Fixe Maxtor External Hard Drive Not Working/Recognized Without Data Loss

This page mainly focuses on how to fix Maxtor external hard drive not recognized issue without losing any data. The solutions are for a variety of Maxtor external disk models, including Maxtor 3200, Maxtor OneTouch 3, and Maxtor OneTouch 4.

Maxtor External Hard Drive Not Showing Up in Windows 

Maxtor is a brand of internal and external storage devices owned by Seagate. It has a serial of devices, including Maxtor OneTouch 4/3/2, Maxtor Z1 SSD, Maxtor M3 Portable External Hard Drive, and even Maxtor D3 Station External Hard Drive, etc. for personal users and business owners to store data.

Like Seagate external hard drives, Maxtor users may encounter diverse issues while using its storage devices to save data or transfer files on Windows or Mac computers. Don't worry if you are experiencing the same issues:

1. Case 1 - "Maxtor external hard drive won't open on PC. What can I do to open it and get all data back?"
2. Case 2 - "My computer cannot detect the Maxtor USB drive. Nothing shows up on my PC. So how do I fix this problem?"
3. Case 3 - "My Maxtor external hard drive is neither recognized nor detected by my computer. How to make it detectable again?"

Maxtor external hard drive suddenly won't open or fails to show up on your PC? If you happen to be a user of Maxtor D3/One Touch or Maxtor portable USB drive, how will you fix such a problem? Can the Maxtor external hard drive or USB drive be detectable again? 

Follow through the provided methods in the following parts to make your Maxtor external or internal hard drive work normally again without losing any data.

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If you are having a similar issue on your hard drive, you may directly try the fixes below. 

Check Maxtor Internal/External Hard Drive State First

Before you start fixing the Maxtor external hard drive not recognized issue, open Windows File Explorer and Disk Management to check its state, then decide the exact problem you are having and find the right solution to fix the Maxtor drive issues.

Step 1. Connect your Maxtor external hard drive to your PC.

Step 2. Double-click This PC or My Computer to open Windows File Explorer.

Step 3. Check if the device shows up or not.

If the Maxtor hard drive shows up but is not openable or requires formatting, use reliable data recovery software to restore data first. 

If the Maxtor device not showing up or recognized, continue with Step 4 to check its state in Disk Management.

Step 4. Right-click the Windows icon and select Disk Management to open it.

Step 5. Check its' state in Disk Management:

If your Maxtor external hard drive or USB shows as RAW or unallocated, move to Maxtor external hard drive recovery to restore data first. 

If the Maxtor hard drive shows as unknown, offline, no media, or new volume, refer to the practical fixes.

If the Maxtor internal or external hard drive doesn't show up in Disk Management at all, take it to a local device repair center. You'll need a manual disk repair service for help.

Restore Data from Maxtor External Hard Drive for Data Security

Applies to: Restore data from inaccessible, unopenable, RAW, unallocated Maxtor internal/external hard drive, avoiding data loss.

In order to prevent further data loss, we recommend you take action to restore data from Maxtor external or internal hard drive immediately. All you need is EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, which is powerful to restore lost data on HDD, SSD, external hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, etc. 

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can easily scan and restore everything from your Maxtor external hard drive or USB drive.

3-Step Tutorial: Recover Data from Maxter External/Internal Hard Drive

Step 1. Use a correct USB cable to connect your external hard drive to your computer. Run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and you will see your external disk under External drives. This software supports all the popular external disk brands, including WD, Seagate, Toshiba, LaCie, SanDisk, Samsung, etc. 

Select the external hard drive and then click the "Scan" button. 

Step 2. As soon as the scan process starts, the software will find more and more lost and deleted data and display the data in the scan results. The recovered data will be nicely organized. You can quickly find the target files/folders by file type or search in the search box with exact file name. 

Step 3. You can preview the files found by EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard's scanning algorithms. Then, select files and click "Recover". To avoid data overwriting, we recommend that you save the recovered data to a different drive than the original Seagate drive.

