Windows 10: USB hard disks not being seen by Windows 10

None of my USB hard disks are being seen by Windows. Here's the situation:- they used to work but stopped sometime in the last few months- all of the drives work on other PCs- USB thumbdrives work and so do other USB device types. It's just my hard disks that do not work.- Windows plays the USB connected sound when I plug them in but nothing else happens- the disks do not even show in Device Manager or Disk Management- Device Manager shows no problems with USB controllers or anythingThe key point here is that the disks are good and work on other PCs so there is no reason they shouldn't work.

:)

 

Installing windows off of a USB stick

Step By Step from vista:
From admin cmd prompt

1. diskpart
1a. list disk
2. select disk 1 (replace 1 with your usb drive)
3. clean
4. create partition primary
5. select partition 1 (replace 1 with your usb drive)
6. active
7. format fs=fat32
8. assign
9. exit

Copy Windows Vista's DVD ROM content to the Flash Drive

xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\ (d being your vista cd and e being your usb stick)

And that's it, boot off your usb disk

 

Windows 10 USB boot

Hi there, am not a windows 10 expert. I have a pc in the bedroom on windows 10, I messed up the bootloader trying to fix the xp on that system.

System wont boot, trying to repair via win 10 usb installer.

Downloaded the media creation tool to install windows 10 installer on usb stick. Not compatible with a host of usb sticks I have. Tried the usb sticks that others use, but I think they use rufus; as the media creation tool by win 10 does not detect the usb stick.

So quick question, the win10 machine i am trying to repair the bootloader is a win7 upgraded to win10.
If i were to use the usb win10 installer to "repair installation" does the version of the iso downloaded via the media creation tool matter?

There is three options:
Windows 10
Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 N

Also is there a step by step instead of using rufus as I want to try an alternative method of creating a usb win 10 installer. Preferably with more compatibility.

System is a asus sabertooth 990 (r2?) with AMD phenom X 6.

Also is there any other software I can load onto the usb that can repair the bootloader easily?
That would be the ideal alternative. Thanks

 

USB Hard Disk Drive not recognised

Hi Nicholson,

Thank you for your interest in Windows 10.

I suggest you to follow the methods below and check if it fixes the issue.

Method 1: Run Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter

Follow these steps to run Hardware and Devices troubleshooter:

• 
  Press Windows key + X and click on
  Control Panel.
  
• 
  Select Troubleshooting.
  
• 
  Select View all on the top left corner.
  
• 
  Click Hardware and Devices.
  
• 
  Follow the on-screen instruction to run the troubleshooter.
  

Method 2

I suggest you to check if the disk is listed in Disk management utility. If it is listed, run an error check to see if there are any corrupted files causing this issue.
Refer these steps:

• 
  Press Windows key + X, select
  Disk management.
  
• 
  Right click on the drive and select properties.
  
• 
  Under tools tab, click on “Check” button under Error Check.
  

Method 3: Uninstall and reinstall USB drivers

Follow the steps to uninstall the USB drivers:

• 
  Press Windows Key + X key and click Device Manager.
  
• 
  In Device Manager, double click to expand "Universal Serial Bus controllers".
  
• 
  Right click on the Host Controller, click "Uninstall" and click "OK".
  
• 
  Select the option to Delete driver software.
  
• 
  Uninstall all items under "Universal Serial Bus controllers".
  
• 
  Restart the computer after its uninstalled.
  

Try to access the computer manufacturer's website and download the latest chipset drivers for your computer and install the same.

Hope this information is helpful. Please do let us know if you need further assistance, we’ll be glad to assist you.