External drive became local drive

[liesje65]

I logged into my HP laptop 15S

I connected a seagate HDD to USB

I could see and read it as external disk(D) in explorer

I rebooted my HP with HDD still connected

After reboot the HP sees the external disk as local disk(D).

Explorer tries to open the disk. See picture below. But it stays like this and  explorer cannot be used. Explorer can be used if i disconnect the external disk from USB. If i connect the HDD in another USB port the HDD it is not recognized at all.

How can i make restore it as an external disk? I do not want it as a local disk.

I also cannot connect the disk anymore to another computer. Explorer gives an error.

[Nal_NR]

Hi @liesje65,

Welcome to the HP Support Community. 

I'd be glad to help you! 

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you're having with your external Seagate HDD. It must be frustrating not being able to access it properly or use it with other devices. Let’s work through the issue and try to get everything back to normal.

• Has this issue happened with other external drives or just this Seagate HDD?
• Can you see the disk in Device Manager, and if so, does it show any error or warning next to the device?
• When you try to connect the external HDD to another computer, do you receive the same error on all other devices or just one?

1. Check Disk Management

• Press Win + X and select Disk Management.
• Look for your Seagate HDD listed in the disk layout. It may be mistakenly recognized as a local disk.
• If it is shown as Local Disk, right-click on it and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.
• Click Add and assign a new drive letter that is not in use. This could restore its recognition as an external drive.

2. Run Check Disk Utility

• Open Command Prompt (Admin) by right-clicking on the Start button and selecting Command Prompt (Admin).
• Type chkdsk 😧 /f (where D is the drive letter of your external HDD).
• This will scan and fix any disk errors that may be causing the issue. After completion, check if you can access the drive correctly.

3. Update or Reinstall USB Drivers

• Open Device Manager, expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers, and locate your external HDD.
• Right-click on it and select Uninstall device.
• Restart your laptop, and Windows should automatically reinstall the necessary drivers.
• Check if the issue persists.

4. Try the Drive on Another USB Port or Computer

• Plug the Seagate HDD into a different USB port to ensure it's not a port-specific issue.
• If it still shows up as a local disk, try connecting it to a different computer and see if the problem persists. If it doesn’t, it might be an issue with the laptop’s USB configuration.

5. Reformat the Drive (if data backup is not needed)

• If you don’t mind losing the data and the issue persists, you may need to reformat the external HDD.
• Go to Disk Management, right-click on the external disk, and choose Format.
• This will erase all data on the drive and reset its configuration to a standard external drive format.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance

Please mark this post as “Accepted Solution” if the issue is resolved and if you feel this reply was helpful click “Yes”.

[liesje65]

I solved it by connecting to a Asus windows 11 laptop. It could recover my disk and I could also read it again on the HP windows 10

[Nal_NR]

Hi @liesje65,

I am happy to know that the issue has been resolved.  

I also appreciate your time and patience.

Feel free to ask your queries in the future

It was a pleasure assisting you. You have a good day ahead