Windows 10: External Drive won't be Recognised

My external drive is not being recognised in File Explorer and in Disk Management. The disk gets power from the computer and in the Device Manager the disk can be seen connected.

:)

 

External hard drive not recognised

Worked out what the problem was with my external drive notbeing recognised. I looked under Device Manager > USB Controllers and there itwas listed with an exclamation mark with the error saying that "the driverfor this device is in memory" or words to that effect. I right clicked thecorresponding Mass Storage device and uninstalled it and then unplugged theexternal drive. I rebooted my desktop and plugged the external drive in againand it reinstalled its driver again and I am now able to use the external driveagain.

 

External hard drive not recognised

Thanks for this. I've done what you suggested and been through all the steps mentioned in the article. The hard drive works fine on a Mac computer, and I've managed to copy the information on it. It must be a Surface issue so I'll try to get a chat line tomorrow.

 

External hard drive not recognised

Hi twynog,

The issue that you're experiencing with the external hard drive might be due to some missing Windows hardware or software updates. To help you in resolving this, you may follow the steps below:

Method 1: Uninstall and then reconnect the external hard drive - this method resolve issues where the currently loaded USB driver has become unstable or corrupt.

• Select Start, type Device Manager in the Search box.
• Select Device Manager from the returned list.
• Select Disk Drives from the list of hardware.
• Press and hold (or right-click) the USB external hard drive with the issue, and select Uninstall.
• After the hard drive is uninstalled, unplug the USB cable.
• Wait for 1 minute and then reconnect the USB cable. The driver should automatically load.
• Check for the USB drive in Windows Explorer.

If method 1 doesn't work the way it should, you may proceed to other steps provided in this
article.

Do get back to us if you need further assistance.

If you think this was useful, you may "mark it as an answer" to help those who are facing the same issue.