Windows 10: External Drive Cannot be Found in Windows 10

My Seagate external drive no longer shows up in File Explorer. I'm running Windows 10 for some time now, and it initially showed up until just recently. My local Tech Support guy says there is a known Windows 10 issue with external drives. Do you know is this is true? If yes, any way to know when the upgrade with a fix is installed?

I already went through all of the suggestions noted in this Thread awhile ago, and concluded my external drive must be toast. So I bought a new one and it works fine. So just wondering about the "known Windows 10 issue with external drives."

:)

 

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE CANNOT BE FOUND

Time Lady, I appreciate you taking the "time" to try to help me. As stated at the bottom of my post just above yours, the problem is solved.

Also, I regret the inconvenience, however I am not allowed to click om "problem solved" on my own post.

SOLVED MY PROBLEM!

Now I wonder whether or not your drive failed because you unplugged it without using the safe disconnect function?

 

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE CANNOT BE FOUND

Is the external HD self powered or mains powered?

If it has a power adapter unplug the HD from the power & from the USB port, then plug in again. I had the same problem & this allowed the pc to 'see' the HD again, however in my case it was an early indication that the HD was failing.

 

You can have a read here. Yes, it's a known issue.
Windows 10 Anniversary Update Might Hide Partitions After Install - Windows 10 Forums

 

I'd read about the problems and when Upgrading from 1511 to 1607AU I had pulled the power from my 3 External HDDs. When everything seemed to be okay I plugged them back in and all is well. I pulled the power rather than the USB cord so as, hopefully, it would retain the drive letters I had set, it worked.

 

Does it show up in Disk Manager but without a drive letter? If so, you can assign a drive letter. If this is the issue, you could also try enabling automount and rebooting, which will bring this volume online and keep it online through subsequent reboots. Enabling automount can be done by opening a Command Prompt window and invoking DISKPART -> automount enable -> exit

 

Well, I initially went through trouble shooting, I concluded my drive was toast and bought a new drive that works fine. So no need now for trouble shooting. But thanks for your advise - will put it into my "How To" file for next time.

 

Thanks for the info. Turns out I do not yet have the Anniversary Update. I believe the Anniversary Update is 1607; I have version 1511. Are they rolling it out little by little? Something to look forward to - I guess.

 

Well then, perhaps your drive did in fact bite the dust. *Sad A lot of people don't have 1607 yet. I had one HP that never even got the "Get Windows 10" and I had to update it manually before the deadline. Not sure what they're doing...