{"id":16660,"date":"2020-09-29T12:22:09","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T10:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.databack.fr\/non-categorise\/why-isnt-my-external-hard-drive-recognized\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T10:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T08:08:12","slug":"why-isnt-my-external-hard-drive-recognized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.databack.fr\/en\/faq\/why-isnt-my-external-hard-drive-recognized\/","title":{"rendered":"Why isn&#8217;t my external hard drive recognized?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even if your operating system doesn&#8217;t detect your storage medium, there are solutions for <strong>recovering data from an unrecognized external hard drive<\/strong>. In the best case, this involves simply restoring access to your data, but it may be necessary to <strong>repair your external hard drive<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">External hard drive not detected: what&#8217;s causing the problem?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Identifying the reason why your hard disk is not recognized will determine your data recovery protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1 &#8211; USB port problem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A faulty USB port (hardware failure) or a non-updated or corrupted USB device driver (software failure) will prevent automatic detection of any device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2 &#8211; Software corruption of the external hard drive<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Non-recognition by your Mac or Windows operating system may be due to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.databack.fr\/en\/data-recovery-expert\/hard-disk\/\">software fault on the external hard drive<\/a>: corrupted file system, damaged partition, virus or malware&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3 &#8211; Computer software failure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Windows and macOS operating systems are supposed to recognize storage devices automatically. If it doesn&#8217;t appear in your PC&#8217;s BIOS or your Mac&#8217;s Finder, your computer may have a software fault. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4 &#8211; Hard disk hardware failure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your external hard drive may have suffered an electronic or mechanical failure, following an incident or accident (drop, shock, lightning strike, water, etc.). In this case, we recommend that you follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.databack.fr\/en\/faq\/how-do-i-recover-data-from-a-damaged-external-hard-drive\/\">our advice<\/a> on recovering data from a damaged hard disk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How do I recover data from an unrecognized external hard drive?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Recovering data from an unrecognized external hard drive <\/strong>may mean forcing your computer to detect it. Before you get to that point, or even consider calling in a lab to repair your hard drive, here are the first steps to take: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Step 1: Check the USB port by connecting your external hard drive to another USB port, another computer or another cable of the same type;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Etape 2&nbsp;: s\u2019il n\u2019est toujours pas reconnu, v\u00e9rifiez si votre disque dur externe apparait dans le syst\u00e8me de votre ordinateur&nbsp;:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>in Windows Disk Management: press Windows + R, enter <em>diskmgmt.msc<\/em> in the &#8220;Open&#8221; bar and click &#8220;OK&#8221;.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>in the Finder under macOS: click on &#8220;Preferences&#8221; to check that the utility displays external disks; to search for external disks, click in the Finder on Utilities &gt; Disk Utility.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Step 3: If your hardware is not visible in your computer&#8217;s system, update your USB device drivers via the Device Manager.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In all other cases, or if your external hard drive is still not recognized by your computer, we recommend that you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.databack.fr\/en\/contact-2\/\">contact a laboratory<\/a> specializing in data recovery.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"510\" height=\"213\" src=\"https:\/\/www.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pourquoi-mon-disque-dur-pas-reconnu.jpeg\" alt=\"why isn't my hard disk recognized?\" class=\"wp-image-8716\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pourquoi-mon-disque-dur-pas-reconnu.jpeg 510w, https:\/\/www.databack.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pourquoi-mon-disque-dur-pas-reconnu-300x125.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even if your operating system doesn&#8217;t detect your storage medium, there are solutions for recovering data from an unrecognized external hard drive. In the best case, this involves simply restoring access to your data, but it may be necessary to repair your external hard drive. External hard drive not detected: what&#8217;s causing the problem? Identifying [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Why is my external hard drive not recognized? Databack","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Databack, the data recovery laboratory, explains why your external hard drive is not recognized.","footnotes":""},"categories":[69,80],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[138],"class_list":["post-16660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-data-recovery-en","category-faq","author-jean-pierre-saunier"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why is my external hard drive not recognized? Databack<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Databack, the data recovery laboratory, explains why your external hard drive is not recognized.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.databack.fr\/en\/faq\/why-isnt-my-external-hard-drive-recognized\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why is my external hard drive not recognized? 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Databack","description":"Databack, the data recovery laboratory, explains why your external hard drive is not recognized.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.databack.fr\/en\/faq\/why-isnt-my-external-hard-drive-recognized\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why is my external hard drive not recognized? 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