When external hard drive issue occurs, an external hard drive is not showing files though they still exist. If any important data is in the USB/external hard drive when external hard drive shows up in Disk Management but not File Explorer, you can employ data recovery to retrieve your data before formatting it.
- Wd External Hard Drive Not Showing On Mac
- Wd External Hard Drive Not Showing Up In My Computer
- Wd External Hard Drive Not Showing Up On Windows
Fix External Hard Drive not Showing in Disk Management. You can fix all kind of errors like Hard Drive Not Showing, Not Recognized, etc. I am sharing an easy method which will correct almost all the errors related to your external hard drive. You can resolve all these issues in any of your Windows 10, 8.1, and 8. I will share 5 simple steps to fix external hard drive, not showing in windows 10.
- Sometimes, external hard drives do not show up while connecting and thus making the data inaccessible. Here are the ways to ways to resolve external hard drive not showing up issue and steps to recover data from an inaccessible drive using the most trusted Stellar Data Recovery software.
- 'My WD external hard drive is not showing up under This PC. I have a 500GB WD external disk which is often used for data backup. Yesterday, I wanted to reinstall operating system on my computer, so I moved all important files to the external hard drive. After system reinstalling, I attempted to move those files back to my computer.
- When you connect the WD hard drive to your computer, and the system does not detect the hard drive, it means there is an issue with the hard drive. Consider the below solutions to fix the Wd External Hard Drive Not Recognized issue; Causes of the problem: The malware files or programs on the system can lead to the WD drive problem.
- Find a wide range of fast & reliable high capacity external SSD & USB drives for your PC or Mac. FREE & FAST shipping! External SSD Hard Drives & USB Hard Drives from 250.
When you connect an external hard drive on your Windows PC/Laptop, then it does not show up in the disk management application? Well, don't worry because I have a simple solution to fix the external hard drive, not showing in disk management on Windows PC/Laptop.
However, if you were looking for the simple and straightforward method to do this then surely this article is for you. Just go through the entire article for every detail regarding the same.
Read more: How to Fix Printer Problems
Contents
External Hard Drive Not Recognized in Windows
To fix the external hard drive not showing in disk management on our Windows PC/Laptop issue we will not be using any software on our Windows system. Setting this issue is a straightforward method; what exactly we are going to do is that we will use system settings only.
However, we all know that system's problem can be easily solved by using system settings. So, this is the motive of our method. Moreover, Windows gives full support to its user that let they customize any settings as they want so we are going to mess with system settings of our Windows PC/Laptop.
Read more: How to Fix Error 651
How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing in Disk Management in Windows 10, 8.1 & 8
If you are having Windows 10, 8.1 or 8 PC/Laptop or either computer and having this issue, then this article will be helpful for you. I think now you have some idea that we will fix external hard drive not showing in disk management using Windows system settings.
There is no such hidden or inbuilt feature to do so. Even this is more simple than the method to use a hidden feature of Windows PC. Well, without taking your much precious time, I would like to get started with our quick guide, which is described below.
Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing in Disk Management
- Visit the Device Manager application & by using properties page, uninstall your external hard drive.
- Now, remove your external hard drive from your Windows system.
- Then, by choosing Restore option from Control Panel > Restore your Windows PC or Laptop.
- Now, after doing this, re-connect your hard drive to the computer.
- Then, open the Disk management app, and you will be able to see your external hard drive in it.
Further, you have to create a partition of that external hard drive to use it. That's it Nothing else.
Read more: How to Fix Windows 10 Crashes Problem
Conclusion
We just saw a fantastic and simple method to fix the external hard drive, not showing in disk management on your Windows PC/Laptops. However, it is not sure that using this guide you will get a 100% success rate to fix it. But, if this doesn't work.
Then I will suggest you to use BIOS settings to do so. Well, using this method will work for you I'm sure. So, use it freely. Also, make sure that you share this article with your friends though they will be able to fix this issue without any technician or mechanic.
In general, when you plug in an external hard drive to your Mac's USB port, you will see it shows up automatically on the desktop, in the Finder, and in the Disk Utility. However, there are times that you cannot find it because the computer is not set up properly or the disk fails to mount. If that is exactly what is happening to your WD external hard drive, follow the quick fixes and effective methods below to make the drive show up again.
