Windows 10: Why did my computer suddently stopped recognizing any external hard drive?

I was working on my computer rendering a video and, out of nowhere, all my external hard drives stopped showing inside Windows Explorer. They show up in the "Eject Media" panel, but they are not accessible anymore. They all show up on "Disk Management" as the image below shows DISK 2. I reinstalled Windows and updated my BIOS, but the problem didn't go away. All the external hard drives work on other computers.What can I do?

:)

 

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 not recognized

Hello zbook
#1) I have tested the external drives in three different computers, win10 pro, Win10, and XP. The results are identical. When I plug in the external hard drive windows signals a new device with an audio signal and the light comes on on the external drive. The results on all three pc's is identical in disk manager, file explorer and device manager.
#2) I have tried all solutions presented to me by FreeBooter, from the simplest solution of uninstalling the external drive in device manager and rebooting windows, to using the various third party software that was suggested, obviously with out success.
#3) The attached screen shots will only show one of the drives attached because I don't have enough free USB ports to attach two drives and I didn't think it would have been a good idea to use a hub.
#4) one strange thing about one of the drives is that now device manager lists it as a Toshiba drive although it is a Western Digital.
#5) Sorry but I have no way of getting a photo of BIOS










I look forward to reading your comments

 

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.