The external hard drive that you use on your Windows 10 computer may suddenly stop being recognized, which can be frustrating if you’re working on an important project and suddenly lose all of your data. Luckily, there are some things you can try to fix this problem, and most of them don’t require you to spend any money or take up too much of your time. Follow the steps below to learn how to get Windows 10 to recognize your external hard drive again. Windows 10 Won’t Recognize External Hard Drive
Power off the external hard drive
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If you’re having issues with your external hard drive, first try powering it off. You can do so using either a switch at its back or an on/off button on your computer. Either method will require you to unplug and plug in your external hard drive again when you want to use it.
Restart your computer
This should be your first and last step. Restarting ensures that Windows has shut down everything it needs to and is at its most basic state, allowing you to successfully access your external hard drive with ease. If restarting doesn’t work, proceed with additional solutions. Try powering off and unplugging your external hard drive for 30 seconds or so before plugging it back in. You can also try using a different port on your computer or connecting to a different computer altogether.
Try connecting your external hard drive again
Make sure that your hard drive is turned on and recognized by your computer. If you’re on a Mac, check to see if it appears in Finder under Devices. If you’re on Windows 10, right-click This PC and click Manage. Click Disk Management to check if your external hard drive appears under Disk List, as shown below
Reboot into Safe Mode
Windows boots and loads in different stages. Sometimes, we can get caught up at a certain point in booting and end up causing problems when our external hard drive isn’t recognized by Windows. In order to try to fix the problem, you should reboot your computer into Safe Mode. This is because some of your drivers are disabled in Safe Mode, making it easier for you to troubleshoot which one is causing problems with your hard drive.
If you’re still unable to access your files, take it to an IT guy.
You may be able to resolve the issue by connecting your external hard drive to another computer and trying to access it from there. If you’re still unable to access your files, you’ll have to take it up with an IT expert, but most likely, all your data is safe.
How do I get Windows 10 to recognize my external hard drive?
I recently upgraded to Windows 10, and now my external hard drive no longer appears as a drive letter in My Computer. I can still access all of my files through File Explorer when connected to my computer via USB, but I really don’t want to have to use that method. Is there anything I can do?
How do I fix my external hard drive not detected Windows 10?
Windows 10 has been officially released for a few months now. In addition to better security and performance, many users who upgrade notice that their external hard drive is not detected by Windows after upgrading. Whether you purchased an external hard drive specifically for Windows 8/8.1 or upgraded your Windows 7/Vista system and want to use an old backup of your data on it, these solutions will fix your problem.
Why is my computer not recognizing my external hard drive?
There are several reasons why your computer may not be able to recognize an external hard drive, but one of them is probably related to a driver issue. If Windows cannot read data from an external hard drive, then you need to update or reinstall your device drivers.