Issue: My External Hard Drive Is Recognized But Won't Open
'Recently, I connected my 64GB external hard drive to the computer, it didn't appear as normal in the 'My Computer' folder. Instead, it shows up as an unknown device in Device Manager.
My external hard drive detected but cannot open? I have so many important files on the drive, so I can't format the drive unless the files were safely restored. Can I fix this issue without losing my files?'
Being different from an unrecognized external hard drive, the causes of the 'external hard drive detected but cannot open' error seems to be more commonly discussed. Here is a list of symptoms when the external hard drive or other storage devices become inaccessible:
If you need more computer storage, the best external hard drives are a great way of getting more space, quickly and easily. In a nutshell, HDDs are cheaper, and SSDs are quicker. Most external drives are plug-in and go models, that connect to your laptop or PC via a USB connection. Power compatible with USB 2.0 6) Plug and Play Easy to use No software installation 7) Lots of storage for your music movies and other files 8) Internal crash sensor and slope charging technology to protect your device and data description Fast Data Transfer 1TB/2TB/4TB/8TB External Hard Drive Ultra-Fast Transfer Speed with Internal Hard Drive. Jan 30, 2022 If a device that has been formatted as extended storage is already connected to your PS4, your PS4 will not recognize a second external storage device. If the above requirements are met but the PS4 external hard drive is still not recognized or showing up, you can continue troubleshooting the issue with the following fixes. Buy Flash Drive for Phone Photo Stick 128GB USB 3.0 Photostick Phone Memory Stick Storage External Storage Thumb Drive for Smart Phone,Android,PC Computer and Tpye-c Devices 4 in 1 Driver-Black: Cases - Amazon.com FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases.
- File system error
- The storage device driver is outdated
- Device not formatted error
- Unsupported file system
- The request failed due to a fatal device hardware error
The listed issues may occur to most older devices, to resolve these issues, you can follow guides in Part 1 to restore and extract data from the device first and refer to Part 2 for specific solutions.
As for a new external hard drive, users may meet the last listed issue and they just need to initialize the device to make it accessible.
Part 1. Restore Data from Not Opening External Hard Drive (Only 3 Steps)
How are you going to access saved data on the external hard drive which is not opening on your Windows computer? Professional data recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard enables you to access data on an inaccessible storage device.
EaseUS External Hard Drive Data Recovery
- Recover lost documents, photos, audio, music, emails, and more from external hard drives
- Recover files from corrupted USB drive, emptied recycle bin, memory card, SD card, digital camera, and camcorders
- Support data recovery from inaccessible, corrupted, and damaged external hard drives
With it, you can fully scan and recover data from the inaccessible hard drive in 3 steps:
Step 1. Use a correct USB cable to connect your external hard drive to your computer. Run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and you will see your external disk under External drives. This software supports all the popular external disk brands, including WD, Seagate, Toshiba, LaCie, SanDisk, Samsung, etc.
![Usb storage device best buy Usb storage device best buy](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/518794be-87eb-4a38-932d-6f3ad11e029d.90d0b2133b37e5581fd9ceabbc51c60f.jpeg?odnHeight=612&odnWidth=612&odnBg=FFFFFF)
Select the external hard drive and then click the 'Scan' button.
Step 2. As soon as the scan process starts, the software will find more and more lost and deleted data and display the data in the scan results. The recovered data will be nicely organized. You can quickly find the target files/folders by file type or search in the search box with exact file name.
Step 3. You can preview the files found by EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard's scanning algorithms. Then, select files and click 'Recover'. To avoid data overwriting, we recommend that you save the recovered data to a different drive than the original Seagate drive.
After this, move on to Part 2 and find an effective solution to make the external hard drive accessible again on Windows 10, 8, or 7.
Part 2. Fix external hard drive won't open error (4 methods)
How to solve the external hard drive detected but not showing up error and make your device work perfectly again? Here, we've collected 4 reliable methods that can help:
Method 1. Gain administrator permission (3-4 minutes)
Applies to: remove device inaccessible issue without access permission
The process of getting access permission on Windows 10 and 8 is similar, only a tiny difference on Windows 7 and older OS.
Step 1. Open This PC, right-click the inaccessible external hard drive, and select 'Properties'.
Step 2. Go to Security, click 'Edit' and click your username under Group or username.
Step 3. Check all boxes under the Allow column, click 'OK' to confirm, and 'Apply' to keep all changes.
Reboot the PC and reconnect the external hard drive to your PC if necessary.
