External Disk Drive Won't Show Up !

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iamh2k Posts 3 Registration date Saturday January 10, 2015 Status Member Last seen March 4, 2015 - Jan 10, 2015 at 08:07 AM
R2D2_WD Posts 3606 Registration date Monday September 1, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 20, 2017   - Mar 9, 2015 at 04:27 AM
Hello,

I'm facing this problem, what seems to be a common one for many PC users. When I connect an external hard disk, it won't show up. But answer from this link "https://ccm.net/forum/affich-47589-disk-drive-not-showing-up" gave a temporary solution (thanks to Nav) of assigning a disk letter to the hidden drive, which i have to do every time a connect a hard disk. So I'd be very thankful if anyone can locate the reason for the problem or just provide with a permanent solution :)

Thank You !
Related:

2 responses

Ambucias Posts 47310 Registration date Monday February 1, 2010 Status Moderator Last seen February 15, 2023 11,165
Jan 10, 2015 at 05:01 PM
Greetings,

Try this:

After plugging in the device, go to device manager (In run type "devmgmt.msc") In Device manager go to "Universal serial bus controllers" It should list the storage devices that you have connected to your PC. Right click and then click "Uninstall. Remove the USB drive and restart your system.
Try connecting the device again

Good luck
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R2D2_WD Posts 3606 Registration date Monday September 1, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 20, 2017   155
Jan 12, 2015 at 03:43 AM
Hi there,

As far as I understood, the drive is visible in Disk Management, but not in My Computer and the issues is resolved by assigning a drive letter, but this happens again when PC is restarted. Am I correct? What OS are you using? I would recommend you to check the drive with another USB cable and on another PC. Search the manufacturer's web page for some recent driver updates. I would go to the motherboard manufacturer's web page and search for USB drivers too.

Hope this helps
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iamh2k Posts 3 Registration date Saturday January 10, 2015 Status Member Last seen March 4, 2015
Mar 4, 2015 at 10:02 AM
Sorry for a late.. reply.

OS: Windows 8.1

Not a problem with hard disk or cable.
Happens with every hard disk, but not pen drives

Drivers are all updated.

Just cant figure out what's wrong.
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R2D2_WD Posts 3606 Registration date Monday September 1, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 20, 2017   155 > iamh2k Posts 3 Registration date Saturday January 10, 2015 Status Member Last seen March 4, 2015
Mar 9, 2015 at 04:27 AM
It is hard to tell what is wrong, but I saw a similar issue in another community. The only solution provided there was to write zeros to the drive. You should know that this way you will lose all your data. Please do a backup. Many users report that this solution works. I leave you a link below. What is the model of your HDD? If it is a WD drive, use the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic to write zeros.


http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=vQOk2Q - Data Lifeguard Diagnostic
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