I've got a Seagate expansion drive that's not appearing on my computer at all. I checked Disk Management, and while it shows up in the lower section, I can't seem to initialize or format it. I'm really hoping someone can guide me on how to get this working, or at least how to access my files without losing anything.
2 Answers
From what I gather, your Disk 1 might have multiple partitions that are causing issues. If it looks like there are way too many partitions, you might have to clear and repartition it. You can do this using the command prompt. Just run 'diskpart', select your disk, and type 'clean'. But heads up! This will wipe all the data, so if you're trying to recover files, this might NOT be the best approach. If reclaiming data is the goal, maybe trying GParted on a Linux machine could help.
It sounds like you're seeing Disk 1 in Disk Management, right? From what you've described, it seems like there might be issues with the drive’s partitioning. Since it's not showing up in File Explorer, it might not have a drive letter assigned. You can try right-clicking on the partition and choosing 'Change Drive Letter' to assign one. But if it doesn't appear as a volume at all, it could mean the drive wasn't formatted properly for Windows. Was it formatted on a different OS?
Yes, that's Disk 1. I’m a bit lost when it comes to this stuff. How does formatting on different OS affect it?
But doing that would erase everything, right? Just a reminder in case OP wants to keep their files.