SSDs are both faster and quieter, though they are more expensive. Is a SSD better than a HDD?Īn SSD, or Solid State Drive, is generally a better choice for internal hard disks than a traditional spinning platter HDD, or Hard Disk Drive. If it is present you may be able to assign it a drive letter manually, or examine its properties to determine why it’s not showing up. If not present you’re likely facing some kind of hardware issue. If not, then right-click on the Start-menu, click on Disk Management, and look for the drive in the resulting list. Your external hard drive should show up automatically in Windows File Explorer when you attach it. It’s also possible that the drive, or its interface, is damaged. Try the drive in another machine to see if perhaps the problem is with your machine and not the drive itself. The very first thing to check is the cable, making sure it’s not damaged, and that it’s securely connected at both ends. In general external hard drives don’t format because they’re not completely connected to the system. Related Questions Why is my external hard drive not formatting? Whether or not you recover your data this time, resolve to put a backup strategy into place so the next time there’s an issue (and please trust me, there will be a next time) the solution is simple: just restore your most recent backup. Remember the rule of thumb: if it’s only in one place, it’s not backed up. I’d be remiss in my job if I didn’t point out that none of this would matter - or at least it wouldn’t matter nearly as much - if you had backed up the contents of that drive. From their feature list: “GetDataBack will recover your data if the hard drive’s partition table, boot record, FAT/MFT or root directory are lost or damaged …” This all would be moot if… It’s not free, but the demo version should allow you to determine if the utility will be able to recover anything. Naturally, no one can guarantee complete recovery, but it’s a place to start.Īnother tool to consider is GetDataBack. Among other features, they state, “Even if you’ve formatted a drive so that it looks blank, Recuva can still find your files on it.” Piriform (the company that makes CCleaner) also puts out a free tool called Recuva. If everything seems to be connected and working properly, but your drive still shows as unformatted, then the disk is compromised and it’s time to haul out the data recovery software. Want that external disk to last? How To Keep an External Hard Drive Useful and Healthy Longer Data Recovery If the substitute disk fails, then you know there’s either a problem with the enclosure itself, its circuitry, or the connection to your PC. If it works, then you know you have a problem with the first hard disk (which we’ll look into next). If you have another hard disk that you know is functioning correctly, I’d be tempted to place it in the enclosure and try it. Double- and triple-check that all of the assembly instructions were followed and that the drive is attached correctly. I’d make absolutely certain that the drive was properly connected to the interface card in that external enclosure.
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