How to Recover Data from External Hard Disk Not Detected

Theo Lucia

Apr 26, 2023 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions

Part 1. How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive Not Recognized

Video Tutorial on External Hard Drive Recovery

Recent Videos from Recoverit

View More >

Get download and install the best Recoverit external hard drive data recovery software on your computer, it can easily access to the hard disk file system and restore your data.

Step 1. Launch Recoverit Data Recovery software on your computer, and select the external hard disk to get started

Step 2. The hard drive recovery will start scanning the disk to search your lost data and files.

Step 3. After the scanning, you can check all recovered files. Preview and select your files by clicking the "Recover" button to save them to a safe location.

Here is the end of the solutions to repairing the hard drive not found and hope that you have succeeded in fixing it. Always make use of a good antivirus program to ensure that your system remains free from viruses that can corrupt your files on an external hard drive. Keep using reliable and trustworthy data recovery software for recovering data to avoid further damage to the hard disk and data.

Part 2. How to Fix Hard Disk Not Detected on Windows Computer

When you connect your external hard drive to the computer, and you cannot find the external hard drive. As the following fixed you can try to repair the external hard disk not detected in Windows.

1. Does the Hard Drive Show Up in Disk Management

Plugin your external removable disk into the system making sure that its power switch is on. The next order of business is opening a tool called Disk Management. You can do this by typing diskmgmt.msc in the dialog box that appears after pressing the R key along with the Windows key.

Your external drive can be found in the window of Disk Management even if it doesn’t appear anywhere else. If you can locate the external drive in here, format it so it becomes accessible to Windows. But if you can’t locate it, then try to find out why Windows isn’t recognizing it.

2. Making Windows Recognize the Drive

A dead drive, a Windows driver issue, a damaged USB cable, or a malfunctioning USB port can be the reason if your external drive isn’t recognized anywhere by Windows. Try connecting the external drive to a different USB port on the system. A hardware issue with the USB port might be the reason if the external drive works in the other USB port. Moreover, you should try unplugging the drive from a USB hub and directly into the system if you are using a USB hub for connecting your external drive to the computer.

3. Troubleshooting Driver Issues

You might have a driver issue or your drive might be at fault if you can’t locate your external drive into Disk Management after having changed the USB port and eliminating the USB hub. To find this for sure, plug your drive into a different computer system. If it can’t be located there even in the Disk Management window then your drive is probably at fault.

1). Test the driver with Device Manager

A driver issue is most likely the case if your external drive is recognized by other computers. The Device Manager can be used to test this theory. Open Device Manager by hitting Enter after typing "devmgmt.msc" in the Run dialog box which can be opened by clicking the R key with the Windows key.

2). Find out error messages

Driver issues can be detected by looking for yellow exclamation marks in front of devices in the Disk drives menu. To see the error message, select Properties after right-clicking the devices that have yellow exclamation marks. Search for this error message on Google to find out how to fix it.

3). Run System Restore

Running System Restore is an option if the issue is a recent one. Other available options include reinstalling the driver after uninstalling it, reverting changes using the Roll Back Driver option, or updating the driver using the Update Driver option.

The issue of the external hard disk Not being detected can be fixed using the above-mentioned methods, solving the Seagate external hard drive not showing up problems. In the fixing process, all your data can get lost or deleted. You may need to retrieve your data from an external hard drive which is not detecting. Follow the next section to get your data back with Recoverit Data Recovery software.

Part 3. Why Is My Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing Up?

"I have a Seagate external hard drive that is not detected by my Windows computer. When I plug it in, the external hard drive not showing up on my computer. How do I fix My Seagate external hard drive not detected? And how to recover data from an external hard drive not detected?"

Many causes are resulting in an external hard drive that is not detecting and showing up in Windows.

• The USB connection is not tight enough.
• The USB port is dead and needs to be replaced.
• The corrupted or wrong file system on the hard drive.
• Damaged partition table or boot sector on the disk.
• Dropped external hard drive not recognized.
• Driver issues in Windows.
• Virus attack and malware infection.