Seagate is an external hard drive that serves the purpose of storing important content such as documents, pdf files, images, audios, and videos. This external hard disk is important when you need additional space to store your files.

Now, while working on your computer, you might encounter a problem that says Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing. This error code is a typical scenario that shows up when you’ve failed to access the important files from the Seagate external hard drive. 

This particular error is more common than you think, thus there are solutions to it. But, before proceeding to the solutions, it is important to know what the causes are. 

Causes Behind Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing Up 

If the Seagate hard drive is not showing up then here are a few possible reasons why it occurs. 

So you’ve connected your Seagate hard drive to the computer by using a USB cable but, however, your computer shows no trace of it on the system. This means that the computer is not being able to recognize the hard drive. 

This is likely to be happening if the USB cable is loosely attached to either of the devices. It will remain unrecognizable if one of the USB ports of the computer system is obsolete.

If you’ve been using an old version of driver software then you are prone to receiving this error. This means that the configurations of the driver software are old enough to not be able to recognize the Seagate external driver.

If the hard drive is very old or if it dealt with physical damage or got exposed to liquid components, then as a result, the functionality will degrade or much rather, become dysfunctional. 

Ways to Fix Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing Error

In this section of the article, you will come across various simple steps to fix the Seagate drive error. 

1. Fundamental Check-Up of USB Connection

To be sure if the problem is with the driver or the PC, try these following points:

• Undock the USB plug from the computer and insert it in a different USB port of the same computer to check if any of the USB port’s workability. 
• Use a different USB cable and try attempting a connection. If the connection is successfully recognized by the computer, then you know it was the faulty old USB cable that gave all the hassle. 
• Try connecting the hard drive on a different operating system. It might be a case of incompatibility. The configuration of the computer system that you currently use may not be compatible with that of the hard drive. 

2. Upgrade Disk Driver

Sometimes, if the disk driver is of an older version or it has not been upgraded in a while then the computer system will most likely fail to see the visibility of the drive. 

It is essential to always have the latest version of the disk driver. To take this into action, try these steps to upgrade it to the latest version:

• Press the “Windows” and the “R” button on the keyboard to open the “Run” box. 
• Write this quote on the blank field of the “Run” box: “Devmgmt.msc”
• By pressing the “Enter” button, you will get a list of options in “Device Manager”.
• Among those, choose the driver and right-click on it. 
• Select the first option that says “Update Driver Software”. 

By opting for the automatic search in updating driver software in the next step, the system will undergo the up-gradation process. Once it is done, you will get a notification that it is done. 

Simply restart your computer and attempt a second try on connecting the hard drive with the computer. Check if the problem still remains or not. 

3. First-Aiding External Drive (for Mac Users)

If the above-mentioned points were not useful then you can try this method, especially if you use the Mac Operating System. 

• From the search bar, open the function called “Disk Utility”. 
• Now, you will need to highlight the volume part that is greyed out. 
• Moving on, select the option in the top center that says “First Aid”. 
• After that, choose the “Run” option so that the computer can perform a diagnosis.

This method is not only useful in essence to this particular error but also ensures that if there is an error in the format structure, it will be taken care of. 

4. Change Drive Letter

This method is an alternative method if the previous solution did not quite work out. You must make sure at first if Seagate hard drive partition has any drive letter or not.

If not then you must give a drive letter to the hard drive. This can be done by visiting the main folder that says “This PC”. Check if the error is still remaining or not. 

5. Format/Reboot Seagate Hard Drive

If nothing else has been worked out so far, you might want to consider formatting the entire hard drive. Using Disk Management it is possible to do so but you can also take the help of different software that is available on the internet.

However, it is important to note that there are various software that are available and full of malicious files ready to potentially damage your system. Make sure that you download a third-party application from a verified source or else your computer system will have a harmful due to the impact of viruses. 

6. USB in BIOS

This is the most underrated problem as it is a minor one that can go unnoticed, despite its great effect. If the interface of USB in BIOS is in a disable mode then the computer will not see the external hard drive. 

To make sure this problem does not occur, check if the USB device is on or not before going into the BIOS mode. 

7. Hard Reset

This is the back-up option if other solutions had no impact on this issue. Often times, you will come to notice that a fresh start is all that was the computer has been wanting. Simply undock the plugs and switch the system off. 

After a while, switch it back on and check if the issue is no longer an issue.