Windows 10: Windows 10 can't find external USB 3.0 drives...

Things have been working great for months, but recently Windows 10 magically re-enabled fast boot and I began experiencing the same problems. So I went in and turned it off again. Boo Microsoft!

 

Tried the disable fast boot trick and that didn't help. I sent my laptop back to HP and they checked it out and said there was no problem with the computer. An MS tech went thru the system before I sent the computer to HP and he said there was no problem with the windows 10. The Seagate Slim 1 tb hdd drive works fine on the USB 3 port of my ASUS q302la, but only after I switched off legacy USB support in the BIOS, a solution for which the ASUS tech seemed to be familiar with. So does anyone know how to actually resolve the problem with a HP Starwars laptop and Seagate drive on the USB 3 port.

 

[IMG said:
Windows 10 Help Forums Originally Posted by WhyMe



Windows is possibly booting too quickly, meaning that the external devices are not detected before the cold boot has completed

Please disable fast boot in Windows power options. Then shutdown and do a cold boot. Please confirm whether this solves your issue
said:


THANK YOU! I disabled the fast boot per your suggestion, and this morning when I booted up my drive was recognized just fine. This was my last buggy issue after upgrading to win 10. Gotta love these forums, and the helpful folks who populate them!

Well, MS has done it again! The latest big Win 10 "creators" update re-enabled fast boot, and my Seagate USB 3 external drive stopped connecting at startup. So I went it and turned off fast boot again, and now all is going swimmingly!

 

Please be aware the operating system (in this case Windows 10) can not enable/disable "Fast Boot". That Fast Boot is a BIOS setting which the OS does not have control over.

Source: Fast Boot

Fast startup allows the operating system (Windows 10) to wake up/shutdown faster.

Source: Enable this setting to make Windows 10 boot up faster

See this thread - Win10: Fast Startup vs Fast Boot?

Just pointing out that there is a difference and that the OS (Windows or otherwise) can't enable/disable Fast Boot because Fast Boot is a BIOS feature, not a OS (Windows) feature.

 

Right you are! I stand corrected.