Missing External HDD USB 3 WIndows 10/SP4

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#198921 28-Jul-2016 09:33

My external HDD is "missing" when you look under File Explorer.

Under Devices and Printers, however, it shows up.

So the computer appears to know that it is connected but won't let me look at the drive content or write to it.

Any idea why?

Thanks!

Stu

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#1600030 28-Jul-2016 09:36

Has it worked before? Is it formatted for Mac or PC?

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#1600032 28-Jul-2016 09:39

Go to Disk Management, where you will see your USB drive.

Then either add a drive letter if the USB drive doesn't have one, or change the USB drive letter so that it does not conflict with an existing one.

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#1600083 28-Jul-2016 10:32

Sounds like its in a format unknown to Windows. As Stu said, has it worked before ?

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#1600188 28-Jul-2016 14:28

It's a good question.

I THINK it has worked before; I'm pretty sure I tried it on the SP when I bought it. I can't swear to that though and it was used (and is used) with Mac.

However, if it merely cannot read it, would it not still show up and just say the disk could not be read unless formatted again? That is what a Mac would do.

I'll try the drive letter thing and report back!

Thanks

Stu

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#1600200 28-Jul-2016 14:36

If it has been formatted for Mac, I don't think you'll be able to merely add a drive letter. If it is Mac formatted, try something like Paragon HFS+ for Windows (Disclaimer: I haven't used this myself)

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#1600279 28-Jul-2016 16:13

Had someone's ext HDD here a while ago that had no drive letter and it wouldn't allow one to be added. Using Mini Tool Partition Wizard I could see all the data but not from the PC.

I surmised that someone had been using it with a MAC. Ended up copying data from within a partitioning tool, formatting it to ntfs, then copying data back.

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#1602631 2-Aug-2016 05:21

So would a PC not still recognise that a drive was attached, even if it could not read the contents?

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#1602645 2-Aug-2016 07:31

Have you looked in both device manager for the drive to be detected, and disk managment to check it has seen it has any valid partitions on the disk?

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#1602649 2-Aug-2016 07:46

In the OP you say it shows up in Devices and Printers, so it would appear that Windows is detecting it. Surely it would be worth installing something like Paragon HFS+ for Windows, so you will easily be able to see if the drive is in fact set up for Mac without doing any damage to it's its contents?

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#1602669 2-Aug-2016 08:19

Devices and printers can often show a faulty drive that doesnt appear in disks in device manager, I think it is just looking for the name of the USB controller and not the actual disk connected to the controller.

In anycase, disk management will show if it has a recognizable partioning system and what partitions or on it, or if it just does the dreaded offer to initialize the disk because it is stuffed.

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