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The answer to this question is going to depend on what is causing the problem.

One thing that is very common is that the drive isn't partitioned. If the external hard drive is brand new, it has to be partitioned and formatted before it can be used. This generally isn't the cause of the problem if it's not a new drive. If it is a new drive you will need to go to the disk management service found in the computer management tool. That service will allow you to create a partition on the drive and format it. It should then show up in My Computer.

If that isn't the issue the most common problems are usually related to power issues. If your HD is one that requires an AC power adapter, make sure it is plugged in. If your drive runs directly off USB power there could be a few causes. If you're running it through a USB hub instead of being plugged directly into the computer, it might not be getting enough power. If it is connected directly to the computer some computers (usually laptops) can't provide enough power for the drive.

If it isn't a partition problem, and it isn't a power problem, it could be a USB controller problem in your computer, or the external hard drive could be broken.

This isn't an exhaustive list of potential causes, but these are some of the more likely causes.

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Q: How can you find your external hard drive which doesn't show up in your Computer?
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