The external hard drive is not detected by the system. External hard drive is not detected: what to do. Hard drive does not work: what to do

External HDD is more vulnerable than a stationary carrier. It is constantly moved from place to place, exposed to environmental influences, risks of falling and incorrect connection. That's why it fails noticeably more often. If the next time you connect to a computer, the operating system cannot detect it, this may indicate that it is damaged. file system. Let's look at how to restore external media without formatting.

Causes of problems with a removable disk

• The file system is damaged.
• Happened software glitch devices.
• The removable hard drive has been exposed to a virus.
• The device was not properly disconnected from the computer.
• Careless handling of the drive, mechanical damage.

Is it possible to restore a portable hard drive yourself without formatting? In most cases, unless the device was damaged mechanically, the data on it can be recovered. To do this, we will consider 2 methods.

Recovering media using Windows

The external hard drive is checked for errors. To do this, launch the utility, which is included in Windows. To run it, you need to enter the “cmd” command on the command line. After confirming the command, a console appears on the monitor, where the line “chkdsk h: /f” is written, in which “h” is the letter of your removable drive.

If, when trying to check, the computer displays a message stating that this moment it is impossible to perform the check, then you need to agree to the offer to check the selected disk during the next system reboot.

You can choose another way to check the disk for errors, which is more visual and accessible. To do this, follow these steps:

In most cases, after scanning, the hard drive will completely restore its structure without formatting. After the treatment is completed, it will start on its own, and all data will be visible on the monitor.

Recovering an external drive using R-Studio

You can restore external media without formatting. This utility works with all known file systems, recovers information from deleted and damaged partitions, and works with encrypted files.

After starting the program, all drives will be displayed in its window.

All media connected to the computer will be visible on the left side. Media recovery is performed in the following order:

1. Selecting from this list external hard disk, you can look at the information about this medium. It will be displayed in the right window.
2. When you click on the “Scan” button, the program will scan the selected media and display information in the form of colored clusters.
3. When you hover over a cluster, all information about it will be displayed on the right side of the window. The duration of the scan depends on the storage capacity. In some cases it can take tens of minutes.
4. At the end of the check, a window similar to the following will appear:
   
5. We need to go to the “EXTRA FOUND FILES” subsection. A list of found files will appear.
   
6. Now the found files can be restored. To do this, we need to put tags next to the files that we need.
7. Press the “RECOVER” button. If you decide to restore all found files, you can immediately use the “RECOVER ALL” button.
8. After confirming your choice, you need to decide where to save the recovered files.

Since they take up so much space, a decent capacity hard drive is required. In case of shortage free space Only part of the information can be recovered on the media. The recovery operation begins when such a window appears.

Hello, dear site visitors!

It so happened that I needed to format it. Just this hard drive from the laptop and when I gave the laptop to warranty repair, then instead of the SSD drive I installed the HDD back. Yesterday I picked up my laptop from repair and put the hard drive back in my pocket.

I connected it to the computer on which the information was stored in order to transfer it to an external HDD, but it is not detected. Or rather, it is detected, Windows signals that the device is connected, and an icon appears on the notification panel indicating that it is connected USB device and there is even an opportunity to extract it.

In the device manager, the external HDD is also displayed and works properly. But the whole problem is that the disk does not appear in Windows Explorer. You go to my computer, but it’s not there.

I connected this external hard drive to the laptop, still the same. It is detected, but it is not visible in the explorer. Yeah, that means it's the disk itself.

I thought a little, then I googled it and realized that the disk was simply not allocated and it was necessary to create a partition on it. We will create the standard Windows tool for working with hard drives, which I wrote about.

This could have been the end of the article, but I took a few screenshots, so I’ll show and tell you everything on real example and how you like it – with pictures :).

We need to open the Disk Management tool. To do this, open Start and press right click on Computer. Select Control.

On the left, select Disk management. And this is the picture I saw (screenshot below). Disk 0- This is my SSD drive, there are created sections there. A Disc 1, this is already my external hard drive, which was not displayed in Explorer. It says Not distributed. Now we'll distribute it :).

Right click on it and select Create a simple volume...

We need to specify the size for the partition we are creating. If you want to create one section, then you can not change anything, but simply click Further. The simple volume size field is already specified maximum size for the section we are creating.

In the next window you need to assign a drive letter. I advise you to just click next and not change anything.

Formatting a volume. I advise you to leave everything as is. You can change the volume label (this is its name). Click Further.

We check the correctness of the parameters we entered and press the button Ready.

Computer is complex technical device, which, in turn, consists of a number of individual devices that together ensure the coordinated operation of the system. Today in the article we will take a closer look at what an external hard drive is, what it is needed for, and what criteria exist when choosing this device.
The built-in hard drive, which is based on the principle of magnetic recording, is responsible for storing information on your computer. Such a device is aimed at long-term storage of information and allows you to store literally everything: from the installed operating system to downloaded files from the Internet.

