Windows 10: External hard drive doesnt show . Right clicking on the drive in Computer Management only...

Hi there, I saw an unanswered posts from may 2014 and wanted to ask something.


When I go to Computer Management and try to right click on the external hard drive it shows me only 'help' option and nothing else. How can I fix this , what should I do ?

I'm currently with Windows 10.


Please help me if u can.

:)

 

How to Partiton a Hard Drive in Vista

This is a way to get Vista to see another hard drive that is not associated with the OS. There is some times when your new hdd doesn't seem to want to work well with Vista. But, there is a solution in it.

Open the Computer Management By doing these steps.

• Click on the Start Button
• Click on Control Panel
• Click Administrative Tools
• Double click on Computer Management

You are now in the Navigation panel of the Computer Management.
When in Computer Management, you then have to allow the new drive to be recognized.

• Double click on Storage
• Double click on Disk Management

Now in the middle of your screen there is the layout of the Disk Drives that you have. The drives that are partitioned will show by the drive lettering. The others will just show up as having nothing at all in them. Below that there will be the Disk drives that are installed into the computer. You'll see that the primary one will all ways read as "Disk 0". Then you will have Disk 1 and so on. Under the Disks there will also see your CD-Rom drives.. If there is more then one, it will be labeled the same as Disk drives..

On to the Partitioning of the drive in question.

• Right Click on the drive
• Click to format the drive or Enable Volume. There will be a series of windows that open up. This is Vista's formatting. Just go threw the windows, and make sure everything is the way you want it to happen.
• Once the formatting is done, will take some time depending on the drive size.
• Right click on the drive
• Click on Mark the Partition as Active

After you have done those steps, The drive will be up and running threw Vista.



:Side Notes:
If you are not the Administer to the Os, then you will have to enable it..
You may also want to redo the drive lettering of it all. But, I really don't see a reason to do so. If you do, you have to redo drive paths and so forth.. A lot of work on something so small...

 

External Hard Drive configuration

Hello,

Thank you for posting your concern here in Microsoft Community and welcome to the Windows 10 Family.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you. I would like to help you further from here.

From the description of the issue, I understand that the External hard Drive is undetected in your computer.

Please follow the below suggested methods and see if it helps.

Method 1: Check the Drive Partition in Disk Management

• Right click on "My Computer" and select "Manage" from the menu.
• From the "Computer Management" window select "Disk Management" from the menu on the left.
• In "Disk Management" check to see if the drive is visible. If the drive is found, look at the partition for the drive. New drives will be labeled as FAT32 and have a drive letter assigned.
• If the drive does not display as "Healthy," or shows the file format as "RAW," then the partition has become corrupt. It could also be corrupt if the bar above the drive is black and shows as "Unallocated."
• To make the drive usable again after a partition has become corrupt or lost start by right clicking on the drive in "Disk Management" and select "Delete partition" from the menu. Then right click on the drive again and select "create partition" from the
  menu. Follow the steps in the partition wizard to create a Primary partition.
• After the new primary partition has been created "Disk Management" will display the drive with an NTFS partition.
  

Method 2: Check the drive status in Device Manager

• Right click on "My Computer" and select "Manage."
• From the "Computer Management" window select "Device Manager" from the list on the left.
• From the device list, expand the "Disk Drives" category by clicking on the [+] symbol found to the left. If the drive is detected by the system, there will be an entry for your external drive.
• If it is not listed under "Disk Drives," expand the "Other Devices" category and see if there is an entry for an "Unknown Device."
• Right click the "Unknown Device" and select "Properties."
• Under the "General" tab, it will typically display "This device is not working properly" followed by either Code 10 or Code 28.
• Code 10 would suggest a potential power supply issue (typically 3.5-inch desktop external drives). If a second external drive with an equivalent power supply is available, try connecting the power supply to the drive.
• If a different power supply is not available, verify the problem by connecting to a different USB port or by connecting to a second PC.
• If the same error code is still displayed, create an RMA and return the drive under Warranty.
• Code 28 would suggest a driver error.
• Expand the "Disk Drive" category in "Device Manager" right click on the drive and select "Uninstall."
• Disconnect the external drive, reboot the computer and reconnect the drive when the computer has finished restarting.
• If same error is displayed, try connecting it to a second PC to verify the issue.
• If the drive fails on the second PC with the same error, create an RMA and return the drive under Warranty.

Hope the above information was helpful. If you need further assistance, please do let us know and we would be happy to help you further.

Thank You.

 

External Hard Drive configuration

So method one was correct step wise (from what I can tell) But it won't let me delete a partition even though the drive is unallocated.