External Drive not Recognized

Question

On two Windows 10 computer, an External Drive not Recognized on one.

On one computer a Seagate 4 TB USB 3.0 drive is recognized the other computer it is not. The computer that does not recognize it has several USB external drives attached via a USB Hub. I have tried different ports on the hub AND on the computer it's self. When the drive is plugged in the LED light comes on and I can feel it spinning.

My thought it something on the computer is stopping it but I do not know were to look. The drive is not recognized in Disk Manager either,

Is there any other place to look or try?

Answer 1

In the past I have seen this problem, usually when a new USB drive is connected to a machine for the first time. The problem was that usbstor.inf and the compiled .pnf version were missing from C:\Windows\inf or corrupted. The solution was to copy usbstor.inf from another machine (or search for a download) and delete the .pnf version if it is present.

This seems to date back to at least Win XP but that file is still present in Win 10 (at least to 1909).

Answer 2

After reading misar's response, will this affect any of the other USB external drives I have that ARE working on this machine?

Answer 3

No. The .inf file is only used when installing a new device.

As I said this usually applies when a drive is attached for the first time but Windows sometimes "forgets" a drive and treats it as new.

Answer 4

Well that worked Thank you

I had to boot into DOS to make the copy as Windows I could only copy it if I was a Trusted installer.
Anyways I could do from DOS

All is good thanks