How to Fix Seagate External Hard Disk Detected But Not Showing Data Issue?

Sometimes, when you connect your Seagate external hard drive to your computer, it may not show up or be detected by the computer. This is a common problem with Seagate hard drives that instills doubt in users. If there is no important data on your hard drive, you can easily format it. However, if it contains crucial data, it gets risky to format the drive altogether.

Therefore, we have drafted this technical write-up to guide you. In this article, we will tell you the reasons why your Seagate external hard disk detected but not showing data and how to fix it. In addition to that, you will learn how to recover data from your hard drive if you lose data or the drive gets damaged during the process.

User Query

“I own a 1 TB Seagate external hard disk that I bought 6 months ago. Recently, I wanted to transfer some documents from the hard drive to my laptop. To do so, I connected my hard disk and opened the drive. Unfortunately, no data from that external hard drive was detected but it was not accessible on my system. I have tried many times but it never shows up with any data. I was wondering why the Seagate internal hard drive was not showing up. It contains many important files. Is there any way to recover data from a hard disk.?”

There are many such users who cannot access their hard drive data because the data is not showing up. This situation gets more critical when the system detects the hard drive but once users open it, the disk seems empty. So, let’s dive further into the article and see how to fix the issue. But before that, let us first take a look at the reasons that cause the issue.

These are the most common reasons that lead to an unrecognizable hard drive issue. Fortunately, these problems are easily resolved! So, let’s dive right into the methods and techniques to fix this issue by both manual and automated means.

How to Manually Fix “Seagate External Hard Drive Detected But Not Showing up in Windows 10, 8, and 7”?

Seagate external hard drives are always used to back up and transfer important data between devices. Thus, it is important that they must always work correctly. So, in this segment, we will share the 5 best solutions to opt for when Seagate external hard drive not showing up or opening in Windows 10, 8, and 7.

Method 1: Use Different USB Port or USB Cable

If your Seagate external hard drive is blinking but not detected by your computer, try unplugging it from the USB port and plugging it into a different USB port. Alternatively, you can restart your computer and try connecting your Seagate external hard drive to your computer again.

If your device isn’t connected to a network, you can also try connecting it to a different computer or using a different USB cable. If this simple solution works, then your problem is solved. Otherwise, continue using the other solutions presented here.

Method 2: Update or Reinstall the Driver

You can use the Device Manager to check if there is any problem with the Windows device driver. If you do find any issues during the checkup, proceed to update or reinstall your drivers to get them working properly again. Here’s how:

1. Press the Win+R keys together to open the Run dialog box and type devmgmt.msc.
2. Expand the Disk Drives category, check to see if there is a device with a yellow exclamation mark next to it, right-click on its name and select Update Driver.

Check out other related articles:  How to Recover CCTV Hard Disk Data?

Method 3: Initialize External Hard Drive

Disk Management is the third place you should check if you find that your external hard drive is not showing up on your computer. In Disk Management, you will see an available hard drive that is connected and recognized by the computer. If this is your first time connecting a new external hard drive to your computer, you’ll see it in Disk Management, but it has not have been initialized yet. Follow these simple steps to initialize your drive.

1. Click the Start tab and select Disk Management from the list.
2. Select the drive and choose Initialize Disk.
3. Select the appropriate section style and click OK to confirm.

Method 4: Create a New Partition

If you see the drive in Disk Management as unallocated, you can simply create a new partition for it. Here’s how to do it.

• Right-click the unallocated disk and choose New Simple Volume from the list of options.
• A new Simple Volume Wizard appears. Then select the volume size and assign a drive letter or path.

Once complete, remove the Seagate external hard drive and reconnect it to your computer. You will then find that the drive is detected and displayed in Windows Explorer.

Also, find out the technique to Unformat a Hard Drive

Method 5: Change or Assign Drive Letter

If your Seagate external hard drive does not have a drive letter, or the drive letter conflicts with another drive, the drive will not show up on your computer. In this case, you need to assign or change the drive letter.

• Select the hard disk and click on the Change Drive letter and path.
• If your hard drive does not have a drive letter, select the “Add” option; if there is already a drive letter and you want to change it, select the “Change” option.
• Select a drive letter and you’re done.

Fix “Seagate External Hard Disk Detected But Not Showing Data” Issue: The Expert Way

The manual methods do not provide any guarantee to solve this external hard disk data issue. Moreover, it is highly possible that the entire process is futile. If your system is detecting your external hard disk but not showing up, then you can opt for a expert Suggested Hard Drive Recovery Tool. This efficient program is a sure-shot solution to this particular problem. It can effortlessly recover invisible, inaccessible, and deleted data from the hard drive.

Moreover, it is fully compatible with all versions of Windows, including the latest version, Windows 11. In addition to that, the tool incorporates an incredibly easy-to-navigate graphical user interface that even a novice user can use without needing any external guidance.

Conclusion

In this article, we shared the quick solutions to opt for when your seagate external hard disk detected but not showing data errors. We hope these solutions helped you solve this problem and your computer is able to recognize the drive again. However, if you lost data while trying to fix errors, we have a solution for that too. Data recovery software offers comprehensive solutions to recover audio, video, document files and images from Seagate drives.