Windows 10: Previously initialized external drive suddenly needs to be reinitialized in Windows 10.

One of the external drives that I've been regularly using in Windows 10 has suddenly stopped appearing in This PC. It's recognized when I plug it in, it still shows up in Device Manager, and is still detected when I select to eject it (they both even still show the same drive name). When I check in Disk Management, it detects the drive, but it says that it needs to be initialized before I can use it, which will wipe the data. I've tried using the other USB ports in the PC, with the same result. I tried plugging in 3 other external drives, and they all work perfectly fine. I had assigned the drive letter as Q, so that it wouldn't interfere with any of the internal drives.


I tried using it on our Windows 10 laptop, and it works perfectly fine there with no data loss, and the media files are still readable on my PS4 Pro, so it's definitely not defective. It obviously doesn't need to be reinitialized. There's over 600gb of data on it.


Other than upgrading my graphics card a few weeks ago, I've made no changes to anything else.


My info:


Windows 10 Pro, version 1803

i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50 Ghz

24gb DDR3 RAM

GTX 1060 - 8gb

:)

 

External drive

Hi Richard,

There are several factors that can cause your external drive to not read DVDs even though the system is recognizing the device. This could be caused by a driver that needs to updated or corrupted files. For us to resolve your concern, kindly answer the questions
below:

• Just to confirm, the device that is not working properly is a external DVD optical drive?
• Were there any recent changes or updates installed on your computer?
• Have you tried to plug the external drive to a different port on your computer?

As a initial recommendation, we suggest that your run the built in troubleshooter in Windows 10. Kindly refer to the steps below:

• Type “Troubleshooting” in the Search bar and press Enter.
• Click on “View All” in the top left corner.
• This will display the list of troubleshooters which are built-in in the computer. You can click on
  Hardware and Devices from the list and you can run the troubleshooter.

This will check for common errors that affect hardware on your computer and attempts to correct them.

We look forward to your response after completing the steps.

 

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.

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.