I'm trying to use a Sabrent adapter (the EC-SNVE model) with a hard drive from an old computer to expand my storage. It's worked perfectly until today. Now, when I plug the adapter in, Windows recognizes it, and it shows up in the devices and printers list. However, the drive doesn't show up in File Explorer anymore. I've tried restarting my computer, checking Device Manager, and removing/reinserting the drive multiple times, but nothing seems to work. It briefly worked earlier, but after restarting my laptop, it has gone back to this issue. This has never happened before, so I'm unsure what to do next. My laptop is an HP OMEN 16 with 16 GB of RAM.
3 Answers
First things first, if you can get access to the drive even for a moment, back up any important files. If that’s not an option, consider trying a different adapter; it could be failing. But if you can't access it at all, the hard drive might be on the verge of failing. That's when having a backup really pays off.
Have you checked Disk Manager? It might show up there, and you can see what the status is. Sometimes drives don’t appear in File Explorer but still exist in Disk Management.
It sounds like the hard drive might be dying. You can put your ear to it and see if you hear it spinning. If not, that's a bad sign. Listen for any unusual clicks or grinding sounds—those indicate serious issues. If it does show up even briefly, start backing up your files, especially important ones like photos.
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