Windows 10: External Hard Drive Crashing Windows 10

I am using a WD Elements 3TB hardrive with my Windows 10 PC.


Usually, I would plug my external HDD in and it would function normally.


However, all of a sudden it is now not working. When plugged in, it shows as Local Disk J: where it would normally show as WD Elements E:


When I click on the hard drive in windows Explorer, Windows Explorer crashes, gives me a black screen and won't return until I unplug the hard drive.


In Device Manager, it shows up as WD Elements and it says there are no issues with the drive.


I have tried to open Disk Management, however it just hangs at "connecting to virtual drive...".


I have also tried Windows 10 Hardware and Devices troubleshooting, however this just loads forever and gets nowhere. I've left it for 20 minutes now.


I have also tried running chkdsk using the CMD prompt as administrator. However simply nothing happens, not even an error code.


I have tried the drive in another computer with the exact same result. I can also access other drives without an issue on both computers.



I really need the data on the drive, I would like to try any safe troubleshooting or recovery options available that doesn't sacrifice my data.


Thanks in advance for the help.

:)

 

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.

 

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.

 

Seagate External Hard Drive

Hi Barbara,

Hardware failure or corruption within your system files are some of the possible reasons why you are experiencing an issue with accessing your external hard drive. For us to provide an accurate solution, we would need you to answer the following questions:

• Which build, version and edition of Windows 10?
• Are you experiencing the same issue when you are trying to access the external hard drive using another PC?
• What troubleshooting steps have you done so far?

In the meantime, we suggest running the automated troubleshooter for hardware. Follow these steps to do so:

• Open the Control Panel.
• Using the search box at the upper right corner of the window, type troubleshooting.
  
• From the search results, click on Troubleshooting.
• Click on Hardware and Sound and then choose Hardware and Devices.
• Once done, restart your computer and then check if the same issue persists.

We are looking forward to your response.