Solved External HDD is spinning but not recognized

Hi there,

For the past six months I used a SATA to USB to connect my previous laptop hard drive (a Seagate Momentus ST9750420AS) to my new laptop. Everything was fine till yesterday when it suddenly disappeared from Disk Management. In Device Manager, I found it 'hidden' and greyed out under disk drives. I uninstalled it from Device Manager in the hopes that after a restart it would be picked up again, but alas it is just spinning and not detected.

I tried with an even older hard drive (a WD3200BEVT), same result.
My Kingston USB stick found no problem connecting though.

Is it a driver issue?
Thanks

Hi Ducky, welcome to the Eleven forums.

Out of interest are you able to change the drive letter of the greyed out drive?

Sorry, it’s no longer detectable. My bad.

You could try MiniTool free edition to investigate? Not sure if it will make a difference.

Hi Ducky!
Could you give us the exact name of the MSI notebook pls.

EX_(Raider GE76 12UGS).​

Flashorn said:

Hi Ducky!
Could you give us the exact name of the MSI notebook pls.

EX_(Raider GE76 12UGS).​

Click to expand...

Modern 14 B11M

ducky said:

Modern 14 B11M

Click to expand...

Thanks .
Have you tried another USB port ?
Can you try another caddy for the HDD?
When plugged in , check in Device Manager if there is a Yellow Triangle(s) next to any
of the USB Controllers.

Have you verified that all of the peripherals for the notebook are up to date:


Also, install Intel Driver & Support Assistant :


Did you install any updates from MS since you noticed this behavior?

Flashorn said:

Thanks .
Have you tried another USB port ?
Can you try another caddy for the HDD?
When plugged in , check in Device Manager if there is a Yellow Triangle(s) next to any
of the USB Controllers.

View attachment 78687

Click to expand...

I have two USB ports, same result.
I don't have another SATA connector, but I assumed it's not the problem since the drive is spinning.

In Device Manager there are no yellow triangles next to any of the USB Controllers. However, when I click "Show hidden devices", a greyed-out "USB Mass Storage Device" appears.

Flashorn said:

Did you install any updates from MS since you noticed this behavior?

Click to expand...

I recently upgraded to 23H2

Which A/V is installed ?
Has it installed any updates since this ?
Any MS updates in the last day or so.
Do you have another computer handy
that you can test with ? maybe run a test on
the HDD with


If it's spinning, it's receiving power but, not being recognized.
Have you done any changes to MSI Center pro?

Flashorn said:

Which A/V is installed ?
Has it installed any updates since this ?
Any MS updates in the last day or so.
Do you have another computer handy
that you can test with ?

Click to expand...

Just Microsoft Defender Antivirus. It installs 'Security Intelligence Update' almost daily.
Sadly, no other computer at the moment.
I forgot to mention that, a couple of weeks ago, the same problem happened when I tried to plug it in. So, I upgraded to 23H2 and installed its Quality updates. After the upgrade the drive was still unrecognized, however, the instant I opened Disk Management it was suddenly available and everything was ok!
I hoped it would be the same this time, but no luck so far.

Power can be an issue, I have 2 cases for the older PATA/IDE 2.5" drives that are for USB 2 ports but they have a Y-cable for the connection, one leg for data and power and the other leg for a second USB 2 port for additional power. I have a few others that are USB 3 for SATA drives with a single cable as USB 3 provides more power.

ducky said:

I recently upgraded to 23H2

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From which OS version ?
I believe your notebook came with W10 64 bit.

Have you verified that all drivers & BIOS are up to their latest on the MSI site ?
Those might be different for W11.

Have you installed Intel's software for their peripherals on your notebook.
IF nothing fixes your problem, you'll have to make sure that the HDD is still
viable. It might still be spinning but, the reading arm might not be.

Boot to your boot menu, is the drive present? Is there any mention of it in the BIOS at all? Can you see it in the boot sequence settings?

antspants said:

Boot to your boot menu, is the drive present? Is there any mention of it in the BIOS at all? Can you see it in the boot sequence settings?

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No, no, and no.

ducky said:

No, no, and no.

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If it‘s an option; I’d possibly see if a neighbour would be good enough to plug it in. If it’s undetectable, I’d say it’s toast, at the very best the cable is stuffed.

antspants said:

If it‘s an option; I’d possibly see if a neighbour would be good enough to plug it in. If it’s undetectable, I’d say it’s toast, at the very best the cable is stuffed.

Click to expand...

I'll try.
I just wanted to see if there were quick driver solutions.
Thank you all for your help :)

Other than that, I’m wondering if Walmart or someone (I’m an Aussie) has those self serve photo machines. They’re setup to detect drives and give access to photos within? If they take a usb, they should take your drive.

There is a chance the USB to SATA cable might somehow become defective as there is a controller sitting between the USB and SATA, all you can really do is try another cable with the same HD's in question.

Almighty1 said:

There is a chance the USB to SATA cable might somehow become defective as there is a controller sitting between the USB and SATA, all you can really do is try another cable with the same HD's in question.

Click to expand...

I managed to borrow another cable, and it worked!

Thank you all for your help!