For Mac users, see SanDisk player not recognized by a Mac OS For Windows 7 & 8 users: Proceed to Solution 2 NOTE: If you are trying to connect to a Computer at work that is part of a network, there may be user right restrictions that are set to disable access to new hardware or stop any program installations. I have a Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD 500 GB. It works fine with Windows 10 but it cannot be detected by any of my Android devices. I tested with an Nokia 3.1, Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact and a Sony Xperia 10 Plus, both with and without a Transcend OTG adapter.

I recently got a SanDisk Extreme 500 USB 3 SSD for Christmas. It is the 240GB model, if you're interested. Now, I've been using this drive for a little bit, and love it a lot. I've only used it about 3 times, and today I attempted to connect it to my computer. It was not recognized, so I tried to remove the USB cable from the SSD and re-insert it. I have a Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD 500 GB. It works fine with Windows 10 but it cannot be detected by any of my Android devices. I tested with an Nokia 3.1, Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact and a Sony Xperia 10 Plus, both with and without a Transcend OTG adapter. As well, I reformated it with exFAT and NTFS. And remember, the SSD you're connecting to your PC may be more recent than the Windows installed in it, which could make updated drivers a necessity for you to be able to even detect the SSD. You can use Windows' native 'Device Manager' to update your drivers.

Is your SSD not showing up in Windows File Explorer or Disk Management? This tutorial describes four cases of Windows 10 not detecting a new (old) SSD, and you can try to fix the issue accordingly. Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard when it's necessary to recover data from an inaccessible/formatted Solid State Drive.

Relax if your SSD disk is not showing up on your computer. Check the different cases and follow the corresponding solution to get rid of this issue on your own now.

SSD not showing up in My Computer

'I recently installed a Samsung SSD on my Windows 10 computer, but I find it not showing up under My Computer where the other hard drive is present. Is there any way to display the SSD?'

New SSD not showing up in Disk Management

'I got a new M.2 SSD from Intel. When I connected it to my PC, it does not show up in the File Explorer nor Disk Management. I don't know where goes wrong. Please help.'

The above users' stories are telling the same thing that happens to a Solid State Drive (SSD), which does not show up as other connected hard drives. In Windows 10, as well as earlier Windows operating systems, an external storage device not detected issue would throw people into unpleasant situations. Therefore, the biggest concern is how to fix the 'SSD not showing up' problem without losing data.

Next, we list four cases of SSD not showing up in Windows 10, and you can try to fix the issue accordingly. Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free when it's necessary to recover data from an inaccessible/formatted Solid State Drive.

Case 1SSD not showing up because the drive letter is missing or conflicting

In case the drive letter of the SSD is missing or conflicting with another disk, Windows OS will be unable to recognize it. It's fine because you can assign a new drive letter for the SSD in Windows Disk Management manually.

To assign a new drive letter, follow the steps:

• Step 1: Right-click on This PC, select Manage. Under the Storage section, click Disk Management.
• Here's an alternative way to open Disk Management in Windows 10/8.1/8/7: press Windows + R keys and type diskmgmt.msc in the Run box, hit Enter.)
• Step 2: Right-click on the SSD partition and select Change Drive Letter and Paths….
• Step 3: Among Add, Change, and Remove, click the 'Change' button, and then select a drive letter from the list. Click 'OK' to assign a new drive letter to the SSD.

Case 2SSD not showing up because it is not initialized

If you get a new SSD and it won't show up in the Windows Explorer, it's likely in the 'uninitialized' state. You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it.

Also, for an old SSD that shows the error 'disk unknown not initialized', the result is the same. In these two situations, to fix the problem, you can try to connect the SSD to the other working computer to check if it reports the same error. Otherwise, you need to initialize the SSD in Windows 10.

To initialize an SSD, follow the steps:

• Step 1: Open Disk Management as taught.
• Step 2: Find and right-click the SSD you want to initialize, and then click Initialize Disk.
• Step 3: In the Initialize Disk dialog box, select the disk(s) to initialize. You can select whether to use the master boot record (MBR) or GUID partition table (GPT) partition style.

Case 3SSD not showing up because the file system is not supported

If the above two methods do not work in your case, we need to think further. One presumption is that the file system has corrupted or Windows does not support the current file system.

As investigated, the relevant file system issues are mainly displayed as 'RAW', 'Free space' or 'Unallocated space'. To fix the file system issue, reformatting the disk would be enough.

Sandisk Extreme Portable Ssd Not Detected Windows 10 Hp

Step 1. On EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, select the drive marked with SSD where you lost data, and click the Scan button.

Step 2. When the scanning finishes, find lost SSD data from 'Deleted Files' or 'Lost Files'. 'Filter' and 'Search' may also help you find lost data via file types, file names, and extensions.

