But what do you do when you go to plug it in and the external drive is not showing up in Windows 10? When a new hard drive is not showing up on windows, you’ll need to work through troubleshooting each of these potential causes one at a time.
Cause of New Hard Drive Not Showing Up in Windows
An issue with a new hard drive not showing up could have many causes. The most common one is that the drive isn’t formatted yet. This is usually a simple fix if you follow the right steps. However, there are numerous other issues that could cause this as well, including hardware issues with the drive, driver failures, and more. Here are some examples:
The hard drive is not correctly formatted, or not formatted at all.The external hard drive has a hardware failure.Your USB cable connecting the computer to the drive is faulty.The USB port is failing, and not detecting the hard drive you’ve just plugged in.Your current hard disk driver is outdated or corrupt.
How to Fix It When an External Hard Drive is Not Showing Up in Windows
Troubleshooting an issue with an external hard drive not showing up in Windows 10 requires a methodical approach. It’s best to start from the computer and USB port side, and then work your way toward the external drive itself.
