USB HDD's are not recognised on new computerClosed

Question

My USB HDD's are not recognized on new laptop although they work well on my other laptop and PC. This is true for both mains powered and USB powered hard disk drives. The external drives do not appear in Device Manager (Windows 8.1) but a sound is made by the PC when a connection is made. Note USB flash drives work on all ports.
What should I do to rectify the problem?

nkaku · Answer

Sounds like a drive letter is not being assigned to your external HDD.

Try this;

> go to disk management
> locate your external HDD
> check to see if your external HDD was assigned a drive letter, if not
> right click on your external HDD
> click change drive letter and Paths 
> click add
> select your desired letter
> click ok and exit out.


Hope this helps you.

Cheers

R2D2_WD · Answer

Hi jjarema,

It was a good idea to check with other USB devices to confirm that the ports are working normally. Check the solution of nkaku. Usually a lack of drive letter may cause similar issues. In general, the hard drive should appear in Device Manager, no matter if it has a letter or not. Could you check again, under USB devices? 
If the drives do not appear in Disk Management, my advice is to open Device Manager and uninstall the USB Hubs. Restart the laptop and connect the external again. Furthermore, I would check on the laptop manufacturer’s web site for some driver updates.

Hope this helps

USB HDD's are not recognised on new computer

2 responses

Similar discussions

Subscribe To Our Newsletter!