Step 3. Double-click to preview lost SSD files, select desired data and click the Recover button. Choose another safe instead of the SSD to keep the recovered data.

Case 4SSD not showing up because of disk driver issues

Just like a hard drive, most times the SSD is detected but not showing up in My Computer because the disk driver is not installed properly. So, you can try to reinstall the SSD driver to check if it can help to fix the issue.

• Step 1: Right-click on This PC, select Manage. Under the System Tools section, click Device Manager.
• Here's an alternative way to open Disk Management in Windows 10/8.1/8/7: press Windows + R keys and type devmgmt.msc in the Run box, hit Enter.
• Step 2: Go to Disk drives. It should list the storage devices that you have connected to your PC
• Step 3:Right-click the SSD and choose the third option 'Uninstall'.

Remove the SSD and restart your system. Try to connect the SSD again to check if Windows 10 detects the SSD as normal.

Conclusion & FAQs

SSD, plus every other form of storage media, is prone to mechanical failure and physical damage. And one truth, lifespan is limit. We need to make further plans to safeguard data on the storage drive. Backup is always a wise choice. It's never too late to take actions to save a copy of hard drive data to another safe location, like a backup drive, cloud or network drive...EaseUS Todo Backup Free can do you a favor.

Sandisk Extreme Portable Ssd Not Detected Windows 10 Usb

In conclusion, upon the topic of SSD not showing up in Windows 10, we analyzed four cases in total and showcased the corresponding fixes. In the middle and final repair process, we recommend three assistive tools.

• EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: to recover lost data from inaccessible and formatted hard drive/partition.
• EaseUS Partition Master: to assign a drive letter, initialize a disk and format a hard drive
• EaseUS Todo Backup: to back up a hard drive/partition.

In the end, we selected some top asked questions that are related to the SSD not showing up problems in Windows. For example:

1. Why is my SSD not showing up?

Driver issues are one of the major reasons. Just like a hard drive, most times the SSD is detected but not showing up in My Computer because the disk driver is not installed properly. So, you can try to reinstall the SSD driver to check if it can help to fix the issue.

2. How do I get my new SSD to show up?

Sandisk Extreme 500gb Portable Ssd

If you get a new SSD and it won't show up in the Windows Disk Management, it's likely in the uninitialized state. You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it.

Sandisk Extreme Portable Ssd Instructions

3. How do I fix SSD not detected in BIOS?

To make BIOS detect the SSD, you need to configure the SSD settings in BIOS as follows.

• Restart your computer, and press the F2 key after the first screen.
• Press the Enter key to enter Config.
• Select Serial ATA and press Enter.
• Then you'll see the SATA Controller Mode Option.
• Save your changes and restart your computer to enter BIOS.

Troubleshooting for the following Drive conditions:
1. Drive is completely new
2. Drive worked for a while
3. Drive is secondary or just for storage
4. Drive is the system drive (bootable)
Drive is not detected flow chart:
SOLUTION A - Drive Used to work - Secondary or Storage
1. Check the drive letter and the partition
2. If it is possible, try to recover your data
3. If the drive is NOT detected by the operating system, verify that the drive is detected by the BIOS
4. If the drive is NOT detected by the BIOS verify that the power and data cables are properly connected
5. If the drive is still NOT detected, try to detect it in another computer (internal) or connect it in an external enclosure
6. Connect anotherdrive to the same port
7. Check the return policy and replace the drive
SOLUTION B - New Drive - Secondary or Storage
1. Connect the drive to the PC
2. Check the BIOS settings
3. If the drive is NOT detected by the BIOS verify that the power and data cables are properly connected
4. If the drive is still NOT detected, connect it to another computer (internally) or connect it in an external enclosure
5. Connect another drive to the same port
6. Check the return policy and replace the drive
SOLUTION C - Drive Used to Work - System Drive
1. Try to identify the problem (SMART, system error message…)
2. Check the BIOS settings
3. If the drive is NOT detected by the BIOS verify that the power and data cables are properly connected
4. If it is possible, try to recover data
5. If it is possible, run some diagnostic tools (such as SMART or Checkdisk)
6. Try to repair or restore the OS
7. If the drive is detected but OS CANNOT be repaired format and reinstall the OS
8. If you have found a consistent error check the return policy and replace the drive
SOLUTION D - Never used Drive - System Drive
1. Connect the drive to the PC
2. Check the BIOS settings
3. If the drive is not detected by the BIOS verify that the power and data cables are properly connected
4. If the drive is still NOT detected, connect it to another computer (internally) or connect it in an external enclosure
5. Connect another drive to the same port
6. Check the return policy and replace the drive

​​​​​​​NOTE: If the above steps do NOT resolve the problem pleaserequest a replacement using our online web form.