External HDD shows up in Disk Management but not in My Computer

[martyjones]

I have a 2TB Seagate 3.5" drive in an external enclosure (I've tried another enclosure and have the same issue) that I am connecting by USB 3.0. It worked fine for over a year but then one day it stopped showing up under My Computer.

I can see the drive in Disk Management, I have assigned a drive letter and everything appears to be perfectly fine. I can run Disk Check, Defragment, see all the volume, etc, etc, but I CANNOT find a way to view the contents and it won't show up in My Computer.

At one point I thought I had fixed it by booting into SafeMode, uninstalling the "USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller - 0100 (Microsoft)" driver and then restarting. That seemed to last about 3 days and now I'm back to not being able to see it.

I have tried other USB thumbdrives and they work fine. I have tried my external HDD in other USB ports on my computer and it did not work. I tried my external HDD on my other computer (Win7) and it worked fine.

http://
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wctjn6mlw3ni158/DeviceManagerUSBdeviceList.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cel3zoxmu3mwhru/DiskManagementView.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ayrr9166v4fef7w/MyComputerView.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mvlus3gt2uik75w/SafelyRemoveView.jpg?dl=0

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there martyjones,

You can go to Device Manager, uninstall the drive -> disconnect it -> reboot -> connect the drive again in order to automatically install its drivers.
Also you may reinstall your USB controllers.

Apart from that, you can try some basic troubleshooting steps like connecting the drive with another cable to a different port. Testing the drive with a brand specific testing software will not hurt also.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[vinushka]

This usually occurs when a volume hasn't been created on it. Are you sure there is still data on it and that it hasn't been wiped by mistake?

 

[martyjones]

Hi D_Know,

I have tried uninstalling the drive from the device manager, rebooting: didn't work.
I've tried uninstalling the "USB Mass Storage Device" in device manager: didn't work.
I've tried connecting the drive using a different external enclosure: didn't work.
I've tried connecting the enclosure in different USB ports: didn't work.
I really don't think it is (or was) an issue with the drive because I could unplug it from my desktop walk over to my laptop, plug it in and it would come right up.

Vinushka,

You can see from the picture [https://www.dropbox.com/s/cel3zoxmu3mwhru/DiskManagementView.jpg?dl=0] that it was assigned the volume letter (either "X" or "Z:", I don't remember which is the volume and which is the drive letter). HOWEVER, on your advice I went and changed the Drive-Letter/Volume to "Q:" and all of a sudden the drive is back!

As I mentioned, the drive came back one time before. I THOUGHT it was after I uninstalled/reinstalled the "USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller - 0100 (Microsoft)", but it may have been when I changed the letter (X is the volume letter and Z: is the drive letter, right?), so I don't know if it will last but as of now it's back up and accessible!

Thanks for nudging me along the way and I will come crawling back if it disappears again!

Kind regards,
Marty

 

[D_Know_WD]

I'm glad you were able to sort the issue out

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[kornbolt]

I was facing the exact same problem. Searched everyone for answers but finally I tried changing the Drive Letter ! And voila! I started working Thank you so much !
P.S. I created an account just to say thank you.

 

[Nick_218]

if you have a small unallocated partition on it, delete it, format the drive, and make new volume out of it. Works for me