Windows 10: External Hard Drives Won't Work on Two Specific USB Ports

Klaw117 · May 4, 2019

I have two external hard drives that I've usually kept plugged into two back USB ports but all of a sudden, the USB ports stopped detecting them one day. If I move them to other USB ports, they work fine. In addition, any other USB drives I plug into those two USB ports work fine as well. The ports and the drives seem fine but when I put those two drives into those two specific ports, they don't work. What's going on here? If someone knows and can tell me, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

:)

SVLingam · May 4, 2019

My Seagate external hard drive is not detected when plugged in to USB port of my laptop using windows 10?

Hello Lingam,

As you are facing issues with accessing hard drive on your computer, we will help you with this issue.

Do let us know the following to assist you better:

Have you made any changes to the operating system prior to this issue?

What is the complete error message/ error code while trying to access the hard drive?

Step 1: As a workaround, I suggest you to do the following to detect the issue:

Connect the hard drive to different port and check if the issue persists.

Connect different hard drive to the same port and check.

Connect different hard drives to different ports and check.

Step 2: If the device is not detected on your computer try to run
Hardware and Devices troubleshooter as it checks for common problems and makes sure that any new device or hardware connected to your PC is installed correctly.

Press Windows key from the keyboard, type
Troubleshooting and select it.

Click on view all option on the upper left corner of
Troubleshooting window.

Select the Hardware and Device
options from the list.

Click Next to run the Hardware and Device
Troubleshooter

Step 3: I suggest you to check if there are any drivers with yellow exclamatory mark in the Device Manager.

Press Windows + X from the keyboard, click on
Device Manager.

Right click on the detected driver, click on Properties
and check the device status.

Hope it helps. Try the above and update us the status of this issue with the required information, we will be happy to help you further.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response.

I have tried all the steps provided, however in vain. The external hard drive is not identified at all in any of the the USB ports when connected. The USB ports identify other external Flash drives and devices. However this drive is detected in another laptop
using Windows 7 OS. Please advise further.

Regards

twynog · May 4, 2019

External hard drive not recognised

Hi ,

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.
Click to expand...

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.

John Ado · May 4, 2019

usb external hard drive hub

Hi Norine,

Let's take a closer look to the issue to get to the bottom of it. Please answer the following:

Can you tell us the exact error message?

Have you checked the specification of your external drive? Verify with the manufacturer if it's backward compatible with USB 2.0

Is any chance that your desktop has at least one USB 3.0 port?

We look forward to your response.

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