PC not seeing external drive

worried_jim

I have a WD 1tb external drive for back ups and this week my PC (ACER T-180) has stopped "seeing" it.

I though it was knackered but I have just tried it in my Cyclone media player and it is fine, the player can see it and play files from it.

Just tried it again in the PC using different sockets but it still isn't there to see and use- any ideas?

arrallas

Take a look in your device manager and see if there are any problems flagged with your USB inputs. I assume you have plugged in any other USB device to see if it works? Do you have another computer you could plug your WD into (not just a media player)?

esuhl

Sometimes it helps to use USB ports on the back of the PC as they are connected directly to the motherboard, unlike ones on the front panel which are linked via an internal USB hub.

Otherwise, if that doesn't help:

Go to Start, Run, type "diskmgmt.msc", and press enter. The Disk Management window opens.

Find the partition you are trying to access and ensure it is mounted (i.e. has been assigned a drive letter).

If not, right-click the partition, choose "change drive letter and paths" and assign a drive letter to the partition.

Open Windows Explorer, hard-refresh with CTRL+F5 if necessary, and you should be able to access the partition that wasn't appearing.