Detachable USB storage devices Whether it’s external hard drives or USB sticks, they are very easy to use as it’s usually a matter of plugging them in and we can use them. However, there are situations when problems occur and the PC does not recognize it after connecting it to the PC. In this article, we will tell you what you can do if you find yourself in this situation, and After connecting an external hard drive or USB flash drive, the PC does not recognize it .
One thing to note: There is always a chance that the device will be damaged. In this case you may not be able to use it anymore. However, there may be other causes that cause the PC not to recognize it, z. B. Problems in the partition table, a file system that is not correct, a driver problem or even a damage of the USB port. These are exactly the cases we will address in this article.
Does the USB port work? Make sure that the device is turned on
One of the most obvious possible causes is that the USB port is not working (both on the PC side and on the device itself). For this reason it checks if the device is turned on, and for this reason most external hard drives and USB sticks have a Status Indicator LED .
If you have it and it won’t turn on, the USB port or external hard drive cable may not be working properly. So it is recommended to try other USB ports and change the cable if possible.
Check if the disk is displayed in Windows
If the LED lights up, at least you know that it is powered, and the problem is probably related to the software rather than the hardware. To check this, call Disk Manager on Windows (right-click the Start button> Disk Management) and check if the device is displayed at the top.
The most important thing here is that it appears at the top; that it doesn’t come out at the bottom or black is a simple solution, but the fact is that Windows recognizes it well when it comes out at the top. If your PC does not recognize the USB device and it is not displayed above, proceed to the next point in this tutorial. If the device is displayed, proceed to the next section.
Check if the drivers are correct
If the PC does not recognize the USB device and it does not show up in the Disk Manager, there is probably a driver problem. Access the Device Manager (right click on the Start button> Device Manager) and look for it in the "Drives" section.
If there is a problem, your USB storage drive will show up with a yellow exclamation mark next to its name, indicating that there is a driver problem. In this case, right-click on the name and select Properties. In the window that appears, in the "Device Status" section the information corresponding to the problem is displayed. There can be many cases that you can find here, and we recommend that you search the internet for the error.
If this doesn’t work, you can always try to update the driver. To do this, simply right-click on the name of the device and select the "Update Driver" option so that Windows will do this automatically.
If as a last resort this doesn’t work, you can right-click on the drive and select "Uninstall Device" select. Then disconnect it from the USB port, wait a few seconds and connect it again. The operating system reinstalls the appropriate drivers.
Create a new hard disk volume
If your drive showed up at the top but not at the bottom or bottom of Disk Manager, you may either not have created any volumes or have the wrong partition table. It could also be that they have the wrong file system (z. B. a drive formatted in AFP on an apple Mac is not recognized in Windows).
In such cases you can right click on the drive and select the "Erase Volume" option. Note, however, that this will remove any information on the external hard drive or USB stick that is not recognized by the PC.
Once this is done, the device should already be displayed in black below. If so, simply right-click on the black area and select "New Simple Volume" . ". Follow the wizard and you will create a new volume that already works fine.
Format the hard drive
If everything works fine in Disk Manager, but your PC still doesn’t recognize your USB drive, you may just need to format it. Already in the same Hard Drive Manager, right-click on the drive at the top and select the option "Format…". In many cases, the PC already recognizes the drive by simply formatting it.