Location:
State:
Carrier
Country
Status

Unable to access external USB Drives!


Hi I recently upgraded my PC to windows 10 and every since have been unable to access any USB external drive.

The laptop picks up the drives and acknowledges that they are there and working but they do not appear in file explorer.

I have looked in disk management and the drives are there and healthy.

The USB ports work 100% as i have plugged in keyboards etc to test and all the drives i've tried work with other computers.

I've tried everything I could find on blog that have worked for other people. I've reinstalled windows twice. Ran various disk cleanup utilities, checked for hidden drives etc.

I need to upload video files to my laptop to edit for work, so need to resolve this ASAP :/

Any help or ideas is greatly appreciated!

Thank you

Hi, some people seem to experience this, particularly with Seagate drives.

You might try disabling fast startup, or plugging them in to a USB2 port

Windows 10 can't find external USB 3.0 drives... - Page 2 - Windows 10 blog

Hi, some people seem to experience this, particularly with Seagate drives.

You might try disabling fast startup, or plugging them in to a USB2 port

Windows 10 can't find external USB 3.0 drives... - Page 2 - Windows 10 blog

Thanks Dalchina, I've just tried disabling the fast startup and that didnt work, I've also tried using both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports.

The main drives i'm trying to attach to it are Kingston SSD's and a WD drive, neither of which it accepts.

Any further ideas?

Thanks

Can you confirm all is well in Device Manager?
Might help someone to help you if you complete your system specs (see Tutorial section for a 'how to')
Your problem sounds more general than some have experienced given the types of drive you've tried.

Can you confirm your PC is listed as being Win 10 compatible?
Please post a screenshot of disk management with a non-recognised drive plugged in. (diskmgmt.msc)

I collected these posts a while back:
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 blog

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

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

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

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


Otherwise, please try searching the forum for 'external drives' 'external drives not recognsed' (e..g). There are man threads on this topic.
Windows 10 can't find external USB 3.0 drives... - Windows 10 blog
Hitachi HDS72101 external drive not recognized - Windows 10 blog
Solved Upgrade from 8.1 to 10: Hard drive no longer recognized. - Windows 10 blog
External hard drive not recognised - Windows 10 blog
Solved USB Drives not recognised in Windows 10 - Windows 10 blog
Solved win 10 PC will not find my USB powered external HDD. - Windows 10 blog

etc... (many more)

Please see if sthg there helps.. if so please let us know. Thanks!

Unable to access external USB Drives!