How to Fix External Hard Disk not Detected in Windows?

Summary: USB devices like Hard Drives, Pen drives, Memory cards, etc. are an easy way to store and transfer data from one computer to another. These USB drives are portable and easy to handle, but sometimes you might face the Hard disk not detected a problem with Windows PC. This happen when the USB port did not recognize the external USB drives. Get FREE Quote

When you try to access the data from the hard drive or USB device or any operating system, you see the following Hard Drive is not Showing or USB Device Not Recognized error message:

“One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it for assistance in solving this problem, click this message.”

इस पोस्ट को हिंदी में पढ़ने के लिए यहां क्लिक करें।

Table of Content

How to fix External Hard Disk not Detected in Windows?

• Disconnect the power supply 
• Disconnect USB Device 
• Update USB device drivers 
• Change Drive Letter 
• Fix USB Root Hub 
• Change USB Selective Suspend Settings 

Case Study – Data Recovery From External Hard Drive Not Detecting
Contact Data Recovery Service Provider
Different situations of  Hard Drive not detected errors

How to fix External Hard Disk not Detected in Windows?

Disconnect the power supply of Hard Disk not detected

Sometimes, a very simple trick can fix an external hard disk not detecting a problem. Follow the below steps to apply this trick.

• Shut Down your computer
• Disconnect the power cable from your computer and wait for a few minutes
• Reconnect the power cable and Start your computer.

Disconnect USB Device

• Disconnect the USB devices from your computer
• Restart your computer
• Reconnect USB devices to your computer

[NOTE]: If the current USB port doesn’t detect the hard disk drives then, try to connect external hard drive with another USB port. If it is recognized by another USB cable or SATA cable then, there could be a hardware problem with one of the USB ports. And if no USB cable recognizes the device then, try another solution. Don’t use any USB hub to connect the device to the computer.

Update USB Device Drivers

If all USB ports are working fine then you need to check for the latest USB driver installed on the computer. Because sometimes old drivers can prevent the drive to connect to the PC and show the HDD not detecting an error. To check driver status follow the below steps.

• Press Windows + R key together and then, type devmgmt.msc in the run dialogue box and click on OK.
• Expand disk drives and right-click on the connected external USB drive.
• Click on properties and select the Driver tab.
• Click on Update Driver Software and follow further instructions to update the driver.

[NOTE]: if this method doesn’t work, then download and install the updated USB HDD not detected drivers from the computer manufacturer’s website. This is useful in case if you are trying to install a driver for a printer, scanner, and other input/output USB device.

Change Drive Letter

Check whether you can see your external USB Drive in Disk Management, then rename or change the drive letter. To do this follow the below steps.

1. Right-click on This PC or My Computer and click on Manage and open device manager.

2. Select Disk Management.

3. Right-click on the connect external hard drive and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths.

4. Click Add, and then assign a new drive letter from the drop-down list and click OK.

Fix USB Root Hub

• Press Windows + R key together and then type devmgmt.msc and click on OK.
• Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
• Right-click on USB Root Hub and click Properties.
• Select Power Management and uncheck the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save the power checkbox. Click ok and save changes.

[NOTE]: Repeat this process for all available USB Root Hubs. Save changes for each process and then restart your PC. If still you see a USB device not recognized problem then go back to the power management tab for each one and check the box again.

Change USB Selective Suspend Settings

1. Go to Control Panel and click on Hardware and Sound.

2. Click on Power Options.

3. Select Change Plan Settings under preferred plans. Balanced (recommended).

4. Click on Change advanced power settings.

5. Expand USB settings and USB selective suspend settings.

6. Select Disable from the drop-down menu.

7. Click “Apply” and “OK” to save the settings.

[NOTE]: If you use the laptop, then you’ll see two options: On Battery and Plugged in. So, select disable for both settings respectively.

Case Study – Data Recovery From External Hard Disk Not Detecting

Client Name: Individual

Goal: To recover data from External Hard Disk not Detected

Approach: Stellar Data Recovery successfully recovered data from the External Hard Disk which is not detecting and also Broken.

The challenges faced by the Client:

• The external hard drive was broken, not detecting, and not usable on the client end.
• The client has personal data on a 1 TB external hard drive, but he is unable to access it.

Stellar Data Recovery Process:

• During the initial analysis, we detected that the external hard drive was in a working condition. However, the external hard drive was found with few Bad Sectors.
• After an examination of the external hard disk, it was determined that the client’s required data could be recovered. Stellar Data Recovery got the requirement from the client and the data was successfully recovered from the external hard drive which was not detecting.

Client Feedback:

The client was extremely happy with the services provided by Stellar Data Recovery and fully satisfied with the data recovery process and with the cooperative staff.

Contact Data Recovery Service Provider

If all the above-mentioned solutions don’t fix the external HDD not detected the problem. If you are still getting the same error; then there is a high chance that your Seagate external hard drive has become dead. In this situation, you need to take the help of a Professional Hard Drive Recovery service provider.

If your problem is resolved, then it is advised that you should take a backup of your Seagate hard drive not working – data; to avoid any data loss in the future.

Different situations of  Hard Drive not detected errors

Hard drive not detected error/issue can be caused by the following situations:

• • The USB driver has become unstable, outdated, or corrupt
  • USB ports become faulty, physically damaged, or broken
  • Partition issues on your external USB device
  • The USB device is malfunctioning or damaged
  • The wrong file system in a connected external hard drive
  • Virus-infected PC

If the problem still persists after implementing the above steps then possibility that your internal hard drive is severely corrupted or physically damaged. In that case, you can approach a reliable data recovery service provider such as Stellar Data Recovery service. They have a total of 14 Branches within India, which provides data recovery service in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, Coimbatore, Vashi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Pune, Noida, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh.

Additional Reading: Troubleshooting “Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing Up Windows 11”