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Question

External hard drive connects, but doesn't show up

Sep 1, 2018 5:34AM PDT

My external hard drive, a Seagate BUP BK (4tb) works on macbooks, but seem to have an issue with my windows desktop (Windows 10). First time connecting the hard drive, it didn't show up in my library, but it did show up in disk management. I fixed it by downloading a software. It worked for a week, until today. I have tried everything to fix it again. The unit shows up everywhere, except in the library where im supposed to be using the hard drive.

Please help. (Also, i can not format the disk as it contains extremely valuable content)

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Re: external drive
Sep 1, 2018 8:01AM PDT

- What's that mysterious software you downloaded (and probably installed), but that only worked for a week?
- What "library" is your desktop in? Or must I ask: what "library" is in your desktop?
- Does "everything" include reinstalling that software?
- What more did you do to try to fix it?
- What filesystem does Disc Management show on the partition(s) on that disk?
- Does it still work on a Mac?
- Where's the backup of that extremely valuable content? It's well known (in these forums at least) that an external hard disk a very unsuitable device to contain the only copy of anything you don't want to lose.

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Answer
file format
Sep 1, 2018 1:29PM PDT

Probably not a FAT nor NTFS file format, so windows ignores it.

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Formats
Sep 5, 2018 5:08PM PDT

Also, exFAT or FAT32 can be used to be detected on both operational systems, but those formats have a higher probability of data corruption. Sad

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Answer
Paragon Software
Sep 5, 2018 4:44PM PDT

Hello henningmythee,

which software did you use to detect the drive on the Windows PC?

The recommended software to do so is Paragon, which functions as a type of translator from HFS+ and NTFS. You can download that software for free here.

If the issue is not solves by this, could you upload a screenshot of the Disk Management?

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Answer
easy fix
Sep 5, 2018 11:18PM PDT

Download a Mint Linux iso file and "burn image" to a DVD. You will find a file manager in it that can read the drive, and also the windows drive. You can then use that file manager to move the files between both the external drive and your windows folders for use in that inferior system if you wish.