Unable to access USB external drives

[darkdragon21]

Hi I recently upgraded my PC to windows 10 and every since have been unable to access any USB external drive.

The laptop picks up the drives and acknowledges that they are there and working but they do not appear in file explorer.

I have looked in disk management and the drives are there and healthy.

The USB ports work 100% as i have plugged in keyboards etc to test and all the drives i've tried work with other computers.

I've tried everything I could find on forums that have worked for other people. I've reinstalled windows twice. Ran various disk cleanup utilities, checked for hidden drives etc.

I need to upload video files to my laptop to edit for work, so need to resolve this ASAP :/

Any help or ideas is greatly appreciated!

Thank you

 

[Regedit32]

Hi darkdragon21,

This is an issue that has popped up over the last year for some users of External USB drives.

One possible solution to your issue (as you say you cannot view the drives in File Explorer) is to allow the operating system to automatically assign a Drive Letter to the connected Device. To achieve this do the following:

• In your search box type Computer Management
• Right click "Computer Management" | select Run as administrator
• In the middle window double-click on Storage
• Next double-click Disk Management and wait for window to populate with connected devices
  • Note: The USB External drive you cannot view in File Explorer will appear with No Drive Letter assigned
  • Right click on this particular instance (the one with no Drive Letter assigned) | select Change drive letter and paths ...
• Next Click Add and keep the first part: "Assign a drive letter"
  • The System will now automatically Assign a Drive letter
  • To use the assigned drive letter click OK
  • Note: Do not make this drive "active" !

You can now exit Computer Management. Your USB External Drive ought to be available for viewing and thus accessing from File Explorer now.

Happy Computing,

Regedit32

 

[Vince Massi]

Regedit's suggestion ought to work, but some co0mputers are set up differently.

Type Computer Management into Cortana.

When it opens, go down the column on the left and click Disk Management.

You just have to wait until it populates with all your connected devices.

Follow Regedit's instructions:

• • Note: The USB External drive you cannot view in File Explorer will appear with No Drive Letter assigned
  • Right click on this particular instance (the one with no Drive Letter assigned) | select Change drive letter and paths ...
• Next Click Add and keep the first part: "Assign a drive letter"
  • The System will now automatically Assign a Drive letter
  • To use the assigned drive letter click OK
  • Note: Do not make this drive "active" !