3. Try Another USB Port
Most laptop and desktop computers have multiple USB ports, and even in the worst-case scenario, one of them won’t work. You can also check the BIOS to see if the USB port is disabled, and if it is, enable it.
If you are sure that your device is operating properly, the problem may be with the USB port you are using. Simply remove the USB drive from the port you’re currently using and insert it into another. If it works on one USB port but not the other, you may have a faulty USB port. You can also try it on another computer.
4. Restart Windows
Restarting the computer will refresh your operating system. If the computer is under a lot of pressure, or some other unexplained error occurs, the drive may not appear. Refreshing the system by restarting will give the computer a second chance to detect the device.
Restarting the computer will also force Windows to install the missing drivers. If your USB is not detected by Windows 11.
Unplug your external hard drive first and then restart your computer. Give Windows time to display properly before you try to plug in the external hard drive again.
5. Check the Drive in Disk Management
To see if Windows recognizes the external hard disk, you can use Windows Disk Management. To open it on Windows 11, you can do this by:
- Press the keyboard key (WIN + X).
- Select the “Disk Management” option.
Disk Management allows you to view all the hard drives connected to your computer. In the list, you should be able to see all linked drives. It allows you to check disk size, partitions, and other data.
If your hard disk has not been partitioned or formatted, partition and format it so that the drive appears in File Explorer. Note, partition and format will delete data, if any.
And if you have a new drive, it probably hasn’t been initialized and isn’t ready for use with a Windows computer. Perform a hard drive initialization and when the drive is initialized, all data on the disk is deleted.
6. Update External Hard Drive Drivers
You can try updating device drivers and then check if they work normally. To update the hard drive driver, follow the steps below.
- Open “Device Manager”. Press the keyboard keys (WIN + X) and select the Device Manager option.
- Expand on the “Disk Drives” section.
- Right-click on the drive that is having problems and select “Update Driver”.
- Once the drivers are updated, close the Device Manager, and restart your PC.