Windows 7 Forums Search
Welcome to Windows 7 Forums. Our forum is dedicated to helping you find solutions with any problems, errors or issues you are experiencing with Windows 7. The Windows 7 forum also covers news and updates and has an extensive Windows 7 tutorial section that covers a wide range of tips and tricks.


Windows 7 - External Drive Showing Up As Local...

 
04-04-2010   #1


Windows 7 Home Premium
 
 

External Drive Showing Up As Local...

My 1TB Western Digital external drive is showing up as a local drive under My Computer after I formated it. How do I make it show up as removable storage again?

My System SpecsSystem Spec
04-04-2010   #2


WCP ONLY
 
 


Quote   Quote: Originally Posted by DaveTheRealtor View Post
My 1TB Western Digital external drive is showing up as a local drive under My Computer after I formated it. How do I make it show up as removable storage again?
What did you format it to? (NTFS, FAT32)

I assume it is a USB device, correct?
My System SpecsSystem Spec
04-04-2010   #3


Windows 7 Home Premium
 
 


Yeah, I apologize. It's connected via USB and formatted as NTFS.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
.


04-04-2010   #4


WCP ONLY
 
 


Quote   Quote: Originally Posted by DaveTheRealtor View Post
Yeah, I apologize. It's connected via USB and formatted as NTFS.

Dave

check device manager to make sure the USB driver is working correctly (type device manager in search>go to USB tab)

Ken
My System SpecsSystem Spec
04-04-2010   #5


Windows 7 Home Premium
 
 


That's all good. I tried to format it so that my Xbox would read it and, I failed, now It's showing up like this... The computer is reading it as it's plugged in, just showing up as a local drive not removable.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
04-04-2010   #6


XP Pro SP3 X86 / Win7 Pro X86
 
 


Quote   Quote: Originally Posted by DaveTheRealtor View Post
My 1TB Western Digital external drive is showing up as a local drive under My Computer after I formated it. How do I make it show up as removable storage again?
If you have your "My Computer" window set to "Show in Groups" it simply lumps USB HDs in with the other disk drives... it's no worry and nothing is broken.

Here's one of mine.... Thing works perfectly...

External Drive Showing Up As Local...-capture.jpg

What likely changed is that when you formatted it the "Removable" flag in the drive's descriptor was reset.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
04-04-2010   #7


Windows 7 Home Premium
 
 


Well, how do I fix it to show up as removable?
My System SpecsSystem Spec
04-04-2010   #8


XP Pro SP3 X86 / Win7 Pro X86
 
 


Quote   Quote: Originally Posted by DaveTheRealtor View Post
Well, how do I fix it to show up as removable?
You don't. Honest... it's not broken and this is not a bad thing.

The only suggestion would be to go into device manager, find the external drive and right click to get the Properties dialog... Under Policies, click the Quick Removal option.

From there, just use it...
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Reply

 External Drive Showing Up As Local... problems?



Thread Tools



Similar Threads for: External Drive Showing Up As Local...
Thread Forum
Samsung s2 external hard drive not loading showing local disk F drive Hardware & Devices
External hard drive not showing up Hardware & Devices
Explorer Not Showing External Drive - Help! Hardware & Devices
External Hard-Drive Not Showing Up Hardware & Devices
Solved Problem with external drive not showing up Hardware & Devices


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:35 PM.



Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized,
sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation.
"Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
© Designer Media Ltd
  

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30