Have you connected an external hard drive to your Windows PC, but the computer doesn't seem to recognize it? This is a relatively common problem that can almost always be fixed in a simple way. In this post we are going to try to explain the causes and solutions to such an annoying situation: "I connect the external hard drive and it doesn't appear."
Generally, the use of external drives It doesn't have much of a secret: all you have to do is connect them, after which it appears almost immediately on our computer screen or in the file manager. Without further ado. These drives are often used to save backup copies of certain files. Until the appearance of the "cloud", this was the usual method. In fact, it is still widely used today.
The first thing to find out is the reason why this external drive cannot be accessed. Depending on the house, you will have to decide what is the best method to try to correct the problem. In many cases the solution is quite simple, although there are also cases in which everything gets complicated. We review it all below:
Causes of the problem
These are some of the possible reasons why an external hard drive connected by USB does not appear on our PC. At least the most frequent:
- USB port connection problems. The cord or plug may be damaged. Or even the USB port of our computer. This is one of the most common causes.
- External hard drive power supply failureeither. This happens when the drive does not receive enough power from the computer. It is a less common cause, but it can also happen.
- USB drivers error, which results in the unit becoming unstable or directly corrupting. Likewise, it is also possible that the drivers used are not compatible or have become obsolete.
- Hard drive malfunction. When we have checked everything above and the problem persists, we must conclude that the problem is with the external hard drive. It will have to be repaired or replaced.
External hard drive does not appear: Solutions
The short list of possible problems that we have outlined in the previous section serves as a guide to start trying different solutions. Let's analyze them all one by one:
Verify that the unit is correctly connected and turned on
As absurd as it may seem, on many occasions the error is found in something as stupid as not having checked something as obvious as that the cables are securely connected, or that the unit has been activated. Sometimes we are in a hurry and we are thinking about these things, so we forget these little things that we usually take for granted.
Keep in mind that, while it is true that some units only need to receive power from the PC's USB port, others (which are not designed to be portable) have a cable for the power outlet. Otherwise, they cannot function.
Restart the PC
Another of the classic solutions. After checking that everything is well connected, but the hard drive still does not appear on the PC, we can try the old reboot trick.
It's worth trying. In many cases, the CPU is under a lot of stress or there is some other unknown problem that may prevent the unit from appearing. These are situations that occur occasionally, but are easily unblocked by rebooting.. The correct way to do it is this: first you have to disconnect the unit, wait a few seconds and only then restart the computer.
Try another cable or port
We have rebooted and the external hard drive still does not appear. At this point it is necessary to rule out that the problem is a bad cable or a USB port that has stopped working. What we can do in these circumstances is Unplug the unit and try connecting it to another USB port. Another possibility is that there is a problem with the USB cable. If so, you will have to try another one.
To carry out the checks more safely, it is not a bad idea try connecting the external hard drive to another computer to see if it works there or we also experience similar difficulties. If not, we will have to look for the origin and solution of the problem in the external unit itself.
Update drivers
Having discarded all of the above, there is no choice but to deduce that the problem lies in the external hard drive itself. We have already analyzed the method to update the drivers in this blog for other cases. It will also serve us for updating external hard drive drivers. First you have to detect the error by following these steps:
- On our Windows PC, we open the menu Start.
- There we write "Device administrator" and we click on the result to start it.
- Next we expand the list of disk drives and look for the one that corresponds to the external hard drive that we have connected to the computer (a yellow exclamation symbol may appear next to it, an unequivocal sign that something is not working well).
- We click with the right mouse button and, in the panel that opens, we select the tab «Properties». The details of the error will be displayed there.
Now that we know that there is an error in the updates, we proceed to solve it, depending on the version of the Microsoft operating system that we are using:
- Windows 10: We go to "Settings" and in the menu we select "Update and security". Then we click on the "Check for updates" button. When the one we are looking for appears, click on the "Install now" button to download the available updates.
- Windows 11: We go to “Settings” and from there we select “Windows Update”. Then we click on "Check for updates" and then choose "Download and install" next to the updates that are available.
En general, updates run automatically. However, in other cases (the least) we will have to download them directly from the manufacturer's website. Once the new drivers are installed, the problem will be resolved.