Seagate Hard Drive Not Showing Up on Windows 11: 5 Fixes

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

There's nothing quite as frustrating as when your Seagate hard drive isn't showing up on your Windows 11 computer. Whether you're trying to access important files or just want to transfer some data, a hard drive that won't cooperate can be a major headache.

But don't worry, in this article, I’ll go over some of the common reasons why your Seagate hard drive might not be showing up as well as what you can do to fix it. Before we jump to the solutions, you can learn some of the possible reasons listed below.

◘Not working or incompatible USB port. ◘Outdated device driver. ◘Incompatible drive file system. ◘Physical damage.

In the following part, I'll talk about how to fix the Seagate external hard drive not showing up on Windows 10/11 based on the above possibilities. Let’s check them together.

How to fix Seagate hard drive not showing up on Windows 11

Now that we've gone over some of the reasons why your Seagate hard drive not detected on Windows 10/11. Let's take a look at some of the solutions you can take to fix it.

Solution 1. Check the cables

Sometimes, a faulty USB port or cable can cause connectivity issues. The first step is to make sure that your cables are properly connected. Try unplugging and re-plugging both the power cable and data cable to see if that solves the issue. If nothing happens, use a different USB port or cable.

If it’s plugged into a USB 3.0 port, you can try plugging it into a USB 2.0 port. If it is plugged into a USB hub, try plugging it directly into the PC instead and see if that works. If the problem is not caused by a default cable, try the next fixes.

Solution 2: Run Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter

Windows 11 includes a built-in Hardware and Devices troubleshooter that can diagnose and attempt to resolve various hardware-related issues. Here’s how to use it.

1. Press Win + R to open the Run window, type msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic and press Enter.

2. When the Hardware and Device Troubleshooter window opens, click Next. Follow the on-screen instructions listed in the wizard until the Hardware and Device troubleshooter completes its job.

Solution 3. Initialize Seagate hard drive

If the drive has not been initialized, Seagate external hard drive not detected in Windows File Explorer will also happen. In such a case, you can initialize it.

1. Right-click on the Start menu and select Disk Management.

2. Right-click the Seagate hard drive, choose Initialize Disk and follow the appearing prompt to initialize the Seagate hard drive.

Solution 4. Reformat Seagate hard drive

If you find your hard drive is partitioned but still not show up in your computer, it is possible that it's partitioned with a different file system. You can reformat your Seagate external hard drive with NTFS file system or FAT32 file system that is supported by Windows 11/10/8/7.

Note: This operation will clean all data on the Seagate external hard drive. Backup files that you still need.

1. Open Disk Management as mentioned above.

2. Find your Seagate hard drive, right-click on it and select Format.

3. Choose NTFS file system that's compatible with your computer and click OK.

Solution 5. Assign drive letter

If the Seagate external hard drive partition has no drive letter, you should assign a drive letter to it.

1. Open Disk Management, locate your Seagate hard drive and right-click on it.

2. Select Change Drive Letter and Paths and click Add to choose a letter for your drive.

Extra tip: Best way to protect your Seagate hard drive

After fixing the issue of external hard drive not showing up in Windows 11, you can read on to learn how to better protect your external hard drive. If the hard drive still doesn't work, it may be time to consider replacing it. You can choose a safe and professional backup software to help you. AOMEI Backupper Standard is a good choice. And it has the following advantages.

Download AOMEI Backupper Standard, install, and open it on your PC. Then you can click Backup > Disk Backup to start the process of backing up Seagate external hard drive to other locations.

Conclusion

A Seagate hard drive not showing up on Windows 11 can be a frustrating problem, but there are several possible solutions listed above to fix this issue. And in the worst-case scenario where your hard drive is physically damaged, remember to backup Seagate hard drive important files.

Luckily, the best free backup software AOMEI Backupper can help you achieve this goal. With its Disk Backup feature, you can backup Seagate hard drive to another HDD or larger SSD automatically. It is also the best alternative to Samsung T7 factory reset tool to help you wipe data securely and make them unable to recover.