Try connecting the hard drive to another USB port. More often than not, it could simply be a bad USB port. Implement each solution in the listed order of this article to ensure you don’t miss any details. The below methods will guide you through making your external hard drive visible and accessible on your computer. Also, if your drive requires external power, ensure it’s plugged into a power outlet when being used.ħ Proven Methods to Fix External Hard Drives Not Showing Up or Being Recognized in Windows 10 A USB 2.0 port may not be able to supply enough power to support operation.

⚡ Insufficient power – If you have a USB 3.0 external hard drive, be sure to connect it to a USB 3.0 port.

This will happen to any drive that’s using a file system that’s not recognized by the host operating system. Instead, it will suggest you format it with one that’s supported.

🤷‍♂️ Unsupported filesystem – If your drive is formatted with Apple’s HSF+ file system, Windows won’t detect it.

Or, your existing drivers may have become corrupted, rendering them unusable. If the drivers are outdated, you may be missing out on important compatibility updates.

🔧 Outdated or corrupted drivers – Drivers enable your operating system to communicate with your external hard drive and other devices.

If there’s one hardware component that’s no longer working, it could be affecting the performance of the entire drive.

💥 Faulty hardware – This could be anything from a faulty cable all the way to a busted hard drive.

While your external hard drive not showing up on Windows 10 may seem random at first, there’s a good chance that there are some underlying problems that have caused the drive to become unreadable when you plug it into your computer. Reasons Why External Hard Drives Become Unreadable or Unrecognizable In this article, we’re going to cover multiple proven solutions to ensure your external hard drive becomes readable and accessible. Before you spiral at the thought of your data being lost forever, know that there are many different ways you can fix the problem of your external hard drive not showing up.

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