Most of the users prefer Microsoft’s Windows 7 as one of the best OS for its user-friendly features. Owing to its useful modifications and new functions, Windows 7 has outrun its predecessors. However, users are often complaining about the external hard drive not showing up Windows 7. This external hard drive not showing up issue has become a large problem for the users recently.
So, if you are also looking for solutions to this issue, don’t worry. In this article, you’ll find the immediate solutions that will help you to get rid of this problem once and for all.
Reasons Why External Hard Drive Not Showing Up Windows 7
The external hard drive is also known as the portable hard drive. It is always used to store data for backup. There can be many different reasons for which the Windows 7 external hard drive is not showing. First of all, if it is a brand new hard drive, then it needs to be initialized. Before using it for any purpose, one needs to initialize it.
External hard drive not showing up Windows 7 may also occur due to the absence of a drive letter. If there is no drive letter on the partition of the external drive, the system will not recognize the hard drive. Sometimes, the hard drive is not noticeable by the partition manager. Then, it will not appear in File Explorer.
In many cases, lots of partitions may cause this type of errors. If somehow, the partition table becomes faulty, then all the partitions on the external hard drive are lost. Therefore, Windows 7 will be unable to access the hard drive.
If the data cable is not connected correctly or damaged, then BIOS will not detect the SATA cables. One should also check the USB ports of the drives. If they are faulty, then, obviously, Windows 7 will not recognize the hard drive.
Learn How To Find External Hard Drive Windows 7: Easy Fixes
External hard drive not showing up Windows 7 has become quite a serious issue these days. If you are also bothered about this, then this article will help you to solve this problem. With the given methods, it will be easy for you to get rid of this issue.
Before going into the troubleshooting part, try some of the basic hacks that are in the following:
- Check the hard drive by connecting it to another computer and see if it recognizes the drive. This will confirm whether the drive is broken or not.
- Check if the port is dead. You can do that by connecting the external hard drive to another port and see if it is working correctly.
- Try avoiding the USB hub while plugging the external drive into your computer. Often, USB hubs fail to provide the required power to the hard drive.
- Check if the connector is faulty or not which you’re using to connect the hard drive to your PC.
Now, you can follow these troubleshooting steps to find the external hard drive on Windows 7:
Solution 1: Partition The Drive
There might be a partition issue with the drive that is causing such a problem. If the drive is unpartitioned and there are many ‘Unallocated space’, then you’ll need to create a new partition using the Disk Management tool.
- Launch the Run application by pressing both ‘Windows logo key’ and ‘R’ together.
- Then, type ‘diskmgmt.msc’ in the dialog box and hit the Enter key.
- Next, go to the unallocated space and right-click on it. Then, click on ‘New Simple Volume’ from the menu and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.
Solution 2: Assign A Drive Letter
Your drive must have a drive letter or else, there will be problems due to which you will find the external hard drive not showing up Windows 7. To assign a drive letter, go through the following steps:
- Go to the Disk Management using the same way as mentioned in the previous method.
- Locate your drive and right-click on it to choose the ‘Change Drive Letter and Paths’ option. You need to make sure during this moment that the drive should be online. If not, then make it online by right-clicking on the disk number and click Online.
- Then, click on the ‘Add’ option.
- Now, click OK to select the first available drive letter.
Solution 3: Enable The Driver
Sometimes, Windows 7 automatically disables the driver and for that, one can’t find the driver after plugging it into the computer. So, you have to enable the driver and to do, that follow the given procedure:
- Open the Run dialog box by pressing ‘Windows key’ and ‘R’ together on your keyboard.
- Type ‘devmgmt.msc’ in the Run dialog box and click OK to open the Device Manager window.
- Look for ‘Disk drives’ and expand it. In this category, check if the drive is disabled or not. If yes, then enable it by double-clicking the drive name and select the ‘Enable Device’ option.
- End it by clicking on Next> Finish.
Solution 4: Update Driver Via Device Manager
- Press ‘Windows’ + ‘R’, enter ‘devmgmt.msc’ and hit ‘Enter’.
- Click ‘Disk Drives’; if the drive shows a yellow exclamation mark, it has defects.
- Right-click on that drive, select ‘Properties’ and read the message carefully.
- To fix it, click on ‘Update driver’ to install the updates. Or, you can uninstall the driver and restart your computer.
Solution 5: Rebuild MBR Without Data Loss
MBR(Master Boot Record) is essential for hard drives. If it gets damaged for some reason, then you have to use the AOMEI Partition Assistant software. First, download and install it, then open it. Now, right-click the uninitialized disk and choose ‘Rebuild MBR’. Next, set the type of MBR based on your current OS and click OK. In the end, click on Apply to complete the operation.
Solution 6: Format External Hard Drive To NTFS Or FAT32
Run the AOMEI Partition Assistant. Right-click on the external hard drive partition that you need to format and choose ‘Format Partition’. Now, choose one file system compatible with Windows 7 and click OK. After that, click Apply to implement it.
Thus, we hope that all the above solutions will fix the external hard drive not showing up Windows 7 problem completely provided you follow the steps carefully.
