Windows 10: Windows 10 recognises my external Hard Drive as a Local Disk.

I've been having an issue the past few weeks where windows will pick up my external 2TB Seagate HDD as a Local Disk rather than a removable drive. All the files seem to still be accessible and none appear to be corrupted but its causing a few small and very annoying problems. As this is the drive that I use for my University work on both my main PC and my Laptop I need to be able to run and update files off of it in real time, which I had been doing for years before this. If I boot up my PC with the drive plugged in, the icon will appear as a white note instead of the usual drive icon, and whe

:)

 

External hard drives saying local disk


Hi, you might find something from these I've collected from the forum on external drives:
Hi, there are several threads on external drives not being recognised. Feel free to search the forum.

The last posts on this solved it for one person:
Windows 10 can't find external USB 3.0 drives... - Page 2 - Windows 10 Forums

No solution here, but do post a screenshot of disk management as per this thread
External Hard Drive Issue. - Windows 10 Forums

This one refers to Western Digital drives
Solved USB Drives not recognised in Windows 10 - Page 2 - Windows 10 Forums

There are suggestions of assigning a drive letter
External Hard Drive not showing up - Windows 10 Forums

This one discusses permission issues, and suddenly resolved itself - code 43
Solved External hard drive not visible - Page 2 - Windows 10 Forums


Please feel free to search the forum using the search box above e.g.
external drive not recognised
usb drive not recognised
etc

 

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 is showing up as local disk drive

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



As you have mentioned that the external hard drive is showing as local disk drive instead of a USB drive, it is because the file format for the external hard drive is same as the internal hard drive and that’s why it is showing
up as a local disk drive and not a USB drive.



Also, since you are facing issues while changing the drive letter of the drive, for further clarity on the issue and to guide you accordingly, respond to the questions listed below:

1. What is the make and model of the hard drive?
   
2. Were you able to save or create a file on the hard drive previously?
   
3. What happens when you try to copy and paste the data from the hard drive?
   
4. What was the result of check disk performed on the drive?
   

Since you are receiving the access denied error, I would suggest you to check if the user has appropriate permissions to read/write data on the external hard drive. Refer the article

"Access Denied" or other errors when you access or work with files and folders in Windows, refer the section
I cannot access, change, save, or delete files and folders.



Note:
The above article applies to Windows 10 also.



Please get back to us with the above information to assist you further with the issue.



We await your response.



Regards,

Prakhar Khare

Microsoft Community – Moderator