Once you have located the drive you will want to look for the following:ĭoes it show RAW or Unallocated? Either of these indicates a possible issue with the drive’s formatting.

In the middle towards the bottom locate the disk number from earlier.

This will allow us to view the drive’s health.

Now click on Disk Management on the left hand side.

Document the disk number provided in this window (Disk 1, Disk 2, etc…).

Right click on your external drive listed under Disk Drives.

If you see the drive is detected here continue reading.

First check the Disk Drives section in the middle window by double-clicking it.

On your keyboard, hold the Windows Key ( ) down and press R.

If using a USB adapter, try connecting it without the adapter or use a different adapter.įor advanced troubleshooting steps select your operating system:Ĭheck both Device Manager and Disk Management in the Computer Management console:.

If using a surge protector or power strip, plug the power adapter directly into the wall outlet instead.(Desktop Drives).

No light could indicate the power adapter is not connected to power. Desktop Drives typically require a power adapter.

Try using the drive on a different computer.

If possible, try using a different cable.

Try connecting the drive to a different port on the computer.

If your external hard drive is not accessible please try these basic troubleshooting steps first. The external hard drive itself, under normal circumstances, should be detected by your operating system, without the need of drivers, software, or firmware updates. While it is possible that your external hard drive may have come with bundled software that may be incompatible with newer operating systems, this is typically just ‘back up’ software, and the drive is not dependent on that software to function. There are several reasons why an external hard drive may not be accessible or detected when you connect it to your computer.

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