USB Hard drive not seen by apps

[WWolfe01]

For some unknown reason all of a sudden USB hard drives are not seen by the application programs.  USB thumb drives are seen.  The USB hard drive is seen in the Device Manager and all the details are correct, but in prorams such as the Internet Explorer or my backup software cannot see it.

Thoughts on the issue.  I would rather not have to attempt a restore from a back up HD or worse yet do a clean install of W10.

[A4Apollo]

Hi! @WWolfe01, Thanks for stopping by HP forums!

I understand that the external hard drive is not getting detected on your PC.

Don't worry I will try to help you out.

Did you make any software or hardware changes on your PC?

Please provide the product number of your PC for better assistance.

Try the steps recommended below.

Type ‘Device Manager’ in the Search box of charms bar and click the icon.
Next, select Disk Drives from the list of hardware, right-click the USB external hard drive with the issue and click Uninstall.

Following the uninstall, unplug the USB cable. Then, wait for a minute and reconnect the USB cable. The driver should automatically load.

Look for the USB drive in Windows Explorer.

Reinstall USB controllers

The method works if there is a problem with the loaded USB driver i.e. it has either become unstable or corrupted.

Open Device Manager and expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.

Then, right click a device and click Uninstall. Repeat the same procedure for all devices.

Once done, restart the computer. Your USB controllers should automatically install.

If the issue still persists try the steps recommended below.

Disable USB selective suspend setting

Click the battery icon visible on the taskbar of your computer screen. Adjacent to your currently selected plan, you should find ‘Change Plan Settings’ link. Click the link.

Next, choose ‘Change advanced power settings’ option.

Then, click the box to expand USB Settings. Expand USB selective suspend settings.

Click the link adjacent to Plugged in option, then from the drop-down menu select Disabled option.

If you’re using a laptop, click Battery, then click the drop down menu and select Disabled.

Click Apply, then click OK.

Make sure you create a system restore point first. Also, remember to restore your old setting back, if you find that some suggestion has not helped you.

Please let me know the outcome.

Have a beautiful day ahead! 🙂