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Ext Hdd not always recognized since upgrading to Win 10

sttubs

sttubs

Joined
Feb 12, 2008
Messages
693 (0.11/day)
System Specs
Processor AMD 8350
Motherboard Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0
Cooling Xigmatek Dark Night Night Hawk Edition
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 1600 GSkill Ripjaws CL7
Video Card(s) Gigabyte 980 Ti Xtreme Gaming OC Ed
Storage Samsung 850 Evo 500gb + WD Black 5Tb
Display(s) ASUS VG248QE 144Hz
Case White Corsair 500r
Audio Device(s) onboard
Power Supply Corsair AX860i 860W
Software Win 10 Pro 64bit
I've noticed since upgrading from Win7 to Win10 my external hard drive is not recognized all of the time. I hear the connection sound that Windows makes but my hard drive is not listed & cannot be accessed. The drive's health checks out just fine & still easily connects to another Win7 machine. Is this common with Win10, any fixes?
 
This is most possibly a driver/firmware or the usb controller issue. It happen to my iomega external drive when I try to use it on window 8.1 from windows 7.

The problem is exactly as you described. Drive is healthy but files could not be open or i could not copy files to the HDD on windows 8. When I plug the drive in a windows 7 computer the files is alright.

You can try to fix this problem by having a firmware update for your drive from the manucfacturer website. It may solve your problem. But for my case it does not solve it fully.

I ended prying my external hdd apart and put a generic external usb to sata. It ran fine thus my suspicion of a usb controller issue. Doing this a challenge in itself to as my iomega have the damn program attach to it that can only be remove with a special firmware rather than a simple format. After all that is done my external drive case clips are destroyed from the removal. So I use the drive internally now like what my specs said.

Make sure you have spare drive to backup your data before doing the above. What is your drive by the way?

Edit : Just to add do the simple thing first. Use a new usb cable or a good known working cable with your HDD to see if your cable is alright.
Then also try on different usb ports including usb 2.0 if this is a usb 3.0 hdd. My drive strangely work in usb 2 without problems
 
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That is strange what is the hdd that you use? Does work well just putting it in your computer sata ports?
 
The hdd is a WD Blue 1tb. It works fine on my other Win7 machine. I should have specified, I'm using Win10 on a laptop. I tried those same drives as listed above on another Win10 laptop & it has the same issues.
 
Hey there, @sttubs

I'd suggest you to try re-installing the USB drivers for your Windows 10 system from the laptop manufacturer's website.
It is most probably a compatibility issue with Windows 10, however, I wouldn't suspect an issue with the WD Blue itself. I think it's either the enclosure or the USB hub controller drivers.
Windows Updates have the tendency to mess things up with the drivers sometimes, so it's highly recommended to use the Drivers Pack CD that came with the laptop (or the motherboard itself, if it's a custom build). In cases when you don't have such a CD/DVD, you should use the manufacturer's website to find your model and update the drivers from there.

If the issue persists, I'd strongly recommend you to contact the enclosure manufacturer's technical support for assistance!

Hope this helps, though! Keep us posted! :)
SuperSoph_WD
 
My suggestion would be to go to the laptop's manufacturer website and reinstall the USB drivers.
Another thing you can do is to go to Device Manager -> uninstall the drive -> plug it out -> reboot system -> plug it back in.
 
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