Windows: External hard drive is not recognized - what to do?

In this practical tip we will show you what you can do if your external hard drive is no longer recognized in Windows.

Windows does not recognize external hard drives - that's because

If an external hard drive is not recognized by Windows, there are many possible causes. In most cases, the reasons for this are quickly found, so that the disk can then be used without any problems. However, hardware defects can also prevent you from accessing the hard drive. If you have any problems, the best thing to do is to go through the individual steps of this manual step by step.

1. Check the hard disk connections

If your computer does not show the external hard drive at all, you should check whether you are using the correct USB port and whether an adequate power supply is ensured.

• Most external hard drives have a USB 3.0 interface. Therefore, they should be connected to an appropriately designed PC connection. This is usually colored blue and is therefore easy to recognize.
• You can't go wrong with this, because the USB standards 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 are compatible with each other. This means that your hard drive is also recognized by an older connection, but will then probably run significantly slower.
• It often helps to simply use a different USB slot so that the hard drive is recognized. Restarting the PC can also fix the error.
• If available, try a different USB cable. There are USB cables that are only intended for charging and do not allow data transfers.
• It often helps to pull out USB devices that are not currently required to release the required USB resources in the system. This is because each USB controller in the system can operate a limited number of devices.
• Depending on the hard drive used, it may be necessary to connect it not only to the PC via USB, but also to the power supply using a power supply unit.
• In this case, make sure that you are using the correct power supply and that it is supplying power to the hard drive.
• If the connections are correct, further steps are necessary for the PC to display the hard disk again. You can also find information on this in the video below.

2. Display the hard disk in the disk management

If your external hard drive is no longer recognized as usual, this can have various causes. Therefore, first check whether Windows has recognized your external storage medium in the data carrier management.

1. Open Windows Disk Management by typing "Disk Management" in the search and clicking on the "Create and format hard disk partitions" hit.
2. As soon as you have opened the disk management, you will see an overview with all connected drives and the respective partitions.
3. If Windows has successfully recognized your external hard drive, it will be shown here. Based on the size information displayed, try to identify the disk you are looking for in the section below.
4. Usually, the external hard drive should appear as removable media .
5. A status display (above) shows you whether there is a problem.

3. Assign drive letter

If Windows has recognized your external hard drive in the "Disk Management", you can at least rule out a possible USB cable defect and know that your external storage medium will otherwise work without problems. Therefore, now check whether a drive letter has been assigned to your external hard drive. This is mandatory.

1. If your external hard drive has been recognized, it will be listed in Disk Management. You can now see your drive with your disk, but the drive may still be missing a drive letter, such as (E).
2. To access your external hard drive, your hard drive needs a drive letter. Right click on the primary partition of the hard drive (blue bar).
3. Select the "Change Drive Letter and Paths" command. You can see that no drive letter is displayed.
4. Therefore, go to "Add" and choose a free letter. Occupied letters are not even available for selection.
   
5. Now your external hard drive has a drive name and is freely accessible again.

4. Initialize disk and create volume

It may also be necessary to initialize the hard disk before using it for the first time. You can also do this using the data medium management.

1. Look for the external hard drive in Disk Management. This should be displayed with the note "Not assigned".
2. Right-click on the gray rectangle to the left. This also shows you the number of the data carrier, for example "data carrier 4". Select "Disk Initialization" from the context menu.
3. In the new window you will be asked to determine the partition style. Here it is recommended to select "GPT" for data carriers from 2 terabytes. You can often simply accept the default. Confirm the process.
4. Steps 2 and 3 can be skipped if a valid partition style is already set.
5. Now click on the unallocated area in the disk management and select "New simple volume". Follow the instructions in the wizard to finish setting up the hard drive.

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5. Format external hard drive for access

If this step does not have the desired effect, it is possible that your hard disk is not correctly formatted for your operating system. Remember that all data on the hard disk will be lost when formatting !

1. So go back to Disk Management and click on the "Format" command.
2. Give the hard drive a name and select a suitable file system. In most cases, you can leave the "Quick format" option activated.
3. Wait for the process to finish. You will then have access to your external hard drive again.

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6. In an emergency: Buy a new external hard drive cheaply

If none of this helps, your hard drive is most likely defective. You no longer have to spend a fortune on a new replacement model:

• In our leaderboard you can see the fastest and cheapest external hard drives with 2.5 inches. You can get a disk with 1 terabyte of storage for less than 50 euros.

If you need individual help to solve your problem, please contact the experts in the CHIP forum. If Windows recognizes your disk, you can search for errors in the hard disk using software and often even fix them.