Windows 11 - How to Activate New Hard Drives and SSDs Not Showing Up

Windows 11 - How to Activate New Hard Drives and SSDs Not Showing Up

Sometimes our PC fails or just refuses to recognize the External Hard Drive even after confirming the successful connection. The problem occurs mostly when the device driver is either corrupted or outdated. Such problems can be quite tricky to fix. You can spend hours but find no solution. Try these workarounds and see if the problem of the External Hard Drive not being detected in Windows 11/8/7 is resolved.

Why is my external hard drive not showing up on my computer?

If your external hard drive still is not working, then you may unplug it and try a different USB port. If it’s plugged into a USB 3.0 port, you can try plugging it into a USB 2.0 port. In case, it is plugged into a USB hub, then try plugging it directly into the PC instead and see if that works.

Issues addressed in this tutorial:
activate hard drive windows 11
activate second hard drive windows 11
how to activate hard drive in bios
how to activate hard drive windows 11
activate new hard drive windows 11
how to activate hard drive on pc
hard drive not showing up windows 11
hard drive not showing up but detected
extra hard drive not showing up my computer
hard drive not showing up disk management
hard drive not showing up dell
hard drive not showing up diskpart
hard drive not showing up during windows 11 installation

This tutorial will apply for computers, laptops, desktops, and tablets running the Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7 operating systems. Works for all major computer manufactures (Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, Toshiba, Lenovo, Samsung, and Huawei).

[aaronspears]

watched dozens of videos about formatting new SSDs and why mine wasn't showing up just to find out that I just needed to click a couple of times and pick a letter lol. Thank you for the very simple solution!

[Deesnuts]

mine isn’t showing up in disc management at all

[nighthawk]

yea. He solved the problem in just 2 minutes. It's the immediate disk management search which made it so easy.

[pawelt]

when I go to that setting system is seeing disk but is graying out a change letter option. What else I can do? Thank you for your work

[Barrettdog]

What do i do if its not even in there?

[itscalder_]

Omg, thank you so much, ive spent 2 and a half hours searching for a solution and you have given me that, thank you

[robrochow]

Thank you. It's nice to finally fin d a tutorial that actually works. I've tried following several other tutorials on various things and find that none of them have worked and I have actually lost programs and data.

[sigmachadman]

Wow. Just what I needed. You were a lot of help. Thank you.

[billysmether]

Finally someone with the answer! Thank You so much!!!

[NaberAuto]

My D HDD drive ran for months, then I changed the power supply and only the C drive shows up. I swapped the cables with the C and D drive and still only the C drive shows up. I took the D drive and installed into another PC and it shows up just fine. Put it back into the first PC and it does not show up. I then connected it up to a 3rd set of SATA power and data cables, and still does not show up. Connected up the C drive to this 3rd set of cables and still - only the C drive shows up
What could be going on?

[Alex]

Thank you so much for your help! Was trying to figure this out so I can store games. Again, thank you! 🙏🏼

[lizzie]

hello, i have followed the steps but the ssd is showing up at the bottom but it says unallocated and i was wondering if that is a good thing or bad? and waht i should do to fix it

[dysnXO]

my 18tb harddrive not even showing in Disk Management, what do i do? everything is connected. and i know it was showing when i was instlaling Windows 11 from USB

[shaonking]

Please help me, I bought a new ssd, my windows running on my ssd, but after Connect the new HDD with my HDD, my windows going black screen at startup I can't, if I use single of them then windows starting normally, what the hell is wrong

[isaiahjohnson]

Thanks for the help! I was losing my mind😂

[kosmo]

@MDTechVideos International what leter is the best? or most recomeneded for gaming?

[katelynross]

can you help me? my options are grayed out

[jasonjtg]

I've been looking hot to do this for months.... Thank you for showing me

[Jokubenas]

when i right click on my disk that i want to fix it just says help and nothing more

[bananarang]

Hello its a bit late but all of the options for me are greyed out and i cant change them whT should i do