to many. Yes, and opportunities for fine tuning there's a lot here.
To provide efficient work co removable media, it is better to use applications like Norton Disc Doctor or Ashampoo HDD Control 2. True, it is worth paying attention that in the second case we are dealing with a paid program.
As for free utilities, then it is better to use software products from well-known manufacturers that have been leaders in the hard drive technology market for quite a long time. In addition to the use of individual programs, you can give preference to whole complex solutions. But they will have to be installed on the hard drive, and they take up quite a lot of space, not to mention the fact that they have special “inspectors” that work in real time. As a rule, the icon constantly hangs in the system tray (System Tray), and the processes of the applications themselves load the system quite heavily, taking RAM and using CPU resources.
Finally, it is worth noting that if the use of all these popular utilities does not lead to the desired result, problems with hard drive could be much worse. Most likely, this is physical damage to the removable media. So you have to take it in for repair.
(portable hard drives) are gradually becoming no less popular than the usual flash drives (flash drives). But, like flash drives, they are not immune from various kinds of malfunctions. Sometimes it happens that the computer "does not see" the external HDD connected to it. What if the external hard drive is not detected?
The computer does not see the hard drive
The first thing to do is to check if the USB ports on the computer are working. Try connecting the drive to a different port (if it was connected to the port on the front panel, try the ports on the back), if possible, connect it to another computer. If the disk is detected on another computer, most likely there is a problem with the computer's USB port. The issue may be:
- Disabled USB support in the BIOS (but then other USB devices). You need to enable USB support.
- Problem with drivers. Go to Device Manager in the Control Panel, find your external hard drive there, click on it right click and select the item Update drivers. If it doesn't help, select Delete, restart your computer and try reconnecting the drive.
- Wrong letter assignment. The system may have assigned the drive letter of an already connected device to the external HDD. To fix this, go to the Control Panel, select Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Disk Management. Right click on your HDD, select "Change Drive Letter or Drive Path" and give it an unoccupied letter.
In principle, many of the problems that arise when connecting an external hard drive are similar to problems with flash drives. In our article "" you will find a description of such problems and possible ways their decisions.
Lack of nutrition
External hard drive won't startIf with USB port We're fine, maybe your hard drive won't open because it doesn't have enough power. External HDDs are powered by the USB port. When you connect a drive to the connector on the front panel or when using a USB extension cable, it happens that the power “does not reach”. Therefore, you need to connect it with a standard cable that came with the drive to the port on the back of the computer.
If the drive has two connectors for connecting to two ports at once, you need to connect both. One is enough for transmission, but not for power, it needs to receive power from two ports at once. If the drive comes with an optional power supply, use it.
Also, the problem may be with the power supply of your computer: perhaps it is already obsolete, or too much equipment is installed on your computer, and the power supply simply “does not pull” external drive. Then you have to install more powerful block nutrition.
Hard disk problems
Finally, the hard drive may not be detected due to a malfunction in itself:
- If, when power is applied to the drive, it doesn't make any sound, then, most likely, the hard disk controller has failed. In this case, the disk will be saved at a data recovery service center. And if not a disk, then at least the information on it or part of it.
- If, when connected, you hear dull sounds When the spindle tries to spin up (the spindle is the shaft on which the magnetic disks are held), the problem may be in the displacement of the reading heads, the bearing jamming, or the spindle motor winding breakage.
- If a couple of seconds after the sounds of spinning up the spindle are heard sounds like ticking, indicating the movement of the read heads, the problem may be a malfunction of the magnetic heads, a malfunction of the controller or one of the microcircuits, or one of many other failures.
If the problem is in the hard drive itself, it should be taken in for repair rather than trying to fix it yourself. Only a service center can accurately diagnose and fix the problem. Therefore, if you are sure that your hard drive is not detected precisely because of a breakdown (the rest possible reasons you have already ruled out), do not try to connect the disk again and again (you can break it), but immediately contact the specialists.
