USB Hard Drive not showing in My Computer

[Eggbert]

Hi there,

I have just built my first rig, and coming from a Mac background I am somewhat of a noob, so sorry if this question is tedious.

The problem is, I plug in an external USB 2.0 HDD, and I got the message saying it is installing drivers, then a message saying installation was successful. However, it is not showing in My Computer!

I have Google searched this issue and the consensus is to go to computer management, and go to the storage option, then disk management. Then right-click on your drive, and it should have an option to "Change Drive Letter and Paths". Then it should work. Well.... it does have that option, but it is greyed out! I cannot click on it!

I am running Windows 7 64 bit. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

[blueball]

Try plugging it in to a different USB port and try again, the advice you have found is the correct advice.

[smargh]

Is the disk initialised?

[Betty_Swallocks]

Has the disk been used on a Mac before? If so that's probably the problem. I lent my USB stick to a friend with a Mac and it destroyed it, albeit temporarily. Reinitialising it sorted it out.
Macs are nasty things.

[Rylan]

Check the "Device Manager" to see if the device has been detected.
Check "Disk Management" to ensure the disk is online and format it from there.

Both of those terms can be typed into the Windows 7 search bar on the Start Menu.

[beckieM]

You could also check the BIOS settings. Maybe the USB Ports are disabled in the BIOS settings.