External Hard Drive Not Recognized by PC (Windows 11) and Files History Will Not Turn On.

Question

I am unable to back up my files to my external hard drive which is my goal before it goes in for repairs. I cannot turn it on because it is grayed out. It continues to tell me it has already backed up information. The external hard drive device cannot be found under any control panel, settings, device manager, hidden places etc.. But the light is on which says it is working. I have one day left to figure this mess out. Super frustrating. All I wanted to do was a backup to an external hard drive in case I lost anything during the repair it was going in for.

Answer 1

With the external drive connected, open Disk Management and ensure that the drive is initialized and/or the correct format (NTFS).

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Please accept as an answer if this was helpful.

Answer 2

Some options:

a) Test the external drive on another computer
b) If you don't have another computer then see if you can find a friend, neighbor, relative, or local computer store to test the drive

If you've confirmed that the drive is ok, (no problems with partitions, no failures when tested) and it still does not appear post images for:

a) BIOS
https://www.disk-image.com/faq-bootmenu.htm

If it appears in the BIOS then post images of:
b) Disk Management
c) File explorer
d) Device manager > click view > click show hidden devices > expand disk drives and other devices > post images or share links into this thread

An additional method is to use a flash drive to copy and paste files or make backup images.
See if you can find a friend, neighbor, relative, or local computer store to borrow or purchase a flash drive.

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Answer 3

Open the Start menu and type "disk management," and open Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions. Once Disk Management loads, scroll down to see if your disk appears in the list. If it does, make sure it's online and formatted.

You may try another USB port or, another PC to check.