Laptop does not recognize external hard drive via USB
Usually, the suspects in this case are software failures, wrong settings operating system, outdated drivers, malfunctions of the computer's USB ports, adapters, or the drives themselves.
Depending on the causes in each case, the problem manifests itself in different ways. It happens that the computer does not react at all to a USB flash drive or hard drive. In other situations, the sound of connecting a new device is heard, but the drive icon does not appear in the explorer. And sometimes the computer just freezes immediately after contact with the USB device.
What to do if a Windows computer does not see a USB flash drive or external hard drive
First, figure out what exactly the problem is: with a computer, an adapter (if the connection is via a cable), or a drive. Try connecting the USB device through other ports. If that doesn't help and you're using a cable, try replacing it with a spare one. If unsuccessful, check if the drive can be opened on other computers.
If the device works on another PC or you do not have the opportunity to check it
Connect your hard drive or flash drive to your computer and follow these steps in order. If the first fails, move on to the next, and so on.
If another PC also does not see the drive or all of the above tips did not help
In this case, most likely, the problem is in the drive itself.
If you have a flash drive and not a hard drive, you can use special utilities to fix software errors. Such software can usually be found on the manufacturer's website. For example, the JetFlash Online Recovery program is for Transcend drives. And USB Flash Drive Online Recovery is for flash drives of the ADATA brand. But keep in mind that during the recovery process, these utilities erase all data from flash drives.
If none of the above helped, then the problem is probably a physical malfunction of the hard drive or flash drive. Then it is better to show the device to a specialist or return it to the store under warranty.
What to do if Mac does not see a flash drive or external hard drive
On Apple computers the verification procedure is somewhat different, but occurs approximately according to the same algorithm. We will assume that you have already tried restarting the computer, disconnecting and connecting the USB flash drive, and also made sure that the connection is reliable. If this does not help, you need to do the following:
Open the built-in disk tool ("Programs" → "Utilities" → "Disk Utility") and check if the problematic flash drive is displayed there. If the drive is still visible, try it by clicking the "Erase" button and reconnect it. Keep in mind that all data from the flash drive will be permanently deleted.
A dedicated Mac diagnostic program provides detailed information about all software and hardware components of your computer, including USB devices. Open the Apple menu, then, while holding down the Option key, click "System Information" and go to the USB section in the menu that opens.
If there is a flash drive there, then the problem lies in the software and you can try to restore the disk by referring to the manufacturer's recommendations. If there is no information about the flash drive, then the matter is a physical malfunction, and you should contact the store or service center if the repair makes sense.
Often there is not enough space on the hard drive installed in a computer or laptop, and users are forced to purchase external drives to store information on them. External hard drives come in a variety of sizes and speeds and can eliminate the need for expansion internal storage. But the user runs the risk of encountering a problem in which the external hard drive does not open. This can be caused by both software and hardware problems, and in this article we will look at what to do if an external hard drive does not open on a computer or laptop.
Insufficient external drive power
The larger the volume and hard speed disk, the more demanding it is to the incoming power. If the drive cannot receive the necessary power from the computer, it will not work properly - it will not appear in the system or errors will begin to occur when opening it.
Almost all external hard drives are connected to the computer via the USB protocol, while more modern models use USB 3.0 for data transfer. Here are some tips on how to avoid the problem of lack of power for a USB drive:
When you connect the hard drive to the computer, the indicator on it should light up, and you can hear how it spins up magnetic disk. If the drive does not make any sounds, most likely the problem is in the power supply - it is not enough.
Hard drive hardware failure
In addition to power problems, do not show signs of life when connected to computer hard The disk may also be due to other hardware problems. The most common drive failures are:
It should be noted that the average service life of external hard drives- 5-7 years. If the drive is older than this age, it is not recommended to place important information, the loss of which can cause problems.
