Windows 10: frequent error trying to access external hard drives

My wife's Windows 11 computer, a Dell Optiplex 7080 micro, has three external USB hard drives connected to it. She uses them for backup of particularly important files.Intermittently, but far too often, when she goes to save a file on one of these drives, she'll get a small pop up dialog that says "Cannot access drive DEF". Generally, plugging and unplugging the drive will make it accessible, but that's a bit of a nuisance as the computer and drives are tucked away and not easily reached. All the drives are fairly new, all pass various health checks, cables are in very good condition, and

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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.

 

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

 

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.