Seagate Free Agent 500 G external drive used for backing up critical files not recognized by Windows 10

[fbeckous]

The problem is not that no drive letter is assigned (in my case it is assigned E:\) I can see all the files on the drive and I can copy any file I want to my computer. It's just that Windows 10 does not recognize the drive so that the Seagate Drive Manager can see it in order for me to set up the backup routine.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the TH Community, @fbeckous!

I'd recommend you backup the files from the external drive, since you can easily access and copy them. Afterwards, go to Disk management and try changing the drive letter assigned to your external HDD. If that doesn't help you set the HDD up as a backup destination, it's probably best if you re-format it again from the Disk management in Windows.

Hope it works. Let me know if you encounter more issues!
Cheers,
SuperSoph_WD