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March 29th, 2025 02:25
USB driver not opening external hard drive
XPS 15 7590
Hello! I'm dealing with an issue related to external hard drive recognition. For all hard drives that I plug into any USB port on my laptop, the external hard drive shows up in devices under settings, but not under windows explorer. I updated the drivers and ran all system updates, but nothing has worked. Any ideas for what might be causing this?
ejn63
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March 29th, 2025 10:52
Is the drive actually spinning?
K_a_t_i_e
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March 29th, 2025 17:10
@ejn63 Thanks for responding! I don't hear it spinning but this is a new external drive. We've had this issue with other external drives on the same computer and then they all work on our other laptop and on our TV.
ejn63
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March 29th, 2025 17:32
What's the specific model of drive (is it a hard drive or is it an SSD)?
It's not uncommon for some systems to be unable to power an external spinning hard drive from a single USB port. There are dual-tap cables you can use, or you can use a powered hub or docking station to fully power an external drive.
K_a_t_i_e
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March 29th, 2025 21:44
@ejn63 Here's one of the hard drives we've used: https://www.target.com/p/western-digital-my-passport-5tb-usb-3-2-gen-1-type-a-2-5-34-portable-external-hard-drive-red/-/A-89377625#lnk=sametab. We have two laptops of the same model where the drives work on one but no the other. Is it possible that one laptop might not be able to handle it even if another of the same model is?
ejn63
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March 29th, 2025 22:01
That should not be the case, but are there additional USB devices plugged in to the system in question but not the other(s)?
K_a_t_i_e
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March 29th, 2025 22:18
@ejn63 No on the affected laptop, no external hard drives work when we plug them into any of the USB ports.