External Hard Drive not recognized by Computer

Asked By abbigailantonia 60 points N/A Posted on - 02/28/2015

Hi, I have a 160GB Swingline external HD that connects to a laptop with USB (2x). At times, my laptop does not recognize the drive is plugged in and I resolve the problem by unplugging and plugging it a few times. In disk management, the same thing happened and I would like to know how to fix this. I would also like to know how to remove all partitions to use the entire capacity. Currently about 8.9GB is allocated to a partition that I cannot use.

 

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• Question Category: Hard Drives

Answered By Annthony Sety 10 points N/A #200307

External Hard Drive not recognized by Computer

Even if in the disk management it is not recognized, then try the following. But before , doing this, make sure all your data present in the USB is backed up as this may/may not erase the data.

If in the Disk Management it shows

1. Unknown: Choose initialize by right clicking the word Unknown. Accept the defaults following the wizard. Not it should be labeled Unallocated.

2. Unallocated: Choose New Partition or New Simple Volume by right clicking the word Unallocated. Accept the defaults following the wizard. Format process will begin after finish is clicked. When the format is done. Your drive will appear in My Computer as a New Volume.

To Delete a Partition In the Disk Management, Click Delete Volume by right clicking the volume . Click Yes. It will be deleted.

 

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• Posted on - 03/12/2015
• Question Category: Hard Drives