Windows 10: external hard drive not recognized

Discus and support external hard drive not recognized in Windows 10 Drivers and Hardware to solve the problem; i recentley came accross a hard drive i had from and old Acer laptop, i think it had windows 7 or 8 on it, so i bought a SATA to USB 3.0, 2.5 inc case... Discussion in 'Windows 10 Drivers and Hardware' started by Ebait, Jul 25, 2021.

  1. Ebait Win User

    external hard drive not recognized


    i recentley came accross a hard drive i had from and old Acer laptop, i think it had windows 7 or 8 on it, so i bought a SATA to USB 3.0, 2.5 inc case and plugged it in to the mac that i have been using for 3 years now, in finder there it was marked Acer open it up and could see program files, windows files ect. thought great ill hit the restart button hold down the command button next thing i know know i am at what i call apples boot menu see apples hard drive, and my hard drive from my old laptop so i choose mine from my old laptop, a windows logo shows up on the screen and that spinning loading symbol, as its loading i suddenly had a thought, I wonder what mac uses for a BIOS? now Im sure whatever they do use it wont work with my external hard drive. so i hit the reset button log in go to finder and the drive is no longer there. plugged it in to a windows laptop in sees the disk drive but does not recognize it. Any help would be great,

    :)
     
    Ebait, Jul 25, 2021
    #1
  2. Zaki_j Win User

    Toshiba external hard drive not recognized

    Hi Philip,

    Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

    I understand that the external hard drive is not recognized by the PC. I appreciate your efforts in trying to resolve the issue.
    It would be great if you can answer these questions to assist you in a better way.

    • Did you try connecting the Hardrive to different USB Port?
    • Does the Hardrive get detected if you try connecting it to a different PC?
    • Are you aware of any changes made to the computer recently?

    I suggest you refer and follow the steps mentioned in the KB article and check if that resolves the issueError:
    “USB Device not recognized” when you try to access a USB external hard drive


    Note: Ignore method 2 & 5 from the above article.

    Let us know how it goes.

    Regards,

    Zaki
     
    Zaki_j, Jul 25, 2021
    #2
  3. vallero Win User
    external hard drive not recognized

    Hello zbook
    #1) I have tested the external drives in three different computers, win10 pro, Win10, and XP. The results are identical. When I plug in the external hard drive windows signals a new device with an audio signal and the light comes on on the external drive. The results on all three pc's is identical in disk manager, file explorer and device manager.
    #2) I have tried all solutions presented to me by FreeBooter, from the simplest solution of uninstalling the external drive in device manager and rebooting windows, to using the various third party software that was suggested, obviously with out success.
    #3) The attached screen shots will only show one of the drives attached because I don't have enough free USB ports to attach two drives and I didn't think it would have been a good idea to use a hub.
    #4) one strange thing about one of the drives is that now device manager lists it as a Toshiba drive although it is a Western Digital.
    #5) Sorry but I have no way of getting a photo of BIOS


    external hard drive not recognized [​IMG]


    external hard drive not recognized [​IMG]


    external hard drive not recognized [​IMG]

    I look forward to reading your comments
     
    vallero, Jul 25, 2021
    #3
  4. twynog Win User

    external hard drive not recognized

    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.
     
    twynog, Jul 25, 2021
    #4
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