Let's check all the basics first to save time, money and hassles.
1. Make sure the USB cable is plugged to the end of the USB port.
2. Change USB port/cable to detect WD external hard drive.
3. Detach the drive and reboot your Mac to quit any apps that might stop the drive from being detected.
4. Try connecting the WD external hard drive to another computer to see if it works.
After doing all these basic checks, if the WD hard drive doesn't show up on Mac still, you can try out the following solutions one by one.
Solution 1: Show WD external hard drive on the desktop
By default, your Mac is supposed to display the icons of all external disks on the desktop. Then users can access the disk on the desktop directly. If the setting is somehow changed, the WD hard drive will stop showing up on the desktop.
To change the situation:
- Go to Finder in the top menu bar on the desktop.
- Select Preferences….
- Go to the General tab.
- Check External disks.
Then the WD external hard drive will appear on the desktop.
Your hard drive shows up on the desktop but not in the Finder? Well, the cause might be the same.
Solution 2: Show WD external hard drive in the Finder
The detected and mounted internal and external disks will be shown up in the Finder. However, if somebody chooses to hide some items, he or she can set up not to show them in the sidebar of the Finder. However, you can easily change the setting back.
- Open the Finder and go to Finder at the top menu bar.
- Select Preferences….
- Go to the Sidebar tab.
- Check External disks.
You should be able to see the WD external hard drive that doesn't show up in the Finder now.
The WD external hard drive won't show up even after you change all the settings? Then it is very possible that the drive is having mounting problems.
Solution 3: Show WD external hard drive in the Disk Utility
When you connect an external hard drive on your Windows PC/Laptop, then it does not show up in the disk management application? Well, don't worry because I have a simple solution to fix the external hard drive, not showing in disk management on Windows PC/Laptop.
However, if you were looking for the simple and straightforward method to do this then surely this article is for you. Just go through the entire article for every detail regarding the same.
Read more: How to Fix Printer Problems
Contents
External Hard Drive Not Recognized in Windows
To fix the external hard drive not showing in disk management on our Windows PC/Laptop issue we will not be using any software on our Windows system. Setting this issue is a straightforward method; what exactly we are going to do is that we will use system settings only.
However, we all know that system's problem can be easily solved by using system settings. So, this is the motive of our method. Moreover, Windows gives full support to its user that let they customize any settings as they want so we are going to mess with system settings of our Windows PC/Laptop.
Read more: How to Fix Error 651
How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing in Disk Management in Windows 10, 8.1 & 8
If you are having Windows 10, 8.1 or 8 PC/Laptop or either computer and having this issue, then this article will be helpful for you. I think now you have some idea that we will fix external hard drive not showing in disk management using Windows system settings.
There is no such hidden or inbuilt feature to do so. Even this is more simple than the method to use a hidden feature of Windows PC. Well, without taking your much precious time, I would like to get started with our quick guide, which is described below.
Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing in Disk Management
- Visit the Device Manager application & by using properties page, uninstall your external hard drive.
- Now, remove your external hard drive from your Windows system.
- Then, by choosing Restore option from Control Panel > Restore your Windows PC or Laptop.
- Now, after doing this, re-connect your hard drive to the computer.
- Then, open the Disk management app, and you will be able to see your external hard drive in it.
Further, you have to create a partition of that external hard drive to use it. That's it Nothing else.
Read more: How to Fix Windows 10 Crashes Problem
Conclusion
We just saw a fantastic and simple method to fix the external hard drive, not showing in disk management on your Windows PC/Laptops. However, it is not sure that using this guide you will get a 100% success rate to fix it. But, if this doesn't work.
Then I will suggest you to use BIOS settings to do so. Well, using this method will work for you I'm sure. So, use it freely. Also, make sure that you share this article with your friends though they will be able to fix this issue without any technician or mechanic.
In general, when you plug in an external hard drive to your Mac's USB port, you will see it shows up automatically on the desktop, in the Finder, and in the Disk Utility. However, there are times that you cannot find it because the computer is not set up properly or the disk fails to mount. If that is exactly what is happening to your WD external hard drive, follow the quick fixes and effective methods below to make the drive show up again.
