How to Fix Seagate External Hard Drive Not Working in Windows & macOS

The Seagate external hard drive not working error is also known as Seagate hard drive not detected, not recognized, or not showing up. In this guide, you have 8 solutions to fix the Seagate external hard drive not working problem on both Windows and Mac. If files are lost, use EaseUS file recovery software to recover files from external hard drive efficiently.

Applies to: Fix Seagate external hard drive not showing up, not detected, hard disk light blinking but not working, not recognized in Windows 10, USB drive not showing up, etc.

Is your Seagate external hard disk not detected? This page covers comprehensive solutions to fix Seagate and other brands of external hard drives not working, not detecting, or not showing up errors, making your hard drives work again without losing any data. You can check all the methods in the following table:

Data Recovery Services

Fix tricky disk issues without losing data.	Normal
Windows	🖥️Uninstall and Reinstall Seagate Hard Drive Driver	Can help you quickly fix the Seagate disk detection issues.	Easy
	💽Format RAW Seagate External Hard Drive to NTFS	Data loss is unavoidable, and you'd better back up data first.	Easy
	⚡Restore Partition or Create a New Partition	It's better to choose professional disk management software to do that.	Easy
	✅Change Seagate Drive Letter	Do not choose the same drive letter as your other disks to assign the Seagate external hard drive.	Easy
	💡Turn on the USB Root Hub	Avoid connecting multiple devices to the same USB hub may help.	Easy
macOS	💻Use First Aid	Use the Mac built-in disk repair utility to repair the Seagate external hard disk.	Easy
	⭐Format Seagate Disk	Back up your Seagate external hard drive before formatting it is necessary.	Easy
	🗃️Remount and Reformat	You'll need to mount the new Seagate external hard drive before using it.	Medium

Recover Data from Not Detected Seagate External Drive First 🏅

Since some effective ways to fix external disk problems will definitely cause data loss, such as disk formatting, we strongly recommend restoring and backing up your data from Seagate's external hard disk first.

To effectively recover data from not working Seagate external hard drives, you need to use powerful hard drive data recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, which can restore data from inaccessible, corrupted, and RAW external hard drives.

EaseUS data recovery software has the following highlights and features.

• 💽Recover data from external hard drives, including documents, photos, videos, audio files, music, and emails.
• 📸Recover corrupted USB drives, emptied Recycle Bin, memory cards, SD cards, digital cameras, etc.
• 🖥️Support external hard drive data recovery for sudden deletion, formatting, drive corruption, virus attack, etc.

How to recover data from your functional external hard disk with EaseUS Data Recovery? Here's a detailed tutorial:

Step 1. Ensure your Seagate external hard drive is correctly connected, and scan it with EaseUS data recovery software.

Step 2. All the lost data will appear after the scanning, and you can also filter the files during the scan process. You are able to preview the lost files on the Seagate external hard drive.

Step 3. Select all the files you want to recover from the Seagate external hard drive, click "Recover", and choose a new location to save them.

Here's a video that can help you learn more information about external hard drive data recovery. You can download the software mentioned in this video for free, and we guarantee the software's safety.

• 00:00 External hard drive data loss overview
• 01:00 Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
• 01:19 How to recover data with EaseUS

Don't forget to share this helpful Seagate external hard drive data recovery method with more readers!

Mac users should download the Mac version to restore lost files. To recover Seagate external hard drive data on Mac, follow this link:

Seagate External Hard Drive Repair Services (Recommended)

Before starting to use some complex methods, you can try some quick solutions to fix the Seagate external hard disk is not working issues:

• 💻Try a different USB port on the computer.
• 💽Switch to a new cable if the current one is damaged.
• 👩‍🔧Try connecting the drive to a different computer.
• 💡Verify if the drive's light is on. (Light off indicates the power adapter is not connected to power.)
• 🖥️Try a different power outlet. (Desktop Drives)

After following these tips, if your Seagate external hard drive is still not detected, move on and try the other further solutions offered below. If you prefer a professional data recovery and external hard drive repair service, EaseUS data recovery services is highly recommended. Our experts can easily repair crashed, mechanically failed, and physically damaged hard drives, USBs, and SSDs. Contact the experts and repair the Seagate external hard drive now.

How to Fix Seagate External Hard Drive Not Working in Windows

First, open Disk Management and check the state of your external hard drive. Then, refer to the appropriate solutions given below.

Fix 1. Uninstall and Reinstall Seagate Hard Drive Driver

In Device Manager or Disk Management on your computer, if your external hard drive shows as RAW or Unallocated, it means you need to format your hard drive.

