When the drive isn't available on your computer, it could also be a driver issue. In the case that you already tried the recommendations to address connection, initialization, and formatting issues, it could mean hardware failure, in which case you should consider getting a new drive. If Windows 10 doesn't detect the drive correctly, and it appears in Disk Management with the Unreadable status, you're experiencing read and write errors, corruption, or hardware failure.

If you can't get the storage online, and it was recently available, that could mean the drive is corrupted, disconnected, or it's not getting power. Right-click the drive with the unsupported file system, and select the Format option.Īfter completing the steps, you should be able to start using the storage as usual.

To format a drive with a supported file system, use these steps: If you have any data that you want to keep, make sure to connect it to a supported device, extract the data, and only then continue with the steps below. Warning: Using this process will erase everything on the drive. In this case, the solution is to format the drive using a supported file system. If you're connecting a drive formatted using a different OS (macOS or Linux) with an unsupported file system, it won't appear on your computer.

Windows 10 only recognizes drives using a supported file system (NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, or ReFS). Fixing drive with an unsupported file system Once you complete the steps, the system will proceed to create a new volume with a partition and a drive letter. If the drive is trying to use an existing drive letter, right-click the volume and select the Change Drive Letter and Paths option.Click on the top result to open Disk Management.Search for Create and format hard disk partitions.If you know that the drive is working correctly, but it won't show up in File Explorer, the drive could be trying to use a letter already in use by another device or the drive letter may be missing.Ī drive letter conflict is a common problem with removable devices, and you can fix this issue with these steps: You can try resetting the connection by shutting down your computer and unplugging the external drive, then after one minute, turn on your computer and reconnect the drive.Īlternatively, you can try connecting the drive to a different computer, but if this isn't working, there's a good chance the drive or controller is dead. If you've already tried the above recommendations, and you're still unable to use the drive.

You can quickly find out if there's a port problem by unplugging the drive and using a different port on the same or another computer. It can also be the case that the problem is a dead USB port on your computer.

Windows 10 drive box