Let's check all the basics first to save time, money and hassles.
1. Make sure the USB cable is plugged to the end of the USB port.
2. Change USB port/cable to detect WD external hard drive.
3. Detach the drive and reboot your Mac to quit any apps that might stop the drive from being detected.
4. Try connecting the WD external hard drive to another computer to see if it works.
After doing all these basic checks, if the WD hard drive doesn't show up on Mac still, you can try out the following solutions one by one.
Solution 1: Show WD external hard drive on the desktop
By default, your Mac is supposed to display the icons of all external disks on the desktop. Then users can access the disk on the desktop directly. If the setting is somehow changed, the WD hard drive will stop showing up on the desktop.
To change the situation:
- Go to Finder in the top menu bar on the desktop.
- Select Preferences….
- Go to the General tab.
- Check External disks.
Then the WD external hard drive will appear on the desktop.
Your hard drive shows up on the desktop but not in the Finder? Well, the cause might be the same.
Solution 2: Show WD external hard drive in the Finder
The detected and mounted internal and external disks will be shown up in the Finder. However, if somebody chooses to hide some items, he or she can set up not to show them in the sidebar of the Finder. However, you can easily change the setting back.
- Open the Finder and go to Finder at the top menu bar.
- Select Preferences….
- Go to the Sidebar tab.
- Check External disks.
You should be able to see the WD external hard drive that doesn't show up in the Finder now.
The WD external hard drive won't show up even after you change all the settings? Then it is very possible that the drive is having mounting problems.
Solution 3: Show WD external hard drive in the Disk Utility
First, you have to figure out the mounting problem is caused by physical damages or logical errors by checking the disk in the Disk Utility. If you can find the WD external hard drive in Disk Utility, congratulations! It means the Mac can recognize and detect the WD external hard drive, and, in other words, the disk doesn't have any hardware issue preventing you from fixing it. It only has some logical issues that result in the system failing to mount it. Then the following steps would help.
First of all, try to select the hard drive and use the Mount button to manually mount the external hard disk. If you are unable to mount the WD external hard drive, please try running the First Aid through Disk Utility. To do this, choose the grayed out external hard drive from the left sidebar, click on First Aid on the top and select Run.
Wd External Hard Drive Not Showing On Mac
The Mac still doesn't mount the external hard drive successfully? You have to reformat the disk to make the drive work again. However, you should be aware that reformatting will delete all existing data.
Hard drive data recovery software for Mac like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac can easily achieve the task.
Key capabilities of iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac:
- Recover photos, videos, documents, audio, email files, archive files, etc.
- Support data recovery from hard drive, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc.
- Support data recovery from formatted/unredable/unmountable/corrupted disks.
- Recover data from unbootable Mac.
- Support APFS, encrypted APFS, HFS, HFS+, FAT and exFAT file system.
- Work on macOS 10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and earlier OS X versions to OS X 10.7.
Here is the simplified process of recovering data from the troubled WD external hard drive:
Wd External Hard Drive Not Showing Up In My Computer
- Download and install iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery on Mac.
- Launch iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery.
- Select the WD unmountable external hard drive and click the Scan button to scan for all the lost data.
4. Preview the searching results, choose the files you need, and click Recover to get them back.
Wd External Hard Drive Not Showing Up On Windows
After recovering important files from the WD hard drive, it is time to reformat it. Stay in the Disk Utility window, follow the easy steps to finish fixing the not showing up WD external hard drive.
- Select the WD external hard drive.
- Click on the Erase button.
- Input a name, format (exFAT is recommend for cross-platform users) and scheme.
- Hit Erase.
After erasing the disk, detach and reattach the hard drive to the Mac. It should be mounted correctly and show up on the desktop, in the Finder and in the Disk Utility.
Conclusion
This post is not only useful when your WD external hard disk is not showing up on Mac, but applies to any external hard drive or SD card not showing up situation on Mac including but not limited to Seagate external hard drives, Samsung external hard drives, and Toshiba external hard drives.