Step 1. Connect the Seagate external hard drive to your PC and open Disk Management.

Step 2. Right-click on the not working RAW drive and select "Format".

Step 3. Set the volume label, set NTFS as the file system, and tick "Quick Format". Click "OK" to start the formatting.

You can check the following passage to learn more methods to convert RAW drive to NTFS:

Fix 3. Restore Partition or Create a New Partition on Unallocated Seagate External Disk

If your external hard drive shares the same drive letter as your disk partition, Windows won't show the drive letter of your external device. It will show as New Volume in Disk Management without a drive letter.

And this is probably the reason your external hard drive is not detected. To fix this issue, you'll need to add a new drive letter to your Seagate disk. Here are the steps to do so:

Step 1. Connect Seagate external to the computer and open Disk Management.

Step 2. Right-click the partition of not working Seagate disk and choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths...".

Step 3. Set a new drive letter to the Seagate disk and click "OK" to confirm.

Fix 5. Turn on the USB Root Hub

If the Seagate drive is unmountable or the mount icon is greyed out, it will prevent your Mac from correctly recognizing or detecting the drive. You can repair the problematic drive in the built-in First Aid utility:

Step 1. Open Finder and click "Applications".

Step 2. Locate Disk Utility in "Utilities" and double-click to open it.

Step 3. Select the unmountable Seagate external hard drive in the left sidebar and choose "First Aid" at the top.

Step 4. Click "Run" to repair this Seagate hard drive and click "Done" to finish.

If Fix 1 fails to work, you may try to format the Seagate disk in Fix 2 or Fix 3.

Fix 2. Format Seagate Disk to macOS Supported File System

If the file system on your Seagate hard disk is corrupted and it's not mounted correctly on Mac, it won't work nor be detected. In this case, remounting and reformatting the Seagate drive is the quickest way to revive it.

Carefully follow the steps below to make the Seagate external hard disk work again on Mac:

Step 1. Go to Applications > "Utilities" > Double click and open "Disk Utility".

Step 2. Select the "Untitled" Seagate drive, and click "Mount".

Once the mounting completes, you'll see the Seagate drive shows up on the left pane.

Step 3. Select your Seagate external hard drive on the sidebar, and choose "Erase".

Step 4. Rename the drive, and choose the format as MS-DOS (FAT). Then click "Erase".

After trying the aforementioned methods, you should be able to use Seagate external hard drives on both your Windows and Mac computers.

Why Is Seagate External Hard Disk Not Working

Generally, "Not Working" is a state that usually describes a malfunctioning hard disk or external hard drive. Seagate hard drive not working or not detected is a concerning issue among worldwide Seagate users.

So, what causes your Seagate external hard drive to stop working or malfunctioning? Both software and hardware issues may cause a hard drive not to work as usual. Here is a list of common reasons for this issue:

• Incompatible file system
• File system corruption, Invalid file system, RAW
• External hard drive unallocated
• Disk drive letter conflict
• The hard drive driver is corrupted or out of date
• The USB port is not working
• The hard drive has too many bad sectors
• The hard drive is damaged, dead, or not spinning up

Fixing Not Working Seagate Drive Is Possible. It's Your Turn

This guide offered 8 solutions to repair the not working Seagate external hard drive on both Windows and Mac computers. If some fixes cause file loss, you can retrieve all precious data with the EaseUS external hard drive recovery solution.

Also, we explained why your Seagate external hard drive suddenly doesn't work or is not detected by Windows or Mac computers. As your data matters, creating a regular backup of your external disk data is helpful. Fixing Seagate hard drive not working error is possible, and follow the above steps to make your drive work again.

Seagate Hard Disk Not Detecting FAQs

The following are the top topics related to Seagate hard disk not detected. Check the brief answers for these problems.

How do I fix my Seagate external hard drive not responding?

Try these basic troubleshooting tips:

• Connect your external hard drive to a different port on the computer
• Try using a different cable or USB port
• Try another power outlet
• Change the drive letter if the external hard disk
• The Seagate portable hard drive is hidden

Why has my external hard drive stopped working?

• The USB port is faulty
• The USB port is loose
• Connection issue with the USB cable
• Outdated drive driver of your external hard drive
• The file system of the Seagate external hard drive is corrupted
• The drive letter of the Seagate disk is conflicted

How do I fix my Seagate external hard drive not working with no light?

• Change another USB port, cable, or PC
• Change the drive letter of your Seagate external hard drive
• Repair the corrupted file system of the external hard drive
• Format RAW Seagate hard drive
• Uninstall or reinstall disk drivers