Lack of drivers
If the external hard drive does not open on only one computer, and it works without problems on the rest, most likely the reason for this is software. Most often, if the computer does not have drivers for the hard drive, it will not even appear in the list of connected devices. You can install or reinstall external hard drive drivers as follows:
If you have problems installing during the driver update process software for a hard drive, expand the "Disk Drives" and "Other Devices" sections. Pay attention to the items marked in yellow exclamation point are the devices that are having problems. Right-click on the found devices in the indicated sections and select "Update Drivers". 
Hard drive recovery
If updating the drive drivers fails, or if the hard drive does not show up on all computers that you connect to, you need to perform a drive recovery. The easiest way to do this is as follows:
After completing the steps described above, the data storage area will be marked up, as a result of which the hard drive should start working normally with the system.
Troubleshooting Hard Drive Errors
If a programmatic failure occurs that causes the hard drive to stop working properly with the system, you may need to check it for errors and fix them, if any. In the operating room Windows system provided for this special utility.Do the following:
- Run ;
- Write in command line the following command to check the hard drive for errors and fix them if found: Chkdsk C: /f
Note that the above command contains hard check drive C. If the problematic drive is identified by a different drive letter in the system, it must be replaced when entering the command.
My external hard drive not detected what to do with it? - a fairly common question on the Internet, which can be found on a large number of forums. And every day the number of such questions increases. There were no portable hdd - there were no problems, as they say :-). But in fact, portable hdds are very convenient storage media that are increasingly coming into use and becoming everyday and familiar, like ordinary flash drives. Like all devices, they can be faulty. It happens that the computer cannot recognize the drive connected to it. What to do if the external hard drive is not detected?
First steps if the external hard drive is not detected
If you have such a problem, the reason for this may be:
- the disk itself
- or computer problems.
You need to start looking for a problem by checking the USB ports on your computer. The portable hdd must be connected using a different port or a different computer. If another computer recognizes the external hard drive, then you should troubleshoot the USB port. If the computer refuses to detect other devices, then you should check USB support and enable it by going into the BIOS.
Device driver update
The external drive is not detected if there is a problem with the driver. To eliminate it, you must do the following: right-click on the "My Computer" shortcut and select "Device Manager" (1):
Click on the line "Disk devices" (2), and select the external hdd (3), right-click on it and select "Update drivers"
If the update did not bring the desired result, then the driver should be removed, restart the computer and install it again.
Changing the designation of hdd in the system
It is possible that the external hard drive is not detected due to the fact that the system assigned it the letter of an already connected drive. To fix this error, you need to follow the following path:
Start-> Control Panel-> Performance and Maintenance-> Administrative Tools –> Computer Management
Select "Disk Management" (4) and right-click, find your hdd (5) and select "Change drive letter or drive path" (6) and assign the drive a different letter that is free:
Lack of nutrition
If checking the USB ports shows their health, then the external hard drive may not be detected because it does not have enough power. This can be caused by the use of an extension cord, in which there is a large loss of energy. To avoid such a problem, it is recommended to connect an external drive with a standard cable included in the kit. Connect through the port located on the rear panel.
Using the power supply
In cases where the drive has two connectors required to connect to two USB ports, both should be connected. Also, if the storage device is equipped with an additional power supply, it should be used.
When an external drive is not detected, the reason for this may be the shortcomings of the power supply, caused either by its obsolescence or by a large amount of equipment installed on it. In this case, the best solution would be to install a power supply with a higher power.
Mechanical damage hdd
If the external hard drive is not detected, then it is its malfunction that may be to blame. This is checked by applying power to it. If at the same time the device is silent (there are no characteristic sounds), then you should not try to cope with the problem on your own. After all, the causes of the malfunction may lie in magnetic heads, jamming of the bearing, winding of the spindle motor, controller or microcircuit. You should not connect the drive again and again, thereby you can permanently disable it. In this case, it must be taken to a service center. Only specialists with devices with the necessary knowledge and experience can accurately determine the malfunction, eliminate it, if possible, and answer your question: why is the external hard drive not detected.
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