Can't connect to external drive

[luketeacup]

No idea if I'm on the right 'board', but here goes ...

I have a relatively new ASUS laptop. Running Windows 10. New to PC.

I'm unable to open an external hard drive (i've tried three); the hard drive isn't showing under MY PC (only the C drive is visible there), yet if I click on 'Bluetooth and devices' it's showing as connected to the USB 3.0 port. However, it's not possible to get into the hard drive from this screen.

I can click the pyramid sign next to the cloud one not far from the battery, and that allows me to disconnect.

But I can access the hard drive(s).

Any ideas what's going on? Many thanks 

[luketeacup]

But I cannot connect...that should have said in the penultimate sentence...

[luketeacup]

any ideas or suggestions...?

[mikedahl]

Hello Zentalk Asus Team,

Actually it sounds like your external hard drive might not be properly recognized by the system despite being detected. One possible solution is to check the Disk Management tool in Windows. You can access it by right-clicking the Start button and selecting 'Disk Management'. Look for your external hard drive there; it might need to be initialized, assigned a drive letter, or formatted. If it's showing as unallocated or with no drive letter, you can right-click on it to assign a letter or create a new volume. Ensure your USB drivers are up-to-date and try different USB ports if the problem persists. I'm hoping that these problems are resolved quickly, especially for Sportzfy Window users.Wonderful and Appreciated Thread.

Best Regards Everyone!😊

[luketeacup]

thanks, good advice; i've done what you've suggested and I can see it underneath the laptop's C drive, but I'm not sure how to initialise it as you suggest; when i right click on it, where do I allocate an initial? Many thanks