External hard drive blinking but not working issue is mostly seen in Seagate hard drives and other external hard drives. The issue could be due to hardware malfunctions or a corrupt file system that is preventing the system from recognizing the drive correctly. you could run into issues like “File or directory is corrupted and unreadable” when the drive data is damaged due to bad sectors or corruption.
However, irrespective of the storage device brand, if you are facing this issue you can easily fix the issue with the help of methods mentioned below. Follow the write-up to know the best workaround to fix the problem.
How To Fix The External Drive Blinking But Not Detected By Computer?
Let us consider two scenarios based on which various fixing methods are explained in the coming section.
Scenario 1: External hard drive not recognized
Scenario 2: External hard drive blinking but not recognised
If you’re a Mac user and facing the same issue, click here to troubleshoot the issue of an external hard drive that is not recognized by the Mac computer.
Scenario 1: External hard drive not recognized
With the help of various methods described here, you can easily fix the issue with external hard drives that are undetected by the computer.
Method 1: Change the USB Port
If you are using the damaged USB port, your drive won’t get detected by the computer. Hence, plug in your device via another port to identify if there exists any problem with the USB port or not.
Method 2: Turn On USB Root Hub
You can easily fix the issue just by turning on all USB Root Hub. Follow the below given steps to turn on the USB root hub.
- Click Start -> Type devmgmt.msc -> Press Enter
- Click Device Manager -> Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers
- Next, right-click on USB Root Hub -> Properties followed by Power Management
- Disable Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power
Follow the process for all USB Root Hub and Reboot PC and verify your external device is detected or not by the PC.
Method 3: Run the Anti-Virus
Clearing the virus from the computer resolves most of the issues with the computer. By running trusted anti-virus software, you can easily remove the virus from the drive as well as the PC and make your drive accessible.
Scenario 2: External Drive Not Working but Blinking
In this scenario an external hard drive is active but cannot be detected by the computer. Follow the methods shown below to fix this issue.
Method 1: Enable all Hidden Devices
Try fixing the issue of external hard drive blinking but not recognized by the computer by unhiding all the hidden devices.
- Go to Start -> Type: devmgmt.msc -> Enter
- In Device Manager -> choose View ->
- Click on + sign to expand all notes
- Now. right-click on greyed entries and choose uninstall
- Lastly, reboot the PC and try again
Method 2: Uninstall Driver
Sometimes, improper drivers lead to the issues such as external disk blinking but unrecognized. To fix the issue follow the steps mentioned as below–
- Go to Start >> type devmgmt.msc –> Enter
- Expand Universal Serial Universal Serial Bus controllers
- Right-click on each USB device à Uninstall (Verify whether there is an unrecognized device or not).
- If you encounter any unrecognized device, click on Drivers tab >> uninstall the drivers
- Now, check My Computer/My PC for external drive
- If the drive is not shown on My PC, restart your PC.
Note: In case if the external device shows up initially but disappear later, then repeat the above step and click on Disk Management, Change Drive Letter and try reconnecting it
Method 3: Change Registry
Another approach to fix the issue is to change the registry. Below mentioned are the steps to modify Registry:
- Go to Start
- Type: regedt32 and click OK
- Backup Registry
- Click Export
- In left side, click OK,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
- Delete upper filter or lower filter
- Retry connecting the external drive
Now, try opening your drive to access the data.
What if you fix the error and encounter that all your data is lost? Be it accidentally deleted or formatted or lost data due to corruption in the drive. With the help of an efficient external hard drive recovery tool you can get back your important data.
Recover Data From Undetectable External Drive with Light On
Once you are done fixing the “hard drive is blinking but not detected” issue, if you notice any data loss. Don’t worry simply stop using the drive and use an effective data recovery software to recover the data from the external hard drive.
Though several freeware options are available, we suggest you try the SFware Hard Drive Recovery Tool for the best results, as it is simple and effective in recovering almost all possible data from your external hard drive. Additionally, the tool offers a free preview option with no signups required. Download now and recover data from a hard drive just blinks and does not spin.
“We recovered a number of files, some were deleted a few weeks ago, others about 6 months ago” – Systemtek
Steps to Recover Data from Hard Disk Light Blinking but Not Detected
Step 1: Download the Software and Install on your device.
Step 2: Launch the software, select the external hard drive and click on Start Scan.
Step 3: Once the QuickScan is completed, view the recovered files from the Lost and Found Files or Deleted Files folders.
Step 4: After locating, double-click on any file to preview them for free
Step 5: If you are satisfied with the preview, Select the files you wish to recover and click on Save to restore them to your preferred location.
Conclusion:
In any external hard drive, issues such as drive not accessible or undetectable is quite common. It is always rewarding and safe to keep the backup of the important data. Above mentioned are the few of the methods to get back your drive to the working mode.
Do let us know if you are successful in fixing the problem of external hard drive blinking but is not working, please share your thoughts in the comment section below.