cannot access external hard drives

Question

Hard drives show up as drive name with ? to left hard drive letter. Ran Norton 360,

result was drive were ok, looking at the drive file they were empty

Answer 1

Hi Bob Minger,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

I understand how concerning it can be when drives suddenly appear empty. One important point to note is that Norton is an antivirus program, meaning its main role is to scan for malware, not disk condition. You need to use the specialized tool for that.

1 - Check with Disk Management

• Press Win + X > Disk Management > Find the external drive
• Look at the File System column:
  • If it says RAW > file system is corrupted
  • If it shows NTFS / exFAT > access or visibility issue

2 - Show hidden files

• Open File Explorer > View (top menu) > Show > Check Hidden items
• Also on that menu > click three-dot > Options > open View tab
• Uncheck Hide protected operating system files > OK

3 - Check the drive for errors

• Open File Explorer > Right‑click the external drive
• Open Properties > go to Tools tab > click Check

If possible, test on another PC to confirm whether the issue is Windows‑side or drive‑side. If it’s still empty and / or the Disk Management says RAW, the correct path is to contact a professional data recovery service before any write operations occur.

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Answer 2

If your external hard drives are showing up with a question mark next to their drive letters, this typically indicates that there is an issue with the drives being recognized by the system. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot the issue:

1. Check Disk Management: Open Disk Management to see if the drives are listed there. If they appear as "Not Initialized" or "Unallocated," you may need to initialize or create a volume on the drives. Be cautious, as this can erase data if the drives contain important files.
2. Reconnect the Drives: Unplug the external hard drives and plug them back in. Sometimes, simply reconnecting the drives can resolve connectivity issues.
3. Try Different USB Ports: Connect the drives to different USB ports on your computer. Sometimes, certain ports may not provide enough power or may have other issues.
4. Check Cables: If possible, try using different cables to connect the drives. Faulty cables can lead to connectivity problems.
5. Power Cycle: Shut down your computer, turn off the external hard drives (if they have a power switch), and then turn everything back on. This can help reset the connection.
6. Run Troubleshooters: Utilize Windows built-in troubleshooters for hardware and devices to identify and fix issues automatically.

If the drives still do not show any files and are recognized as empty, it could indicate a problem with the drives themselves, such as corruption or hardware failure. In such cases, data recovery options may need to be explored if the data is critical.

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References:

• Troubleshoot Disk Management
• Drive '<drivename>' not found
• Error message when you access a USB storage device after resuming from suspend
• Access denied to '<name>'