What is an external hard drive?

In turn, it is easy to guess that an external hard drive is the same hard drive that is in your computer, with one small exception: it does not need to be built into the computer.

Connection external hard The drive is usually connected to a USB connector on a computer or other device. That is why, when there is no need for an external hard drive, it can be easily disconnected and put away in a secluded place, and when the need arises, it can be connected again at any time.

What is an external hard drive for?

Today, an external hard drive is not a whim, but a necessity for most users, since they need this device can in a variety of situations:

1. Expand your computer's memory. If on computer hard If the disk is almost full, then an external hard drive will correct the situation. Today there is a wide choice of manufacturers hard drives, which offer different capacities: from several gigabytes to several terabytes.

2. Unload your computer's hard drive. It's no secret that the information accumulated on the hard drive directly affects the performance of the computer. In order not to load the computer’s hard drive, most of the information can be taken over by an external HDD.

3. Mobility. The most important advantage of external hard drive– this is his mobility. If you have to work with large amounts of data and home computer, and at work, then it is much easier and more convenient to transfer information on an external hard drive, most models of which can easily fit into any woman’s handbag. Thanks to this advantage, many users have abandoned the use of laptops.

How to choose an external hard drive?

When choosing an external hard drive for your computer, the user needs to rely on several criteria:

• 1. Manufacturer;
• 2. Memory capacity;
• 3. Price;
• 4. Dimensions of the device;
• 5. Security;
• 6. Possibility of connecting to a TV.

Manufacturer's choice

Today there is a fairly wide selection of external hard drive manufacturers: Samsung, Toshiba, Verbatim, Seagate, Transcend and many others. By and large, it doesn’t matter which manufacturer you choose: they all work the same and are in approximately the same price category.
The only thing worth paying attention to is that it is better to choose a well-known manufacturer. Of course, you can order a hard drive on Aliexpress at a very reasonable price, but from a Chinese manufacturer unknown to you, but you shouldn’t expect miracles like hard disks extremely short-lived.

Memory

Here you should proceed from the purpose for which the external hard drive will be used. If you plan to store all your films and TV series on it, then you should definitely watch larger discs, for example, from one terabyte.

If you plan to store work information on the disk for convenient transfer from one computer to another, then perhaps a more compact model, for example, around 500 GB, will be sufficient in your case.

Price

The price of external HDDs consists of several factors: the name of the manufacturer, the amount of memory, and the materials used in the device’s case.

For example, the price of an HDD will be significantly higher if the external hard drive is from a well-known manufacturer, has a large capacity, and is also made of premium devices, for example, aluminum, rather than ordinary plastic.

External hard drive dimensions

As a rule, than more capacity hard drive, the correspondingly higher its dimensions. If you need to carry a hard drive with you often, you will have to sacrifice capacity for portability.

If the hard drive will be permanently connected to the computer and is not intended for transportation, you can safely look at capacitive models.

Device security

Separately, the market offers hard drives with an increased level of protection, which will ensure reliable confidential security work information. Such hard drives will cost more, but if in your case information security is paramount, you should pay attention to such models.

Possibility of connection to TV

Many users purchase hard drives to store their media library (music and movies) and quick access TV to her.

In this case, you will need to clarify which file systems your TV can read. Most often, hard drives and computers work with file NTFS system, so you need to make sure that the TV can work with it.

And a small summary

The choice of hard drive depends on your needs, and it is practically impossible to single out a single recipe. When choosing an external hard drive, do not forget to pay attention to Special attention for reviews to specific models on the Internet: even from an extremely well-known manufacturer, rather unsuccessful models may go on sale, which are best avoided, but such cases are rare today.

External removable media in the form of USB drives have recently become as popular as regular flash drives. There is more space on them, but they are not insured against malfunctions and errors in operation. There can be quite a lot of reasons for this. However, it is not always possible to fix them manually. This is why it is recommended to use system utilities, if the system does not see the external hard drive.

Causes of problems

First, let's look at the main reasons that can lead to an external hard drive not being detected in the operating system. There can be quite a lot of them: system errors, incorrect setting access, lack of power and even physical damage to the surface of the removable media.

BIOS Settings

Before turning to using utilities, it is worth saying that not a single program for hard checks The disk will not be able to detect it if the device is simply not turned on in the system. Often the reason may be precisely BIOS settings. For example, if in the "Control Panel" go to the "Device Manager" and set the display hidden devices, the disk present in the system will appear in the list, but the system itself will display a message in the device properties about the need to reconnect.

