External hard drives come in handy when backing up data and can be used as extra storage.
Imagine your external hard drive not showing up in your Acer Predator Helios 300 when you need it most.
That can be pretty frustrating, right? Luckily, this article should help you fix the external hard drive not showing up problem.
Why Is My Acer Laptop Not Recognizing External Hard Drive?
Your Acer predator Helios 300 not recognizing an external hard drive can be due to the following issues:
- Insufficient power – A USB 3.0 external hard drive must be connected to a USB 3.0 port to draw enough power. Connecting it to a USB 2.0 port means it won’t show up as the port does not supply enough power.
- Faulty Hardware – A hardware with a defective component will obviously affect the performance of the entire drive.
- Outdated or Corrupted driver – if your laptop has outdated or corrupted drivers, it can’t communicate with an external HDD.
- Unsupported filesystem – A hard drive that’s been formatted with a file system that’s not recognized by Windows 10 can’t show up on your Predator Helios 300.
How to Fix An External Hard Drive Not Showing Up In Windows 10 Acer Predator Helios 300
Try implementing these solutions in the listed order to avoid missing any details.
Connect to a Different Port
Before trying other solutions, you need to connect the hard drive to a different USB port. The problem could be lying on the USB port and not on the hard drive.
You might also want to use a different cable to connect the drive to your laptop. If both solutions fail, try plugging the drive into another computer to ensure it’s working fine.
Run The Troubleshooters
Running the hardware and device troubleshooter should help you fix external hard drive issues. Here is how to do it:
- Click Windows Key + S and type Troubleshoot.
- Click on Troubleshoot Settings to open a new window.
- Click Troubleshoot on the left pane and select Additional troubleshooters.
- Choose Hardware and Devices from the right pane.
- Click the Run the Troubleshooter button.
- Wait for the detection process to complete.
- Choose the issue you want to fix and click next.
Update or Reinstall Your Drivers
Updating or reinstalling your drivers can solve any compatibility issues that might be preventing your external hard drive from showing up.
- Right-click Start and select Device Manager.
- Expand Disk drives. Right-click on the external drive and click update driver.
- Click Search automatically for drivers and ensure that you are connected to the internet.
Once this is done, restart your laptop and check whether the external hard drive shows up.
If you’ve updated the drivers and nothing works, try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers by following these steps:
- Go to Device Manager and expand Disk drives.
- Right-click on the external drive and choose uninstall device.
- Confirm that you want to proceed with the installation and wait for the process to complete.
- Shut down your laptop and power it again.
The drivers will be reinstalled, and your external HDD should start showing up.
Initialize the External Drive
If you are working with a new external drive, you have to initialize it and create a new partition.
- Right-click the Start Menu and click Disk Management.
- Righ-click your external disk and choose “Initialize Disk.”
- Select the disk and choose GPT or MBR as your preferred partition style.
- Click OK to start.
- Right-click the unallocated space and select “New Simple Volume..”
- Set the volume size, drive letter, and file system.
- Click Finish.
Your external hard drive should now show up on This PC.
Assign A Drive Letter To The External Hard Drive
Your external drive will not show up if it does not have a drive letter. Here is how to assign a drive letter:
- Right-click on the Start Menu and select Disk Management.
- Right-click the disk partition with no drive letter.
- Select Change Drive Letter and Paths.
- Click the Add button that’s in the pop-up window.
- Assign a drive letter and click OK to save changes.
The external drive should start showing up in disk management after assigning a letter.
Change the File System
An external drive whose file system is not compatible with Windows 10 won’t appear on your Predator Helios 300. Here is how you can change the file system:
- Open Disk Management.
- Right-click on the external drive and choose Format.
- Set the format to either NTFS or exFAT.
- Click OK to finish.
Final Thoughts
You can try the above fixes to solve the external hard drive not showing up in Windows 10 Acer predator Helios 300 problem.