You May Also Interest In:
If you are having a similar issue on your hard drive, you may directly try the fixes below.
Are your hard drives, be it new or old, internal or external, not showing up in File Explorer or Disk Management? Follow to learn how to make your hard drive showing up again in Windows 10/8/7 without losing data.
Method 2. Update the external hard drive driver (3-5 minutes)
Applies to: resolve device driver outdated, not opening issue
If you can't access your external hard drive on Windows 10, this method is also worth trying.
Step 1. Connect the external hard drive to the PC.
Step 2. Right-click on This PC/My Computer icon, select Manage and go to Device Manager.
Step 3. Expand Disk drivers, find and right-click on the external hard drive, choose 'Update driver'.
Step 4. Select 'Search automatically for updated driver software' and wait patiently till the process completes.
Reboot the PC and reconnect the device if the system requires it.
Method 3. Check and fix file system errors (4-5 minutes)
Applies to: fix corrupted file system or existing errors, making the device not opening
To do so, you can either use disk error checking tools or cmd command to check and fix existing file system errors on your device.
Note: Running chkdsk can hopefully fix the file system errors, however, it can also result in total data loss. So, perform data recovery in advance, and then continue with the CMD method
Here is the example of using the CMD command to fix file system errors:
Step 1. Press Windows + R keys simultaneously to invoke Run. Type cmd in the empty box and hit Enter.
Step 2. Type disk part and click OK to bring it up.
Step 3. Type chkdsk G: /f /r /x and hit Enter. (Replace G with the correct drive letter of the external hard drive that is not opening.)
Exit the command prompt and safely eject your external hard drive. After some seconds, try reconnecting it and see if you can open it normally.
If command line is not your ideal choice, you can apply this command-line alternative tool - EaseUS CleanGenius. Use this one-click tool to fix the file system error on your hard drive.
Step 1. Download EaseUS CleanGenius on your computer for free.
Step 2. Run the software. Click 'Optimization' on the left panel, and then choose 'File Showing' .
Step 3. Go to 'Choose drive' and select the drive with a file system error. Check the 'Check and fix file system error' option and click 'Execute'.
Step 4. Wait the EaseUS CleanGenius completes the repairing process. After that, click the 'here' to view the result.
Method 4. Format external hard drive, change the file system to NTFS
Applies to: resolve unsupported, unrecognized file system causing device unopenable
Mostly, NTFS and FAT32 are the default file system of external hard drives and USB devices. Sometimes, if the operating system doesn't support a specific file system, the device will not open.
To resolve this issue, you can format the device to NTFS or FAT32 by using disk management or a free format tool. Here is an example of changing the external hard drive file system by using the EaseUS free format tool - Partition Master Free. Only 3 steps will make it work again:
Step 1. Right-click the hard drive partition and choose the 'Format' option.
Step 2. In the new window, set the Partition label, File system, and Cluster size for the partition, then click 'OK'.
Step 3. You can see a warning window, click 'OK' to continue.
Step 4. Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner, then click 'Apply' to start formatting the hard drive partition.
![Storage Storage](https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/393243991548_/1-To-512-Go-USB-Flash-Drive-Pour.jpg)
Wait for the formatting process to complete. Then you can unplug and replug the external hard drive, reusing it to save files again.
The Bottom Line
To sum up, to unplug the external hard drive by using the safely remove method, update disk driver timely, fixing file system error and use an adaptable file system on storage devices, you can safely avoid the device is detectable but not opening issue.
Also, don't panic when you meet this issue. Turn EaseUS file recovery software to restore and export valuable files first, and then apply 4 methods on this page to make your device usable again.
Hi Allan,
Method 1: Run the Hardware troubleshooter and check.
Follow the steps to run the troubleshooter:
a) Press Windows key + C on your keyboard to show the Charms bar.
b) Type Troubleshooting and click Troubleshooting under Settings.
c) Now type Hardware Troubleshooter in the search option.
d) Click on Hardware troubleshooter to run the troubleshooter.
If you are able to detect the drive in Disk management, I would suggest you to assign a letter.
Method 2: To assign drive letter:
From disk management.
To assign a drive letter if one has not already been assigned, click Add, click the letter that you want to use, and then click OK.
To change a drive letter, click Change, click Assign the following drive letter, click the letter that you want to use, and then click OK.
To remove a drive letter, click Remove, and then click Yes to confirm that you want to remove it.
You can also refer to the link given below and follow the instructions provided.
External Usb Storage Device For Wii U
Why isn't Windows finding my device?
Portable External Storage Devices
Have a Nice day!