- For Windows:
Open Disk Management to check the status of this drive. Click the Menu button on Wondershare Recoverit at the top right corner - Disk Tools.
Case 1: The device is “No Media”
The hard drive was damaged. You should send the drive to a store to fix the issue. Then use Wondershare Recoverit to recover files.
Case 2: The issue with the USB Port or USB Cable.
If it is an external device and cannot be detected by Disk Management at all, please make sure the USB cable is good. You could change a USB cable to connect it.
If it still does not work, the USB port you are using must be dead. Unplug your device and plug in it in some other USB port, like the BACK port of the desktop.
Case 3: The device is Not Initialized.
Generally, Windows System will show you a pop-up window when you connect the drive with Not Initialized issue to your computer. Disk unknown not initialized can be caused because of virus attack, corrupted Master Boot Record, partition loss, bad sectors, some computer file system corruption and more.
Warning:
Disk initialization will clear all the data on your hard drive storage and case data loss. So if you have stored a large number of important files, it is not suggested to do this operation.
If you are sure to initialize your device, please click Initialize in the pop-up window or Disk Management to initialize the drive.
1. Click “Win + R” and input “compmgmt.msc” to open the Disk Management.
2. Select the Not Initialized disk ,then right click, Choose “Initialize Disk” to initialize the disk to directly solve this problem.
- For Mac:
Case 1: The device is Grey out
It's probably hidden for some reasons, right click this drive and choose Mount option to mount this drive, then check if it can be detected.
Case 2: Repair Disk
If the method one does not work, please try to repair the disk using Disk Utility on Mac.
1) Open the Disk Utility
2) Choose View, Show all Devices.
In the sidebar, select the disk you want to repair.
1) Click the First Aid button.
2) Click run to check your Disk and try to repair it.
Case 3:The issue with the USB Port or USB Cable.
If it is an external device and cannot be detected by Disk Utility at all, please make sure the USB cable is good. You could change a USB cable to connect it. If it still does not work, the USB port you are using must be dead. Unplug your device and plug in it in some other USB port, like the BACK port of the desktop.
If the drive still cannot be detected in Disk Utility, please check the power supply. Single USB ports can provide only 5 V. In that case, make use of USB cable having one USB connection for the external drive and two for Mac. This will supply the power required by the external hard drive.