Remember to save the recoverable data to another secure location in case of further data loss. After restoring valuable data from the Maxtor external hard drive, you can move to the next part and pick up a reliable resolution to make your device back to work. Also, don't forget to share this file recovery software on your social media to help others get back lost data without effort. 

13 Fixes for Maxtor External Hard Drive Not Working Issue

Applies to: Fix Maxtor external hard drive/hard drive not recognized, not working, or not showing up error on Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista, etc.

In this part, you'll learn several practical methods to get Windows to recognize your Maxtor external hard drive or to make Maxtor internal hard drive work again:

1. #1. Change USB Port
2. #2. Change Drive Letter
3. #3. Initialize Maxtor Hard Drive and Create a New Partition
4. #4. Active Maxtor Hard Drive Online
5. #5. Enable Legacy USB Support in BIOS
6. #6. Disable USB Selective Suspend Setting
7. #7. Uninstall or Reinstall Disk Driver
8. #8. Check Disk Error Using Disk Error Checking or CHKDSK Command
9. #9. Repair Bad Sectors
10. #10. Format Maxtor External Hard Drive
11. #11. Run Windows Troubleshooter 
12. #12. Update Windows to the Latest Version
13. #13. Clean Up Virus

Note that, if your Maxtor hard drive or external USB drive not recognized or not showing, try Method 1 - Method 7 to make your drive show up or detectable again.

If your Maxtor or other brands of internal/external hard drive is not working, try Method 8 - Method 13 to make your drive back to work again. 

Fix 1. Change USB Ports and Reboot PC in Safe Mode

Maxtor USB hard drives are connected to a computer via USB cable, so when your storage device is not recognized by your computer, changing the USB ports can help:

Step 1. Connect the Maxtor external hard drive or USB to another USB port on your PC. Try all the available USB ports and see if it shows up.

Step 2. Try to connect your Maxtor drive to your family's or colleagues' computers. Is it showing up there?

Step 3. Use a screwdriver to open the tower case, and connect the Maxtor drive to the motherboard USB ports in the back of the tower.

If nothing shows up, never mind. You can reboot the PC in safe mode:

Step 1. Go to Settings, and click on Update & Security.

Step 2. Click on Recovery, select Advanced Startup, and click Restart now.

Step 3. The PC will automatically boot into another Startup Settings screen, press F4 to initiate the PC reboot into Safe Mode.

Then check whether the Maxtor external hard disk or USB drive can be detected or recognized on your computer.

Fix 2. Change Drive Letter

When Maxtor external or internal hard drive doesn't have a drive letter, only display as a new volume in Disk Management, it won't be detected by Windows File Explorer.

You'll need to add a drive letter to your device using Disk Management:

Step 1. Connect Maxtor external hard drive to your PC, and open Disk Management. 

Step 2. Right-click the Maxtor volume and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths".

Step 3. In the new window, click "Change". Assign a new drive letter to your USB and click "OK".

Fix 3. Create a New Partition 

If your Maxtor hard drive displays as unallocated or unknown in Disk Management, it won't be detected by Windows File Explorer. You'll need to initialize the disk and create a new partition on the drive to make it usable again.

Initialize Hard Drive:

Step 1. Connect Maxtor hard drive to PC, and open Disk Management.

Step 2. Find the uninitialized, unknown external hard drive, right-click on it, and select Initialize Disk.

Step 3. Then set the disk to initialize and set the disk as MBR or GPT.

Create a New Partition on Maxtor Hard Drive:

Step 1. Keep Maxtor external hard drive connected to your PC and open Disk Management. 

Step 2. Right-click on the unallocated space and select "New Simple Volume".

Step 3. Set a new drive letter, file system, and size for the new volume.

Step 4. Follow the onscreen instruction guidelines to finish the process.

Fix 4. Active Maxtor Hard Drive Online

When Maxtor external or internal hard drive is offline in Disk Management, it also cannot show up in Windows File Explorer. You can set the hard drive online using Disk Management with the following steps:

Step 1. Keep Maxtor hard drive or an external device connected to PC and open Disk Management.

Step 2. Locate and right-click on the Maxtor disk, and select "Online".

