Fixed: Can’t See Files or Folders on External Hard Drive in Windows 10 and 11

External hard drives are helpful and convenient, but sometimes they can hide your files or make them seem deleted, even though space is still being used. If you know how much space your files usually take up, you can tell they're still there, but it can be confusing when you can't see files or folders on external hard drive in Windows 10 and 11. This article will show you some simple ways to find missing files on an external hard drive.

Recover missing files on external hard drive in Windows 10 and 11 before fixing

If you can't see files or folders on an external hard drive in Windows 10 or 11, it is suggested to recover the missing files first. This step prevents the risk of permanently losing data caused by overwriting it. To recover lost data from an internal or external hard drive, you can use AOMEI FastRecovery. It's an effective and easy-to-use designed to safely recover deleted or lost files in many data loss situations.

Images, videos, audio, documents, and more than 1000 more file kinds can all be recovered. It can retrieve data from a wide variety of storage media, including SSDs, memory cards, USB flash drives, hard disks, and more. Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows Server are all compatible with this software.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI FastRecovery. Choose the exact partition or disk where your data is lost and click Scan.

Step 2. Then, the recovery tool start to scan and search. lt will execute the “Quickly Scan" first to find your deleted data fast, and then execute the “Deep Scan" for searching other lost data.

Step 3. Once the scan is completed, all deleted files, recycle bins and other missing files will be displayed. Please select the file you would like to recover and then click "Recover".

Step 4. Then, select a folder path to save your recovered files.

Step 5. Wait patiently for this process of recovering ends.

How to fix files not showing in external hard drive

If your can't see files on external hard drive in Windows 10 or 11, it is better to identify the causes first, thus making the solving process more effective. There are several possible reasons: the files could be hidden, the USB port could not handle enough power, the external hard drive's file system could be broken, the drive could have a virus, or the memory's copy could be damaged. In this part, we will share you targeted solutions according to these possible causes. These methods are also suitable for fixing external hard drive not showing up in File Explorer or Disk Management.

Solution 1. Restart your PC and reconnect the hard drive.

If the mirror image in the memory is broken, the operating system might not be able to respond and refresh on time. After that, the files on the portable hard drive might not show up. This is the time to restart your computer and connect the external hard drive again. After that, you can go back to File Explorer and open the folder for the external hard drive to see if the files are there.

Solution 2. Unhide hidden files on external hard drive

Sometimes, hiding files will make the files on the external hard drive seem disappear. If that's the case, unhiding files should be the simple solution to fix the problem. You can follow these steps when you can't see files on external hard drive.

Step 1. Open File Explorer, click “File” or “Organize” on the top left corner and choose “Folder and search options”

Step 2. In the pop-up window, click “View”, choose “Show hidden files, folders and driver” and click on “Apply” button.

Step 3. Open external hard drive to see whether files and folders appear.

PS.: When you need to open a certain folder, right-click it and choose “Prosperities”. Then, click “General”, uncheck “Hidden” and click on “OK” icon.

Or you can run “attrib -h -r -s /s /d n:\*.*” in Command Prompt to unhide hidden folders and files on the external hard drive. “n” refers to the drive letter assigned to the partition on the external hard drive.

Solution 3. Fix the file system errors via running CHKDSK

If files in external hard drive disappearing is the result of corrupted file system, you can follow the steps given below to run Check Disk tool. In File Explorer, right-click the external hard drive and navigate to “Prosperities” > “Tools” > “Check”.

After checking, the files and folders on external hard drive might appear.

PS.: It is also available to run Check Disk from Command Prompt.

Solution 4. Adjust settings in Registry Editor

Follow the steps above to show hidden files on an external hard drive. If the external hard drive does not show files yet, try changing a setting in Registry Editor with these steps. 

Step 1. Press Windows + R simultaneously, input “regedit” and hit Enter key to access Registry Editor.

Step 2. Go to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL

Step 3. Double click CheckedValue and make check whether the data value of it is “1”. If not, delete “CheckedValue” > right click SHOWALL folder > navigate to “New” > “DWORD” and name it CheckedValue > set the value data of it to “1”.

Step 4. Now, you can check if you the files in external hard drive show.

Solution 5. Format the external hard drive

If you can't see files or folders on external hard drive in Windows 10 and 11, you can first use data recovery software like AOMEI FastRecovery to get them back and avoid any overwriting operations. After saving your data, you can format the drive to repair the external hard drive. Before formatting, you can also back up the data to the Cloud or anywhere you like. Generally, you can run Disk Management to format the external hard drive to NTFS or FAT32, but sometimes, there will be error like you can’t format drive in Disk Management. At this time, you can choose a free formatting tool like AOMEI Partition Assitant, a free disk manager to do so. 

Conclusion

It's annoying when you can't see files or folders on external hard drive in Windows 10 and 11. When this happens, you should slow down, first recover your missing files with professional data recovery software like AOMEI FastRecover, figure out what the most likely causes of the problem are, and then take the right steps.