Lost my internal hard drive

Question

I have an extra internal drive. The system undated and now I cannot find it. Unfortunately, when i first gave it a drive I used :D, it should have been a different drive letter. How do I retrieve this drive. It does not show in the disk management.

Answer 1

If your internal hard drive is not showing up in Disk Management after a system update, there are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot the issue:

1. Check Physical Connections: Ensure that the drive is properly connected to your motherboard and power supply. Sometimes, loose connections can cause the drive to not be recognized.
2. Initialize the Disk: If the drive is new or has not been initialized, it will not show up in Disk Management. You can initialize it by right-clicking on the unallocated space in Disk Management and selecting "Initialize Disk."
3. Check Device Manager: Open Device Manager and look for any devices with an exclamation mark or issues. If you see your drive there, it may need to be updated or reinstalled.
4. Use Disk Management: If the drive is visible in Disk Management but without a drive letter, you can assign a new drive letter. Right-click on the volume and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths" to assign a new letter.
5. Run Hardware Troubleshooter: You can run the built-in hardware troubleshooter to detect and fix issues with your drives.

If the drive still does not appear after these steps, it may indicate a hardware failure or compatibility issue. You might want to try connecting the drive to another computer to see if it is recognized there.

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References:

• Overview of Disk Management
• Troubleshoot Disk Management

Answer 2

Hi Brent,

Since it doesn't show in Disk Management, Can you enter the BIOS UEFI Setting and let me know if it is visible in the Storage section there?

https://www.yourwindowsguide.com/2025/08/how-to-enter-bios.html

Please keep me updated.

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