Why My External Hard Disk Cannot be Detected: Top Reasons & Solutions

An external hard disk is an important storage device because it can save a large amount of data items. Generally, people need to store huge amount of data so, they use the external hard drive in their system. But, there are many times users cannot see the external hard disk. There are various reasons can be possible such as ransomware virus, encrypted files, hardware issues, file system errors, the hard drive. These problems are quite complex to be fixed. Hence, in this post, we will also discuss the reasons and solutions to resolve external hard disk cannot be detected problem. First, let’s have a look at the user’s query to understand the reasons of hard drive not showing up the problem in a clear way.

“I have plugged in an external hard disk of 1TB on my Lenovo laptop. When I tried to open the disk partition, I found that external hard disk was not there. I don’t know why my external hard disk cannot be detected. As there were lots of important data saved in my Seagate drive so I need to get back my data. Thus, I tried to fix this issue but only the light is blinking. If you know any reliable solutions then please help me to resolve this issue. Your help would be appreciated!!”

Why the External Hard Disk Cannot be Detected?

There are various factors that can cause the problem where people cannot find their external hard disk in the in disk management of the system. Some of the main reasons are discussed below:

• If latest Windows OS update or upgrade automatically on your machine
• External hard disk data deleted or hidden due to virus or malware attack
• When a user tried to log in with a new user account on their machine
• If USB port in PC is found in not working condition
• Once the external hard drive driver is running out of date
• When an external Hard disk fails or hard drive goes bad itself
• A sudden failure of an external hard drive

Check If the External Hard Drive is Detected in Disk Management

The external hard drive is not recognized in the system due to various reasons. Before going towards the solution, first look at the method to check the external hard drive whether it has appeared or not from the disk management. If it is not displayed then what is the reason behind this. For this purpose, follow these steps:

1. First of all, press Windows + R Key to open Run dialogue box.
2. Type diskmgmt.msc into the Run dialog box & press Enter key.
3. Now, all details of the hard drive displayed in front of you.
4. It will help you to find out the reason why your external hard disk cannot be detected.

How to Get Rid of “External Hard Drive is Unrecognizable” Error?

In order to fix this problem, first, you should try to use a different USB port and use a virus cleaner software then check hard disk whether it is displayed or not. If it is still unrecognizable, then you should try to use alternate solutions which are discussed in this section.

Solution 1: Uninstall Hard Drive Driver

1. Click on the Start >> type devmgmt.msc & press Enter key.
2. Open Device manager >> expand the Universal Serial Bus controllers >> check the external hard drive whether it is recognized or not.
3. If it is not detected, then go to the Driver tab & delete or uninstall the driver.
4. Then, reboot or restart your PC and again check the disk management.

Solution 2: Turn on USB Root Hub

1. Click on the Start >> type devmgmt.msc & press Enter key.
2. Open Device manager >> expand the Universal Serial Bus controllers.
3. Right-click on the USB Root Hub >>Properties >> Power Management option.
4. Now, uncheck the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
5. Repeat this process again and again for each USB Root Hub in the list and reboot.

Solution 3: Use SysTools Recovery Software for Hard Drive

If no any manual procedures work, then you can choose a reliable solution like SysTools Hard Drive Recovery tool. Because this tool is capable to repair all type of corruption and problem in the hard drive that can easily detect the unrecognizable external hard drive. Apart from this, the tool also provides various advanced features which make it first choice of users.

Final Words

Sometimes, people need an answer to a question why my external hard disk cannot be detected. Hence, we have come back with all possible reasons and solutions to fix this External hard drive are not identified an issue. However, if users want a quick and fast recovery then they can opt the recovery tool.