External hard drives are becoming very common. Perfect for working or storing important things.. Both are equally easy to use. This is because all you have to do is connect it to your Windows computer and it will open easily. Therefore, many people tend to store important data on their hard drive so that it can be accessed later.
That’s why it can be frustrating when you connect your hard drive to your Windows PC to access all the files you need, only to find that your external hard drive doesn’t show up. Many people have definitely experienced this, but no one expects it.
So what will you do if you encounter such a problem? Well, if you’re here, you’ve come to the right place, because we’re going to look at some steps you can take if your computer doesn’t recognize your external hard drive.
Solution 1: Show Hidden Files on an External Hard Drive
If the files on your external hard drive are hidden, you won’t be able to see them unless you enable the option to show hidden files. Here are the steps to detect hidden files on your external hard drive.
- Click the Start button, find the Control Panel and open it.
- Click File Explorer Options.
- Then go to the View tab and select Hidden Files and Folders.
- Choose the Show hidden files, folders and drives option, and uncheck the Hide protected system files checkbox.
- Finally, click “Apply” and “OK.”
- Open File Explorer and navigate to your external hard drive to check if the files are now visible.
Solution 2: Recover Hidden Files using CMD
You can use the Command Prompt in Windows to recover hidden files, especially if you can’t see them in File Explorer. This method works best when the files are hidden by a virus and do not appear even after following the steps in Solution 2. These are the steps to recover files from an external hard drive that are not showing up in Windows.
- Click the Start button and search for cmd. Right-click the Command Prompt icon in the search results and select the Run as administrator option.
- When Command Prompt opens, type “F,” replacing “F” with the drive letter assigned to your external hard drive.
- Type the command attrib -h -r -s /s /d F:\*.* and press Enter to run the command. (Remember to replace the “F” with the drive letter on your external hard drive.)
- Finally, type “Exit” to close the Command Prompt. Open File Explorer and open your external hard drive to find hidden files that appear again.
External Hard Drive Files Not Showing Up with Expert Software
If files stored on your external hard drive are still not visible after you enable the Show hidden files option, they may have been deleted or lost. But do not worry; you can still retrieve it. You need a reliable solution like FreeViewer Best Suggested Windows Data Recovery Tool as the best tool to recover lost files from external hard drives.
With it, you can recover hidden files from external hard drive in a few simple steps. No matter the reason for deleting files (such as accidental deletion, disk formatting, system crash, or file corruption), you can easily recover them in minutes.
- Hard Drive Recovery Utility Launch Screen During Download and Installation.
- Select a partition and click the Scan or Scan Format button as needed.
- Preview all data recovery items in the application panel.
- Select “Keep All Data” or “Keep Deleted” to save the recovered data from your hard drive anywhere on your computer.
Conclusion Line
There is no need to panic if you are faced with a situation where your external hard drive files are not showing up. Try to understand the reasons from the list we have mentioned. Then start the above steps to resolve the issue. If files are deleted or lost for any reason, we recommend Data Recovery to easily recover deleted files.
