Windows 10: Problem recognizing an external drive

My name is Gad Feldan. My computer is Windows 11 Home edition 24H2 version Installed on 10/29/2024 Build version of the operating system 26100.2161 Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.32.0 My computer recognizes an external drive on which I save the system image, but after about an hour of creating a system image, it suddenly stops recognizing the external drive, before the system image is complete. I suspect it's because of Windows security. I tried everything and it doesn't help.

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External drive not recognized

I have an external drive that is not being recognized. I have unplugged it and and plugged it back in and still not being recognized. I see it listed in device manager and it says it is working properly. In disk management it says Disk 1 Unknown not initialized.
I have tried changing drive letters not able to do that. This happened when I disconnected an hdmi cable, The external drive stopped responded at that point so I unplugged it but when In plugged it back it is not being recognized. I can feel the disk spinning
so it is working. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

 

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 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.