Fix 5.  Enable Legacy USB Support in BIOS

If the Maxtor hard drive is not enabled in BIOS, your computer motherboard won't be able to detect it. Then Windows cannot recognize it either. 

Here is how to enable USB support for the Maxtor hard drive in BIOS:

Step 1. Restart PC, press F2/F8/F11 to enter BIOS.

Step 2. Go to the Advanced tab, select "USB Configuration".

Step 3. Select Legacy USB Support and set its state as "Enabled". Save the changes and exit.

Fix 6. Disable USB Selective Suspend Setting

Step 1. Type power plan in the Windows Search box and hit Enter

Step 2. Enter Power Options, select "Change plan settings" > "Change advanced power settings".

Step 3. Expand "USB settings" > "USB selective suspend setting" > "Setting" > "Disabled".

Step 4. Click "OK" > "Apply" to save the changes

Fix 7. Uninstall or Reinstall Disk Driver and USB Controllers

When the hard drive driver is outdated, you may also not be able to view or find the Maxtor device on your PC. You can update your disk drivers and USB controllers to make the Maxtor external or internal hard drive detectable again:

Update Disk Driver:

Step 1. Right-click on This PC or My Computer, and select "Manage".

Step 2. On Computer Management, select "Device Manager".

Step 3. Expand Disk drives, right-click on your hard drive, which is not showing up, and select "Update driver".

Step 4. Select "Search automatically for updated driver software".

Update USB Controllers:

Step 1. Open the Run box (Windows + R), type devmgmt.msc, and hit Enter.

Step 2. Expand "Universal Serial Universal Serial Bus controllers" > right-click each USB device found there and select 'Uninstall'.

Check out whether any device shows up as unrecognized or not:

• If the Maxtor external hard drive shows as unrecognized, go to the 'drivers' tab and delete/uninstall the driver; Then check out if the external hard drive shows up in My Computer/My PC.
• If it shows up but disappears later, repeat the above steps and go to Disk Management, change the drive letter of your Maxtor external hard drive or USB and reconnect it to the PC to detect the Maxtor drive again.

The above solutions are designed for fixing Maxtor hard drive not recognized, not showing issues. If your hard drive or external USB can be detected but is not openable or inaccessible, check and follow fixes below to make your drive work normally again.

Fix 8. Check Disk Error 

When your hard drive contains disk error or file system errors, it may not be able to be accessed. You can either use Disk Checker or CHKDSK command to fix errors on your hard drive. Here are the steps:

Check Disk Error using Disk Error Checking

Step 1. Right-click This PC/My Computer > Select "Manage".

Step 2. In Disk Management, right-click on Maxtor external hard drive or USB drive and select "Properties > Tools".

Step 3. Click "Check" under "Error checking" to check and repair the drive for file system errors.

Step 4. After this, right-click on the Maxtor drive and click Properties.

Step 5. Click Security > Edit > check all boxes for Authenticated Users, System, Administrators, and Users under Allow permission.

Step 6. Click Apply and OK.

Check Disk Error using CHKDSK CMD

Caution: The CHKDSK command works to fix inaccessible or corrupted storage devices, but it will cause permanent file loss. So make sure that you recover data with the ultimate EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard before applying this fix.

Repair not working Maxtor external hard drive/USB with CMD, follow the guide:

Step 1. Type cmd in Windows Search and hit Enter.

Step 2. Right-click Command Prompt and select "Open as administrator".

Step 3. Type diskpart and hit Enter.

Step 4. Type: chkdsk g: /f /r /x (g should be the drive letter of your Maxtor external hard drive.) and hit Enter.

Step 5. Type: exit to finish the process when the disk checkup process is finished.

Now your Maxtor external hard drive or USB drive should be accessible to be opened and work normally. 

Fix 9. Repair Bad Sectors

Fix 'Maxtor external hard drive undetectable' error with partition manager freeware - EaseUS Partition Master. Follow the guide:

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master Free and right-click the partition that you want to check by clicking "Check partition".

