It is believed that many users have encountered this situation.
Lets see a true example from answers.microsoft.com:
My 2nd hard drive isn’t showing up on my computer.
The hard drive was a slave I took out of my old XP machine after it crashed.
I have double-checked to ensure it was set as a slave drive and it is.
Nothing is showing up as unallocated in Disk Management and the drive says it’s healthy.
In the equipment Manager, it says the equipment is working properly.
I’ve also tried to update the drivers, and it says they are up to date.
I’ve tried disabling and enabling the hard drive.
I’ve even tried uninstalling it.
Do you know how to deal with this issue?
Besides, can you recover data from the hard drive when it is not showing up?
To solve these problems, like keep reading.
Otherwise, the original data saved on the drive which is not showing up may be lost permanently.
Right now, the best data recovery software MiniTool Power Data Recovery is recommended.
in all file storage devices.
And it supports recovering data of no more than 1 GB for free.
Now, lets see the detailed steps to recover files from the hard drive that not showing up.
Download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 2.
Launch this professional tool to get its main interface as follows.
Here 2 data recovery modules are listed in the main interface of this all-in-one data recovery software.
Here, you could keep the default module Logical Drives.
Then pick the target hard drive which is not showing up in Windows Explorer, and then click theScanbutton.
Wait for the full scanning completes to get the best recovery result.
Finally, preview and select all needed files, then clickSaveto store them.
better to store needed files on another drive.
Otherwise, the original data will beoverwritten.
Tip:The free edition of MiniTool Power Data Recovery can only recover data no more than 1 GB.
If you oughta recover more data, yo choosethe full edition.
Here you’ve got the option to see theLicense Comparison.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery effectively recovered data from the drive not showing up in My Computer.
Read this post to learn how to recover its data and repair it.
Now let us see the detailed cases of hard drives not showing up and the corresponding solutions.
After this process, you’ve got the option to use it again.
In this case, you might choose the appropriate partition style according to your actual needs.
Files get lost after converting your MBR disk to a GPT disk?
Now read this post to get useful ways to recover lost files after MBR to GPT conversion.
Once the drive letter is missing, you will encounter the hard drive not showing up issue.
To solve this problem, you gotta assign it a drive letter.
This article explains how to solve the drive letter not available issue in Windows 10/11.
Right-click theWindows logokey and selectDisk Management.
Find and right-tap the partition that needs to be deleted and chooseDelete Volume.
ClickYesto confirm to delete this partition.
Case 4 Hard Drive Becomes Unallocated
Sometimes your hard drives may become unallocated due to various reasons.
Lets start with a true example:
My external USB 3.0 HD was working perfectly well yesterday.
However, today suddenly became an “unallocated” drive without even a drive name.
I’m able to detect the drive but I have no way of accessing it.
The only solution that I’ve tried so far is to pull up the HD with another computer.
But the results are the same with those computers.
However, this solution will cause data loss forever.
So, yo ensure you haverecovered data from the unallocated driveahead of doing anything else.
And, you will receive a warning saying the gear is not recognized.
This issue can be due to various reasons, including the currently loaded USB driver becoming unstable or corrupt.
you could solve the drive not recognized issue by applying the methods listed in these posts.
Windows cant read these file systems.
Can data be recovered after a low-level format?
How to recover files after low-level format?
This article shows you the answers.
Then try the methods listed above to fix the hard drive not showing up issue.
