Windows 10: Why does my Wifi cut out whenever I plug in external hard drive?

Hello, I'm trying to figure out why my WiFi cuts out every time I plug in my external hard drive to my laptop. At first I figured that it might be a power drain or something to that effect, so I then tried to plug it in to a powered USB hub but I get the same results. WiFi instantly cuts out. I do not loose my WiFi if I plug in a normal flash drive or my iPhone. This only happens with external hard drives. I have 4 of them and tried all of them with different USB cables directly to the laptop and the powered USB hub but get the same results every time. I'm running Windows 10 on an HP laptop z

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Computer freezes and Explorer doen't respond when I plug an external Hard drive

Hello jobkakule,

The issue is possibly caused by corrupted data or bad sectors on your external hard drive or could be a sign of a failing hard drive.

To better assist you with your concern, I'd like to know the following:

• Confirm which build is currently installed on your device. To check, follow the steps below:

1. Press Windows key + R, then type in winver.
2. Click OK.

• Have you tried plugging your external hard drive to a different USB port? Also, check if you can access the drive by plugging it to a different computer.
• What is the make and model of your computer?

Meanwhile, I'd suggest to repair the bad sectors on your external hard drive. Kindly refer to the steps below:

(Let's just assume that the drive letter for your external hard drive is E. If not, please do change it to the correct drive letter)

1. Plug in your external hard drive. Click on Start, search for
Command Prompt, right-click on it and select Run as administrator.

2. Type in the following command below and press Enter after each command:

Chkdsk /f E:

Chkdsk /r E:

3. Reboot your computer after the scan is completed.

Looking forward to your response.

Regards.

 

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.

 

External Hard Drive

Hi,

Just to verify, did you mean, your back up files used to be on your external hard drive, but now it's no longer there? If this is true, kindly provide more answers to the questions below, so we can further assess the issue:

• When did the files start to disappear?
• What are the troubleshooting steps you have done so far?
• Did you make nay changes on the settings of your PC or hard drive prior to this issue?
• Are you getting any error messages when trying to plug in your external drive?
• Does your external drive shows that the space is consumed?

Please advise. We'll keep an eye out to your response.