Step 2. Choose how you want to check the partition: Check Partition Properties, Call Windows Chkdsk to fix errors or Surface Test. Click OK. 

Step 3. Let EaseUS Partition Master automatically check the hard disk partition errors and repair errors for you. Click OK to finish the process.

Fix 10. Format Maxtor External Hard Drive

If Maxtor external hard drive or USB is with RAW file system or becomes inaccessible, you can format it to NTFS or other formats flexibly, making the device usable again:

Step 1. Open Windows File Explorer, right-click on the inaccessible external hard drive or internal hard drive partition and select "Format".

Step 2. Select the desired file system from the format window - NTFS for your device.

Step 3. Check "Quick Format" and click "Start".

Fix 11. Run Windows Troubleshooter

Step 1. Open Windows Settings, go to Update and Security.

Step 2. Click "Troubleshoot", and go to "Hardware and Devices". 

Step 3. Click "Run the troubleshooter" and wait for the process to complete.

Step 4. Once the scan process completes, choose the found issue that you want to fix and click "Next". 

Fix 12. Update Windows to the Latest Version

Step 1. Go to Windows Settings, and click "Update and Security".

Step 2. Click "Windows Update" and select "Check for updates". 

Step 3. Click "Install Now" if a new update is available.

Fix 13. Clean Up Virus

Sometimes, unknown viruses or malware infections may also cause data loss or storage device unopenable issues. If you are having such a problem, downloading any virus cleaner tool to clean up the virus first.

Clean Up Virus:

Step 1. Download or install any one of the following virus cleaner software on your PC.

①. Norton AntiVirus; ②. Kaspersky Anti-Virus; ③. Avast; ④. ESET NOD32 Antivirus; ⑤. Avira.

Step 2. Connect your problematic Maxtor device to your computer and run the antivirus software.

Step 3. Select to scan and clear virus and malware on your Maxtor hard drive or external hard drive.

After this, you can then try to open and check your files saved in the Maxtor storage devices. If files get lost, don't worry. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard with reliable file recovery features can help you out.

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Conclusion

This page covers 13 solutions to help Maxtor users effectively fix Maxtor external hard drive, Maxtor HDD/SSD, USB drive not recognized, not showing, and even not working issue on Windows PC.  

If you have valuable files saved on storage devices, turn to professional hard drive data recovery software for help. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is one of them and is ready to help rescue your data anytime.

Maxtor Hard Drive Not Showing Up FAQs

Some of you may have more problems with fixing not working Maxtor or other brands of storage devices. If you are one of them, check out the following questions and answers. You may find answers and solutions here.

1. How do I access my Maxtor external hard drive?

When your external hard drive doesn't show up in Windows File Explorer and Disk Management at all, how to access it? Here are some tips:

• Unplug Maxtor external hard drive and replug it to PC correctly
• Change the USB port
• Change the USB connection cable and power cable
• Initialize Maxtor Hard Drive and Create a New Partition
• Active Maxtor Hard Drive Online
• Enable Legacy USB Support in BIOS
• Disable USB Selective Suspend Setting
• Uninstall or Reinstall Disk Driver

2. How to fix Maxtor hard drive not working on Mac?

If you are a Mac user and your Maxtor external or internal hard drive is not working on Mac, try the following fixes:

• Re-insert the Maxtor external hard drive into Mac
• Change the USB data cable
• Change the USB port or connect Maxtor external hard drive to another computer
• Format Maxtor hard drive or external hard drive for Mac
• Reset NVRAM: Restart Mac > Press: Options + Commands + P + R keys for 20 seconds > release the keys if Mac restarts.
• Set Maxtor external hard drive to show up on the desktop: Finder > Preferences > General > Check External disks/Hard disks.
• Send Maxtor external hard drive to a local repair center if it doesn't show up at all after trying the above fixes.

3. Why is my Maxtor hard drive not showing up?

The Maxtor external disk may not be recognized for the following reasons:

• Connection problems
• External hard disk driver issue
• A corrupted or lost file system on the external hard disk
• System file damage on your Windows 10 or Windows 11
• Physical damage on the Maxtor external disk