Does your windows laptop hard drive not showing up? Whether it is a new or old hard drive, don’t worry. There are solutions to your problem.

Your hard drive may not be detected by your PC or Disk Management due to a connectivity issue, file system problem, drive letter, among other difficulties.

In this guide, you’ll learn different methods with step-by-step procedures to show up your hard drive.

Why Your Windows Hard Drive Is Not Showing Up?

Let me remind you that these methods may not work if your hard drive is physically broken or damaged. Therefore, I advise you to proceed to your local computer repair center or manufacturer.

If your problem is your hard drive not showing up to your Disk Management or File Explorer, the following are the signs and causes:

Signs:

• File Explorer does not show the hard drive display.
• Unknown, Not Initialized is displayed on the hard disk, which includes the new disk.
• Disk Management shows the hard drive as RAW.
• No hard drive letter can be found
• A yellow exclamation mark is found on the drive

Causes:

• Connection Problem
• The file system is either incompatible or corrupted.
• There’s a conflict on Drive letter
• Outdated drive driver
• Unallocated or uninitialized hard drive
• Damaged Hard drive

Here Are Some Ways To Fix Old/New Hard Drive Is Not Showing Up

Method 1: Updating Your Hard Drive Disk Driver

This method applies if your hard drive is not showing up to your file explorer and your hard disk on Disk Management has an exclamation mark.

When your Disk Management has an exclamation mark under the disk part, your disk driver is outdated. This is why your hard drive is missing from your file explorer.

Updating the Disk Driver is the only solution for this. Follow these steps.

Step 1: Open Your File Explorer

Step 2: Then Right Click “This PC”

Step 3: Choose Manage

Step 4: Click Disk Manager

Step 5: Locate the external or internal drive and click “Update driver” from the context menu.

Method 2: Changing the Disk Connection

This method applies to internal hard drives not showing up in File Explorer or Disk Management error; new hard drive not showing up in File Explorer or Disk Management error.

A faulty cable or a loose connection can cause connectivity problems. Here’s how to make your hard drive appear on your computer by changing its connection:

Step 1: Examine the cables. If the power or SATA cable is damaged, replace it with a new one.

Step 2: Unplug and re-plug your hard drive’s SATA cable as well as the power cord.

Step 3: Check to see whether the hard drive appears after restarting your computer.

Method 3: Formatting Your Hard Drive to NTFS

This method applies to fix a hard disk that won’t show up due to an unsupported, RAW, or corrupted file system.

When your hard drive shows up in disk management as RAW or as “*Others,” it signifies it has a file system problem.

Formatting your device to a compatible file system is the best way to solve your problem.

Here’s how you can do it:

Step 1: Click “Disk Management” in Windows 10/8 by pressing the Windows + X keys.

If you’re on Windows 7, right-click the Start button and choose “Search.” Then, click on disk management after typing it in.

Step 2: Right-click on your hard drive and choose “Format.”

Step 3: Begin formatting the drive by changing the file system to NTFS, check “Perform a fast format,” and click “OK.”

Method 4: Changing Your Hard Drive Letter

This method applies when the hard drive is not showing up on file explorer due to disk drive letter conflict or no letter on a hard drive.

When your hard disk’s drive letter conflicts with another on the computer, it will appear in Disk Management as a New Volume. As a result, File Explorer will not recognize it.

Changing the drive letter of your hard disk is the best approach to make it visible. The steps are as follows:

Step 1: Right-click the hard drive listed as New Volume or the partition without a drive letter in Disk Management.

Step 2: Change the drive letter and paths by selecting “Change Drive Letter and Paths.” Click “Change” in the new window.

Step 3: Click “OK” to assign a new drive letter to your external or internal hard drive.

Method 5: In Bios, Enable The Disk, Create A Volume, And Initialize The Disk.

This method applies to fix a new hard drive not showing up on File Explorer.

If your hard drive is brand new, you will almost certainly need to initialize it first. Then, in BIOS, create a new partition and enable it. By doing so, your new hard drive will appear in Windows 10/8/7.

Part 1: Initializing Disk And Creating A Volume On The New Hard Drive

Step 1: In Windows 10, right-click “This PC” and select “Manage.”

Step 2: Right-click your new hard disk and select “Initialize Disk” from the “Disk Management” menu.

Step 3: To begin, choose the drive and either MBR or GPT as the partition style, then click “OK.”

Step 4: Select “New Simple Volume…” from the context menu when you right-click on the unallocated space on your new hard drive.

Step 5: On your new hard drive, change the volume size, drive letter, and file system to NTFS.

Step 6: When the process is finished, click “Finish.”

Part 2:  Enabling Your Hard Drive in BIOS

The OS will not recognize the hard drive if it is disabled in BIOS, and it will not appear in Windows. As a result, it’s also vital to check whether your hard disk is disabled in BIOS.

Step 1: First, restart your computer and hold down the F2 or Del keys until you see the BIOS screen.

Step 2: Select “Integrated Peripherals” with the arrow keys on your keyboard and press “Enter.”

Step 3: Select “USB Controller” with the arrow keys.

Change the option to “Enabled” if it is currently disabled.

Step 4: BIOS should be saved and exited.

Step 5: Restart your computer and check to see if your hard disk has been detected.

Are These Methods Solve Your Hard Drive Problem?

We hope this post on how to open a hard drive in Windows 10 was educational and helpful. Please return to our website for further information on how to fix Windows issues.

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