Windows 10: Windows 10 not recognising different external hard drives

I have a Windows 10 HP All-in-one desktop. I also have a numb er of hard drives from Windows 7 and XP computers that I used to own. I recently realised that some files that I need might be on one of the old drives so I bought myself a USB docking station to connect the old drives to the Windows 10 PC.


My PC seems to recognise all of the drives but, when I open the File Explorer, it always shows the files that are on the first disk I tried to read.


I am obviously missing something that I need to do but cannot think what I am missing. All suggestions gratefully accepted.


Thank you

:)

 

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.

 

External hard drive not recognised by Windows 10

External hard drive not recognised by Windows 10

 

External hard drive not recognised

Hi twynog,

The issue that you're experiencing with the external hard drive might be due to some missing Windows hardware or software updates. To help you in resolving this, you may follow the steps below:

Method 1: Uninstall and then reconnect the external hard drive - this method resolve issues where the currently loaded USB driver has become unstable or corrupt.

• Select Start, type Device Manager in the Search box.
• Select Device Manager from the returned list.
• Select Disk Drives from the list of hardware.
• Press and hold (or right-click) the USB external hard drive with the issue, and select Uninstall.
• After the hard drive is uninstalled, unplug the USB cable.
• Wait for 1 minute and then reconnect the USB cable. The driver should automatically load.
• Check for the USB drive in Windows Explorer.

If method 1 doesn't work the way it should, you may proceed to other steps provided in this
article.

Do get back to us if you need further assistance.

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