Laptop won't read external HDD?

[JackB44]

This problem has probably been asked thousands of times, but every time I read solutions in forums, I cannot find a single answer.

My problem is my Acer laptop (Windows 10) isn't recognising a brand new Seagate 2TB external hard drive.
The very first time I plugged it into my laptop, it installed, but the only sign of it on my laptop was the USB connection noise, the safely remove hardware and eject media logo in the taskbar and the device showing in device manager.

I have spent 5+ hours trying to fix this issue, so have basically tried everything.
It doesn't show at all in device management, there was no hidden drive for it in device manager, it doesn't show up in cmd when I try the diskpart operation, didn't show up in Seatools, have connected to different USB ports etc.
The only drive that is recognised on my laptop, in any program, is only my internal HDD.

The issue is more to do with my laptop I am thinking though.
I tested it on my old Windows 7 Acer laptop and even though it did the same thing as when I first tried it on my newer laptop (not being recognised), I was able to go into cmd, diskpart, select the disk, clean the disk, then create a partition. After that, I just formatted the HDD in disk management and assigned a drive letter.
I also tried plugging the HDD into my TV and even the TV recognised it.

So my question is, is there anything else I can try, to get my laptop to be able to actually read the HDD? Or is there something wrong with my laptop that's disabling it to be able to actually read the HDD, if other devices are able to do so?

Hard drive is a:
Seagate Expansion Portable Device 2TB
Model: SRD0NF1
Serial: NA82KE14

I can provide any other information needed.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there JackB44,

Most probably, you are facing a driver related issue. The drive is recognized on Win 7 and on your TV right?

My suggestion would be to go to your laptop's manufacturer website, find your model and update the USB drivers. After that, you can go to Device Manager -> uninstall the device -> plug it out -> reboot -> plug it back in.

The drive is spinning up right? I believe the USB ports should provide enough power and this shouldn't be the cause of the issues.

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

 

[JackB44]

Hi there JackB44,

Most probably, you are facing a driver related issue. The drive is recognized on Win 7 and on your TV right?

My suggestion would be to go to your laptop's manufacturer website, find your model and update the USB drivers. After that, you can go to Device Manager -> uninstall the device -> plug it out -> reboot -> plug it back in.

The drive is spinning up right? I believe the USB ports should provide enough power and this shouldn't be the cause of the issues.

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

I probably should've mentioned that I have updated the hard drive to the latest possible driver
I have tried uninstalling it previously and what not, but still no luck.
And yes, it is spinning up correctly

 

[D_Know_WD]

Well, you don't really need drivers for that specific drive. External drives should install automatically(as it happens on your Win 7 system), if we assume that your USB 3.0 drivers work properly. I bet that even other USB 3.0 drives would not be recognized if attached to your Win 10 system. In case you have another drive, you can try that.

What is your laptop's model?

D_Know_WD

 

[JackB44]

Well, you don't really need drivers for that specific drive. External drives should install automatically(as it happens on your Win 7 system), if we assume that your USB 3.0 drivers work properly. I bet that even other USB 3.0 drives would not be recognized if attached to your Win 10 system. In case you have another drive, you can try that.

What is your laptop's model?

D_Know_WD

I don't actually have any other USB 3.0 devices available to try.
My laptop details are:
Acer Aspire V 15
V3-572/V3-532 series
Model: Z5WAH
V3-572G-79ZS

 

[Alan Caldwell]

It isn't a driver based issue. As far as I have experienced, your laptop's USB port isn't giving it enough power. Does the HDD even spin when plugged in? Try plugging it in a mobile charger, if it spins, it's your laptop at fault. If it doesn't then it's the HDD.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Find your model and update Chipset and I/O drivers: http/www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers
@ Alan Caldwell There's a chance that the port does not provide enough power. This is why I asked the OP whether the drive powers up.
One can easily check that with one of these Y type of USB cables.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[JackB44]

Have updated the drivers, still no joy.
I am having another issue now. My laptop won't even recognise my 16gb memory stick?
It's doing the exact same thing as the HDD.
I was only using this memory stick about a week or so ago as well and you can't say that there's not enough power being supplied just for a small memory stick? Surely?
Maybe there's something wrong with my laptop being able to read any USB device now?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Well, that is really strange.
Flash drives do not require that much power supply so I believe we can rule out a possible power related issue.
I still believe this should be a driver related one. In order to see if this is the case, you can boot from a flash drive that has Ubuntu(just boot from it do not install it on the drive) and see if the drive would be recognized.
In case it is recognized in Ubuntu(another OS), then all of this is driver related. As updating drivers does not help, you may need to contact the manufacturer's Support or even reinstall Win.
In case the drive is not recognized by Ubuntu, then there may be something wrong with the ports. In that case, you will need to contact the place you got the laptop from.(or the Support)

Thread on Ubuntu Live CD:
http/www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/267999-32-recover-data-mode
https/help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

D_Know_WD