Summary: Through this article you will be able to learn various solutions to eliminate “Hard Drive not showing up” issue without losing your valuable data with the help of the data recovery tool – Bitwar Data Recovery Software.
Hard Drive is an indispensable storage device for storing, creating a data backup, and exchange of data with its ultimate portability. However, sometimes users may have to face technical issues like “Hard Drive not showing up” on the system while using the hard drive, which may hamper their work speed or cripple access to the data stored in it.
Table of Contents
Understanding The Issue
To make it easier for users to understand about the “Hard Drive not showing up” problem, we categorize the issue into two parts:
Part 1: Hard Drive detected but not showing up in My Computer
When the hard drive is not shown in the Windows Explorer or My PC, but it appears in Disk Management.
Part 2: Hard Drive detected but not showing up in Disk Management
It can be considered as a scenario when you attach the hard drive to your computer to access or manage essential data, but the system does not detect the hard drive.
In such a case, the best thing to do is to find a potential solution to get rid of the “Hard Drive not showing up” issue. In this article, we will exhibit some tangible solutions to repair and fix the problem and recover all your vital data using the best software recovery tool.
Factors that cause Hard Drive not Showing Up Issue
- Viruses and Malware
- The hard drive without a drive letter
- The hard drive is unable to initialize.
- Faulty/Damaged drive.
- Faulty port/cable.
- Drive is hidden.
- Outdated/Corrupted drivers.
Suppose that the data in the hard drive is essential or you need it as soon as possible, the best way to resolve it is to restore the data from the hard drive by using data recovery tool.
Recover Data from Hard Drive
We suggest using the high-quality Bitwar Data Recovery Software for any sort of recovery-related issues. The recovery tool works effectively and restores all types of data from any storage device in a couple of simple and easy steps. The software supports Windows 7, 8, 10, and Mac operating systems with powerful functionalities.
Follow steps below to restore data when the “Hard Drive not showing up” using Bitwar Data Recovery:
Step 1. Download and Install the recovery software according to the system.
Step 2. Launch the recovery software and select the Standard Mode option.
Step 3. Select the Lost Partition Recovery option.
Step 4. Choose the Lost partition and Device and click on Next. (Suppose that you are unable to find the lost partition, then click on Deep Scan mode to search for more partitions.)
Step 5. Choose the File types of lost file and click on Next.
Step 6. Preview all the selected data and click on Recover to start data recovery from the hard drive.
IMPORTANT ADVISE: After successful completion of the recovery process, SAVE ALL your recovered data at a safe place and DO NOT save it to the affected drive or location.
Best Solutions to Fix “Hard Drive not Showing Up” Issue
After you have finished backup or recovered the essential data from the hard drive, you can start to fix the issue on PC with some of the best solutions provided below!
Solution 1: Connect a Different USB Port
Usually, the USB port can be a prevalent problem for external devices not showing up on the system. Therefore, you can try to unplug and connect with a different USB port like USB 3.0 port or USB 2.0 port. Users also can try to connect the hard drive to a different system to check whether it is the USB port issue or not.
If your Toshiba Hard Drive is not working, don’t miss out the other solutions to fix “Toshiba External Hard Drive Not Working” error here!
Solution 2: Installing or Updating USB drivers
When the drivers of the hard drive are corrupted or outdated, the system will not let the hard drive to show up. So to fix this problem, you can try to configure the USB Drivers by reinstalling it or updating it.
Method 1: Reinstall USB Driver
Step 1. Go to the Search menu and search for the Device Manager. Then, expand the Disk Drives option from it.
Step 2. Click the External Hard Drive, which is not showing up.
Step 3. Right-click on the drive and select the Uninstall option.
Step 4. Press the OK button in the pop up to confirm changes.
Method 2: Update USB Driver
Step 1. Open the Device Manager and select the External Hard Drive again.
Step 2. Choose the Update Driver Software option instead of choosing Uninstall.
Step 3. Finally, Disable and then Enable the USB controller.
Solution 3: Turn on USB Root Hub
The USB root hub is a software driver that allows users to connect multiple USB peripherals, so turning on the USB Root Hub can help to show all hidden devices on the computer.
Step 1. Start the Search menu and type devmgmt.msc and press Enter.
Step 2. Click on the View option, followed by selecting the Show Hidden Files option.
Step 3. Click on the Plus (+) sign to expand the notes, and if there are entries in grey, right-click on them to Uninstall.
Step 4. Reboot the system and check again whether the hard drive is detected or not.
Solution 4: Assign Drive Letter
Sometimes, the partition does not get displayed on the system because the drive letter is missing. So follow the steps below to assign a drive letter to the hard drive:
Step 1. Open Disk Management by going to the Search menu again and type in Disk Management in the search area.
Step 2. Right-clicking on the disk or partition and choose the Change Drive Letter and Paths option.
Step 3. From the Change Drive Letter and Paths option, click on the Add button, which will open another dialog box.
Step 4. Choose Assign the following drive letter option and select a Letter for the drive from the list.
Step 5. In the final step, click on OK to add a drive letter for the partition.
Fix it Now!
Possible problems such as power loss, corrupted drivers, viruses, and malware can cause harm to the external device, as well as preventing it from showing up on the computer. Such cases can be extremely frustrating as it can waste a lot of time and effort.
There are practical solutions above which users can apply to fix the “Hard Drive not showing up” issue on Windows. However, sometimes when being repaired the hard drive can lead to data loss so remember to recover all essential data by using the best data recovery software!
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