Windows 10: After Moving an External Hard Drive Between Computers, I Have to Reinstall Several...

Basically just the question title. I moved an external HD from my desktop to my laptop to bring it over to a friend's house and when I plug the drive back into my PC, I have to reinstall a bunch of stuff. Why is this happening and what do I need to do so it doesn't happen every time I plug the external drive into my laptop?

:)

 

External Hard Drive

Hi John,

We suggest that you try the troubleshooting steps below:

• Open your External Hard Drive file in File Explorer.
• Type the name of the file you want to search on the search box and click Enter.

The file will show up in Search Results and you will be able to move it to the correct folder.

Let us know if you need further help.

 

External Hard Drive

To address your concern, here are the troubleshooting steps that you can try. Follow the steps below:

Uninstall and reinstall the external hard drive program.

• In the Settings app, go to System.
• Go to Apps & features and locate the external hard drive program.
• Uninstall the program and go to the manufacturer's website to reinstall the updated version.

Uninstall and reinstall the Paragon driver software.

• Following the same steps mentioned above, locate the software in Apps & features
  and uninstall it.
• After uninstalling the software, go to the manufacturer's website to reinstall it.
  

To further isolate your concern, we'd also like to verify if the OneDrive app is enabled on your PC.

You can hit us back for additional help.

Kind regards.

 

unrecognised external hard drive on Windows 10

Since you already reinstalled the drivers of the External Hard Drive, let's run the
Hardware and Devices troubleshooter as it can resolve your concern. You can do that by following these steps:

• 
  Press the Start button.
  
• 
  Type and select Troubleshooting.
  
• 
  Click on View all on the left panel.
  
• 
  Select and run the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter.
  

If the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter doesn’t resolve your concern, we suggest that you change the letter of the External Hard Drive. You can do that by following these steps:

• 
  Press the Start button.
  
• 
  Type and select Control panel.
  
• 
  Select System and Security.
  
• 
  Select Administrative Tools, and a new window will appear.
  
• 
  Double-click Computer Management, and a new window will appear.
  
• 
  Select Disk Management that is located under
  Storage in the left pane.
  
• 
  Right click on the External Hard Drive that is not showing on the File Explorer.
  
• 
  Select Change letter and network path, and a new window will appear.
  
• 
  Select Change, and choose the letter that you want for the External Hard Drive.
  

After changing the letter of the External Hard Drive, we suggest that you reboot your laptop for the changes to take effect.



Let us know how it goes.



Regards.