Windows 10: Drives not seen by Windows 11

When I installed two older drives in my machine, Windows 11 saw them. For example, they appeared in both Disk Mgr and in Device Mgr. But then I used BIOS to wipe them. Thereafter, they became invisible in Windows, although they remain visible in BIOS. I’m thinking they are invisible because they are no longer formatted? Regardless, I can’t format them from the OS since it doesn’t know they exist.I thought I would try booting from installation media, going into repair, and then troubleshoot, and getting into the command window to format these two drives which were visible here via diskpart. I

:)

 

Hard drive/ OS issue

a guy suggested :

• shutdown
• unhooked HDD
• restarted
• yay !!
• reconnected HDD
• restarted
• yay !!

also , try method 3
How to Unlock Drive in Windows 10: 5 Ways to Remove a Lock

 

Disk Drive not seen by Windows 10

Hi Stuart,

Thank you for using Windows 10.

I understand your concern and will assist you in troubleshooting the issue. The issue might have occurred due to incorrect hardware or software configuration or corrupt system files.

I suggest you to check with any other system if the drive gets recognized or not. If it gets, then I would
suggest you to perform chkdsk and see if that helps.

Chkdsk is a system tool which verifies the file system integrity and fixes system errors. Here is the steps:

• 
  Press Windows+X.
  
• 
  Click on Command Prompt (Admin).
  
• 
  Type the command Chkdsk /f/r.
  
• 
  Hit Enter.
  

Get back to us for further assistance and we'll be glad to assist.

 

USB Flash drive not seen on Laptop running Windows 11

Hi,EliBiek

Welcome to the Microsoft Community.



I'm sorry to hear that neither Windows 11 laptops nor Android phones recognize USB flash drives. Here are some steps you can take to try to retrieve data from a potentially damaged or corrupted USB flash drive:



1.Check the USB connection: Make sure the USB port you are using is working properly. Try connecting the USB flash drive to a different USB port on our laptop.



2.Using a different computer: Try connecting the USB flash drive to another computer to see if it is recognized. This will help determine if the problem is with the USB drive itself or the laptop.



3.Check Disk Management (Windows):

• Press Windows Key + X and select Disk Management.
  
• Look for the USB flash drive in the list of drives. If it appears but does not have a drive letter assigned, you may need to assign a drive letter to access it.
  

If none of these steps help to retrieve data from the USB flash drive and the data on the USB flash drive is critical, it is advisable to stop trying to access it further to prevent any further damage. Recovering data from a physically damaged drive is very complicated and you may consider seeking the help of a professional data recovery service. They have specialized tools and expertise to recover data from damaged storage devices.

Best Regards

Martin | Microsoft Community Support Specialist