When you want to save information on an external hard drive, you only have to connect it to a USB port from your computer Windows 7. In this way you will have a large capacity of resources to save all data you need.
It may happen that your device does not automatically detect the external hard drive and this can be due to various causes, which we will explain below.
If you want to know how to fix errors they don't let you PC with Windows 7 recognize the external storage drive, you will have to continue reading, because we will explain the step by step for each situation.
Why doesn't my computer recognize an external hard drive?
If your computer with Windows 7 does not recognize an external hard drive, the USB port may The one you connected it to does not work correctly or the storage unit does not have a format that supports your operating system.
But this is not all casesAlso, an external hard drive fails when the execution program that comes from the factory does not work well or because the drivers are not updated, among other things. So you know all the problems and how you can fix those errorsWe invite you to continue reading so you can find the answers you need.
Learn step by step how to fix errors that do not let your Windows 7 computer recognize your external hard drive
We will show you below how you should fix errors that do not allow your Windows 7 computer to recognize an external hard drive:
Format disk
When you have the external hard drive with a RAW type format, you should follow this guide to format it:
- Go to Start Menu and select the option Storage.
- Then choose Disk manager.
- Right click on the external disk.
- Select the option Format.
Review software from external disk
If the problem is in the software that comes with the external disk, you will have to connect it to your computer and follow these steps:
- At File Browser select the external hard drive and right click on it.
- Then choose Device administrator.
- Click on Disk drives.
- See if next to the name of the HDD exists a warning icon. If so, you will know that the problem is in the program and you should reinstall or update drivers, which we will explain in the next paragraph.
Update Drivers
Go to start and look at the Storage option, then continue like this:
- Choose Device administrator.
- Then select Disk drives.
- Find the external hard drive name and click on it.
- make right click and choose the option Update Driver.
Control the input port
Many times the problem is not in the external disk but in the input port. For this reason it is convenient connect the memory drive to another USB portIn case it works you will know that you should not put the external hard drive in that port. If the disk does not work, the problem is already with the unit, so you will have to review according to the points we mentioned before.
Assign letter and format to external disk
If the disk is new, it is likely that it has not been assigned a letter, so you must add a name to the unit so that it can be recognized. For this you will have to connect the external disk, go to Windows File Explorer and right-click on the unit. Then choose the option Disk managerclick on Change drive letter and paths and select Add. Enter the letter you want to assign it and then click To accept.
In case you need to format the hard drive, you will have to access Disk Manager and follow these steps:
- Click on the new disc and then choose To accept.
- Right click and then select the option New simple volume.
- Choose a letter that you do not have assigned to any internal drive of your computer.
- Choose the format NTFS.
- Enter the name to the unit, if you want to modify the one that comes factory default.
- Click on Following and check that you can use it correctly.
Unprotect writing to disk
This is one of the most common failure errors that a external disk when it is not new, because in previous courses you have blocked writing to the drive. To solve this problem you will have to go with administrator permissions to the application Run, then you will have to write "Regedit" and click on To accept.
This will take you to Windows Registry Editor. Find the folder HKEYLOCALMACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control StorageDevicePolicies and choose the file WriteProtect. Then select in the field Value information the option , save the changes and restart the computer.