Connecting an external hard drive, as a rule, is done in the BIOS settings, which are called up on computers or laptops by pressing the Del, F2 or F12 key. It all depends on the BIOS manufacturer and the computer terminal itself. IN Boot section or Advanced, you can select priority boot devices and other hardware components. In this case, an external USB hard drive must be connected to the connectors before turning on the terminal. In some cases, you may need to enable disk availability using the Enable parameter.

Driver problems

If the external hard drive is not detected, you may need to reinstall the drivers. You can do this in the same “Device Manager” or use the original driver disk that comes with the removable device.

Lack of nutrition

Sometimes errors can be caused by lack of power. If you have two power cords, you need to turn both on. In some cases, if the external hard drive is not detected, you can disassemble it and connect it directly to the computer terminal. But if a person is not a specialist in this field, it is not recommended to perform such a procedure yourself.

Incorrect disk ID assignment

When the system does not see the external hard drive, the reason may also be due to incorrect letter assignment of this disk or disk partition. It may very well be that it is already being used by another device. In this case, you should go to the computer management system (disk management) and simply change the letter of the removable drive.

Correcting errors using standard Windows tools

IN operating systems ah Windows available own funds and utilities for checking or formatting disks and storage media of all types. Connecting hard USB drive produced in a standard way. But sometimes a situation may arise when a removable hard drive is visible in the system, for example, in the “Device Manager”, and can be accessed from “Explorer” or any other file manager No. In other words, the external hard drive will not open. In this case, you can correct errors using standard operating system tools.

Creating a Volume

First, you need to go to "Disk Management" and select a removable drive that you cannot access. You can right-click to open the volume creation utility. But it allows you to use the “Create a simple volume” command and the “Setup Wizard”, in which you first set the media size, then assign a letter, and then format the external hard drive with a preliminary selection of the file system type. Please note that in this case, all data on the removable hard drive will be automatically destroyed. Upon completion of the “Wizard”, all that remains is to click the “Finish” button, after which the removable media with all its characteristics will automatically appear in the system.

If you need to restore your external hard drive in the future, you can use special applications, which allow you to recover data on a removable hard drive even after full formatting. But even in this case, it is not always possible to recover information.

Disk check

One of the simplest standard means operating rooms Windows systems is a program for checking your hard drive. Right-click on the disk icon to call up the "Properties" menu and select the "Service" tab, where you can find the "Run check" button. At the beginning of work, you can set automatic correction damaged sectors.

The program can also be called using command line, which specifies chkdsk and the external media option. But this is the simplest and not always effective way. In this case, it is better to turn to professional utilities that are offered for operating systems Windows third party manufacturers.

HDD Scan program

Today, there are quite a lot of specialized programs for checking hard drives of all types, including removable media. One of the most popular and most powerful utilities is a HDD Scan software product.

The first advantage HDD programs Scan is that it does not require installation, that is, it is available in the form of a so-called portable version (Portable). The program folder can be placed anywhere on your hard drive or on the same flash drive. To launch, an executable file of the same name with the extension .exe is used, after which you can proceed to the main operations.

For inexperienced users, the most preferable mode may be the system of “smart” scanning of removable media and correcting errors on it, called S.M.A.R.T. After selecting the hard drive, you just need to click on this button. The utility will then display detailed characteristics in the form of a table with parameters in which green Attributes that are within normal limits will be indicated. Yellow and red colors indicate errors or some incorrect parameters.

A rather interesting function is the Surface Test command, which checks the surface of a removable hard drive. Error correction consists of moving file system clusters to undamaged areas of the disk, and the damaged surface is blocked and not used in the future.

In general, this utility has quite a lot of tools for working with disks of all types. But without knowledge in English You'll have to dig around in the interface. This is due to the fact that the application itself contains too many functions designed for experienced users.

Norton Disc Doctor

An equally interesting program for working with hard drives is portable version Norton apps Disc Doctor (NDD). It does not require installation and creates absolutely no entries in the system registry. It is also noteworthy that the application size is only 15.7 MB.

The operation of this application is very similar to the principles used in other programs, however, this utility is as automated as possible and is designed even for inexperienced users.

After starting the program, the main window appears, which lists all the hard drives and removable media available in the system. You can check all the boxes or select just one component. In this case, we are interested in an external hard drive. We put a checkmark on it and start the check, after checking the box in the “Correct errors” field on the left side.

For more advanced users, there is a settings button on the right where you can configure the program as you wish. But in most cases this is not required, since the factory settings are optimal for all types of hard drives.

Conclusion

Of course, this is just a small fraction of those programs and features that are designed to help users of computers and laptops if the external hard drive is not detected.

If you compare some programs with each other, then it is impossible to give preference to any one utility. Although each program uses almost the same algorithms for working with hard drives, it still has its own differences, advantages and disadvantages.

For example, the HDD Scan software product will not be easy for a novice or inexperienced user to work with. The interface itself may seem somewhat overloaded to many. And there are a lot of opportunities for fine tuning here.

