Hard Drive Shows in Device Manager But Not Disk Management Windows 10
Is your external hard drive shows in device manager but not disk management windows 11, 10, 8, or 7? This article will help you completely fix the “Device Manager shows only external USB hard drives” problem.
User Query:
“Last week, I added an identical hard disk to my desktop running Windows 10 and at first it displayed the drive in disk management. Then I left it and when I came back after two days, it was not there and only the original drive was there. Both of the drives are appearing in the BIOS and device manager, and the SATA ports are enabled. The computer starts up in RAID-On mode; however, it has not been set up.
I tried UHCI BIOS and ATA Boot modes, yet the system does not start in either of these modes. After navigating back to the disk manager to set up the software raid, I only got the original OS disk. Can anybody tell me what this issue is and how to fix it? The hard drive shows up in BIOS but not disk management in Windows 10, 8, 7 and 11.”
Several computer users faced one common scenario: their external hard drive is connected to the computer and displayed in Device Manager. However, it is not showing up in Disk Management or File Explorer in Windows 10. If you are one of such users and landed on this page while searching for the solution, then relax. It happens that a hard drive shows up in device manager but not disk management in Windows 10. So, in this guide, we have tried to roll up some actually working techniques that can fix the external hard drive not showing up in disk management issue quickly.
Methods to Hard Drive Shows In Device Manager But Not Disk Management
If your external hard drive is not displaying in Windows Explorer or Disk Management, then below are some solutions to resolve this error:
A Word of Warning: These methods can erase or delete the existing data from the external hard drive. Hence, it is highly recommended to restore your data with the help of a powerful utility, i.e., the Hard Drive Data Recovery Tool.
You can check the working efficiency of the utility by using the demo version. After that, you can purchase a tool to recover permanently deleted files from external hard drive without any trouble.
How to Fix Hard Drive Not Detected: Quick Steps
- Download and install the hard drive recovery tool
- Select the device you want to restore and select the scan option
- View the complete file in the folder
- Select the files you want to restore and click Save
Method One: Reinstall or Update External Hard Drive Drivers
Follow the steps listed below to update the hard disk driver and fix the issue of external disks not showing up in disk management.
- First of all, connect your external hard drive to your computer and navigate to Devices Manager. Now, click Universal Serial Bus Controllers
- Hit right-click on your external hard drive and select Uninstall >> Unplug the drive
- After this, plug the hard drive back in your computer, open Device Manager and choose Universal Serial Bus Controllers
- Now, select hard drive component to be updated
- Then, hit right-click on the hard drive and select Update Driver Software option from the drop-down menu
- Go with on-screen instructions in Update Driver Software Wizard to update the external hard drive drivers
Method Two: Assign External Hard Drive A New Drive Letter to Fix Issue
After updating the hard disk driver, the issue remains the same. Then try the below-mentioned steps to assign a new drive letter to resolve the WD passport shows in device manager but not my computer issue.
- Press Windows + X keys and choose Disk Management option from the opened menu list
- Detect and hit right-click on the external hard drive and choose Change Drive Letter, then Path…
- Click on Add if the drive does not have a letter or assign a new letter to this drive. Enter a new drive letter and click OK to apply the changes
Method Three: Create a New Volume on Hard Drive and Resolve Error
You can format and reset the file system on the external hard drive to NTFS. For this, follow the instructions mentioned below:
- Hit right-click on Start and choose Disk Management
- Next, locate and detect your external hard drive
- Select the hard drive that is showing up in Device Manager but not in disk management and hit right-click on it. Choose Format Volume…
- Now, reset your file system from FAT/RAW to NTFS. Hit the OK button to confirm and apply all the changes. After this, if your external hard drive displays unallocated space on Windows 10, you can create a new volume on the disk to make it useful for storing data again. Below is how to do this:
- Hit right-click on the Start button and choose Disk Management
- Search and right-click on the unallocated space on the external hard drive. Choose the new simple volume…
- Recreate, then set drive file system with a new drive letter to make it searchable by Disk Management in Windows 10
Observational Verdict
Connecting an external hard drive to Windows 10 is very simple. However, sometimes it might not display when connected to the computer or we can say the drive is not detected by the Windows OS. Well, this is a common issue that can be resolved with the help of some technical tips. In this article, we have disclosed all the possible methods via which users can solve hard drive showing in device manager but not my computer issues in Windows 10, 8, 7 and 11 quickly and seamlessly.
