How To Fix SSD Not Showing in Windows 10 or 11?

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Summary: Is your SSD not showing up in File Explorer or Disk Management? It could be a connectivity issue or a hardware problem. Follow this article for guidance on different scenarios that may have caused the issue and how to fix the error to access your data on your laptops and computers

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Firstly, check the connection between the SSD and the computer. Ensure that your USB cable or port is not damaged. If you notice any physical damage, replace them and see if the issue is resolved. If the issue persists, it may be due to firmware or a connection problem, such as:

Why is my SSD not showing up?

There could be multiple reasons for SSD not showing up on your computer. Most common reasons are issues with the operating system, faulty storage controller drivers, unallocated spaces on SSD, and not assigning the driver letter will lead to the problem of SSD not showing up.

Sometimes, the SSD will be not initialized, and a corrupt file system on the drive leads to the SSD not showing up issue. Also, you might find that a newly bought SSD cannot be accessed because it does not appear anywhere, neither in Windows Explorer, command prompt, or Disk Management.

Key Note: When SSD is not showing up on your computer, it is recommended to immediately stop using your drive and recover data. because the methods used to fix the issue contain formatting and iniatalizing SSD, which in turn could cause data loss from the SSD drive. Therefore, before it gets too late, with the help of a safe and trusted SSD recovery software recover all your data from the drive.

How to Fix SSD Not Showing Up on Your Computer?

With the help of the below-mentioned methods, you could make your SSD detectable on Windows.

Method 1: Verify if SSD is showing up in BIOS

If your operating system is unable to access the SSD or SSD fails to show up on the BIOS, all you have to do is unplug all other drivers from your computer. If there are any issues related to other drives it should resolve that as well.

The BIOS will not detect an SSD if the data cable is damaged / corrupt or the connection is incorrect. Often, SATA cables fall out of their connection when it is handled improperly. Be sure to check your SATA cables are tightly connected to the SATA port connection.

If still your SSD is not recognized in BIOS you need to configure the SSD settings in BIOS as follows.

To make BIOS detect the SSD, Restart your computer, and press the F2 key after the first screen to boot-up the computer. (Different manufacturers will have different methods to enter Setup, so please verify with your system documentation for specifics)

  • Press the Enter key to enter Config.
  • Select SATA and press Enter.
  • You will see the SATA Controller Mode
  • Save your changes and restart your computer to enter BIOS.

If you can see the SSD in the BIOS menu listed with other devices, the system recognizes the SSD

Once the process completes, your SSD should be responding. If this is not the issue you are dealing with, try performing the other solutions discussed in the article.

Method 2: Assign a Drive Letter

Changing the drive letter helps you fix the SSD not showing up on your Windows when the Letter is unallocated. In such situation, you need to assign an appropriate drive letter

  • Open the Disk Management and locate the unallocated drive

select the unallocated

  • Right-click on the SSD and select new simple volume -> Next
  • Next, select the your SSD volume size and hit Next
  • Now, select Assign the following drive letter, choose a letter from the drop-down list, and click Next.

Lastly, click Finish to complete the process. Reboot your system and check if the problem is fixed.

Method 3: Update the Storage Control Driver

If an outdated, corrupt, or incompatible storage control driver causes this error SSD not showing up, updating the driver should help you fix the error.

  • Press Windows + X, Select Device Manager from the available options
  • Find the storage controllers, expand the controller’s category, and right-click on the controller driver to update.
  • Click Update driver to proceed

update the SSD driver

  • Select Search automatically for updated drivers in the next window

click on search automatically for drivers

  • Now, let the Windows search for the latest controller driver.

If Windows can’t find the latest driver for your device, it is suggested to manually update the drivers by referring to the manufacturer’s website.

Method 4: Hardware and Device Troubleshooter

Windows 10 and 11 have built-in troubleshooting which can detect and fix issues with a computer’s physical components, here is how you do it:

  • Go to Settings > Update & Security >Troublehoot
  • Select Hardware and Devices and click on Run the troubleshooter.

run hardware troubleshooting

Once the scan is completed, restart your device and check if the SSD is being recognized by the computer.

Method 5: Format your SSD with NTFS file format

If the above method doesn’t help you fix the SSD issue, try formatting the drive with the NTFS file system. This method helps you access SSD when the SSD file system is deleted or corrupted.

  • Open the disk management.
  • Select your SSD -> Right Click -> Select Format
  • In the next screen, Click on Format this volume with the following settings and choose NTFS -> Next

format the SSD drive

Note: Formatting the drive will erase the data stored on it. If you have formatted the SSD without backing up your data, you can make use of SFWare Data Recovery Software to recover data from formatted SSD drive partition.

Method 6: Initialize your new SSD Drive to Show Up on Windows

If the drive you are trying to access is the new one, you may have not initialized the drive to make it accessible. To initialize an SSD, follow these steps:

  • Press the Windows + R keys at the same time, type diskmgmt.msc -> Enter.
  • Disk Management screen appears, locate the drive that is not initialized, which will display as unallocated
  • Right-click on the SSD drive and select Initialize Disk
  • When the next screen prompts select GPT instead of MBR and click Ok

Once the process is completed. Verify if you can access your SSD

How to Recover Data when SSD is not Showing Up?

To recover data from the SSD that is not showing up download and install SFWare Data Recovery Software and launch the application.

SFWare Data Recovery software is developed by testing against real-time data loss scenarios. It has a built-in robust data recovery algorithm that helps in scanning and recovering all the lost or inaccessible partitions.

Note: Disable the TRIM command before scanning the SSD to recover data from SSD on your windows PC

Step 1: Launch the tool, select the SSD, and Start  Scan.

If SSD is not showing up home window then  click on Select Physical Drive option

select the hard drive and click on Scan

Step 2: After quick scan completion, check the folders to check the recovered data.

check for the recovered data in the respective folders

 

Step 3: Locate all the files that you wish to recover.
(Use search box and Filter options to locate files and folders easily)

locating from the recovered external hard drive data

 

Step 4: Double-click on any file to preview it for free and click on Save to restore it on your preferred loation.

preview the recovered files

Ensure you save the recovered data in a different location to avoid losing them.

Conclusion:

Though SSDs are more durable than traditional hard drives, you may still encounter issues like these. We hope this article helped you fix the “SSD doesn’t show up” issue on Windows laptops and computers. If you end up formatting or initializing the SSD, you can use data recovery tools like SFware Data Recovery Software to recover all the data from the SSD.

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