To provide efficient work with removable media, it is better to use applications like Norton Disc Doctor or Ashampoo HDD Control 2. However, it is worth noting that in the second case we are dealing with a paid program.

As for free utilities, then it is better to use software products from well-known manufacturers who have been leaders in the hard drive technology market for quite some time. In addition to using individual programs, you can give preference to whole complex solutions. But they will have to be installed on a hard drive, and they take up quite a lot of space, not to mention the fact that they have special “inspectors” that work in real time. As a rule, the icon constantly hangs in the system tray, and the processes of the applications themselves load the system quite heavily, taking up RAM and using CPU resources.

Finally, it is worth noting that if using all these popular utilities does not lead to the desired result, the problems with your hard drive can be much worse. Most likely this is physical damage to the removable media. So you'll have to take it in for repairs.

Good afternoon.

External hard drives (HDDs) are becoming more popular day by day, sometimes it seems that very soon they will be more popular than flash drives. And it’s not surprising, because modern models are some kind of box, the size of cellular telephone and contain 1-2 TB of information!

Many users are faced with the fact that the computer does not see the external hard drive. Most often, this happens immediately after purchasing a new device. Let's try to figure out in order what's going on here...

If the new external HDD is not visible

Here, new means the disk that you connected to your computer (laptop) for the first time.

1) First what are you doing - go to computer control .

To do this, go to control Panel , then in system and security settings -> administration -> computer control . See screenshots below.

2) Please note to the column on the left. It has a menu - disk management . Let's move on.

All drives (including external ones) connected to the system should be displayed in front of you. Very often, the computer does not see the connected external hard drive due to the incorrect drive letter assignment. You need to change it!

To do this, click on external drive right click and select " change drive letter... ". Next, assign the one that is not yet in your OS.

3) If the disk is new, and you connected it to your computer for the first time - it may not be formatted! Therefore, it will not appear in “my computer”.

If this is the case, then you will not be able to change the letter (you simply will not have such a menu). You just need to right click on the external drive and select " create a simple volume... «.

Attention! During this process, all data on the disk (HDD) will be deleted! Be careful.

4) Lack of drivers... (Update from 04/05/2015)

If the external hard drive is new and you don’t see it in “my computer” or “ disk management“, and it works on other devices (for example, a TV or another laptop sees and detects it) - then 99% of the problems are related to the Windows OS and drivers.

Despite the fact that modern Windows 7, 8 operating systems are quite “smart” and when a new device is detected, they automatically search for a driver for it - this does not always happen... The fact is that the Windows 7, 8 OS versions (including all kinds of assemblies from " there are a huge number of craftsmen), and various mistakes have not been canceled. Therefore, I don’t recommend excluding this option right away...

1. Check the USB port to see if it is working. For example, connect a phone or camera, even just a regular flash drive. If the device works, then the USB port has nothing to do with it...

2. Go to Device Manager (In Windows 7/8: Control Panel/System and Security/Device Manager) and look at two tabs: Other devices And disk devices.

Windows 7: Device Manager reports that there are no drivers for the “My Passport ULTRA WD” disk in the system.

The screenshot above shows that Windows does not have drivers for an external hard drive, so the computer does not see it. Typically, Windows 7, 8, when you connect a new device, automatically installs a driver for it. If this does not happen for you, you have three options:

a) Click the “Update hardware configuration” command in the device manager. This is usually followed by automatic installation drivers.

b) Search for drivers using special. programs: ;

c) Reinstall Windows (to install, select a “clean” licensed system, without any assemblies).

Windows 7 - Device Manager: drivers for the external HDD Samsung M3 Portable are installed correctly.

If you can't see your old external hard drive

Old here refers to a hard drive that previously worked on your computer and then stopped working.

1. First, go to the disk management menu (see above) and change the drive letter. This is definitely worth doing if you have created new partitions on your hard drive.

2. Secondly, check the external HDD for viruses. Many viruses disable the ability to see disks or block them ().

3. Go to Device Manager and see if the devices are detected correctly. There should be no yellow exclamation marks (or red ones) that indicate errors. It is also recommended to reinstall the drivers to USB controller.

4. Sometimes reinstalling Windows OS helps. Anyway, first, check the functionality of the hard drive on another computer/laptop/netbook, and then try reinstalling.

It’s also useful to try cleaning your computer from unnecessary junk files and optimizing the registry and programs (here’s an article with all the utilities: use a couple...).

5. Try connecting an external HDD to another USB port. It happened that for unknown reasons, after connecting to another port, the disk worked perfectly as if nothing had happened. I noticed this several times on Acer laptops.

6. Check the cords.

One time the external hard drive didn't work because the cord was damaged. I didn’t notice it from the very beginning and spent 5-10 minutes looking for the cause...