If your new or old SSD not showing up in Disk Management or My Computer, it is recommended to follow the step-by-step methods mentioned in this write-up and get rid of it. Moreover, if your Solid-State Drive is crashed or inaccessible, feel free to download Hard Drive Data Recovery Tool to retrieve data from it effortlessly.
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Why Is My SSD Not Being Detected?
We cannot blame a single reason for SSD not showing up Windows 10/11 PC. There are numerous reasons behind it.
However, we have listed the major causes below:
- The corrupted file system of an SSD
- Outdated disk driver
- Missing SSD drive letter
- Solid-State Drive isn’t initialized properly
- SSD has unallocated space
- Faulty SSD
- The drive isn’t enabled in the BIOS
- SSD is attacked by virus/malware.
So, if you have checked these possible reasons, now proceed to troubleshoot this issue with the best fixes.
How to Solve SSD Not Showing Up Windows 10/11?
Way 1: Check If SSD Showing Up in the BIOS
Before trying any complicated methods, you should first examine whether your SSD is properly connected with the system or not. Also, whether it is showing up in BIOS or not.
To do so, follow the below steps:
- First, connect your SSD & restart your PC.
- While restarting, you have to press a F2 key to enter a BIOS menu.
- Here, in a BIOS menu list, if you can see your SSD there along with other devices, it means your system recognizes an SSD.
In case, if the SSD doesn’t show up in BIOS, you will have to reinstall the complete Windows on your device to resolve the SSD not showing up in bios problem.
Please Note: Reinstalling the Windows can lead to complete data loss and creates the new partitions in the drive. Therefore, we would like to suggest using the SSD hard drive recovery tool to recover data before reinstalling Windows.
Way 2: Repair Faulty Hardware
Faulty hardware is one of the major factors for the drive not detecting issues. So, consider repairing the faulty hardware by using the SMART command prompt.
Though SMART is an in-built utility in the Windows system that examines the parameters of your SSD and tries to solve it if found any issue in it.
Here are the easy steps on how you can run SMART for repairing the faulty hardware:
- Go to Start, and type Command Prompt.
- Then, click on the Command Prompt >> Run as administrator >> Yes.
- Once the command prompt window opens >> type the “wmic diskdrive get status” in the command prompt.
- Here, if you see the results like the image shown below then move ahead to the next stage.
- Again, open the “Command Prompt“.
- Lastly, type:
CHKDSK [volume [[path] filename]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/C] [: size]]
- Hit Enter.
Way 3: Change the SSD Drive Letter
Many Windows 10 & 11 users reported that their system can’t recognize SD cards or SSD due to missing drive letters.
It might possible that your SSD has a missing drive letter or conflicts the drive letter with another drive. In that case, assigning a new drive letter to SSD can assist you to troubleshoot this problem.
Follow the below steps to do so:
- Press Windows + X keys.
- Click on the “Disk Management“.
- Find & right-tap on SSD partition.
- After this, choose the option “Change Drive Letter and Paths”.
- Next, click on “Change” button and select the drive letter from an appearing list >> click OK.
Way 4: Initialize the SSD Drive
In most cases, it has been found that an uninitialized disk drive doesn’t show up in Disk Management or File Explorer. In such a situation, initializing the hard disk helps many.
Thus, if you are suspicious that your SSD drive is marked as uninitialized and so you’re facing this issue, then initialize it by following the below steps:
- Press Windows + X keys.
- Click on the “Disk Management“.
- Find & right-tap on SSD partition that is marked as uninitialized.
- Then, click on Initialize Disk.
- Select the GPT >> click Ok.
- After completion of the process, verify if you can access the SSD now.
Way 5: Update the SSD Drivers
There is another feasible condition of this problem is to update the outdated SSD drivers. Follow the below steps to update an SSD driver and solve the issue.
- First, press Windows + X keys.
- Click on the “Device Manager“.
- Then, go to the Portable Devices.
- Find your disk driver then right-click on it.
- Next, click on the “Update driver.”
- Finally, restart your PC.
Way 6: Fix New SSD Not Showing Up in Disk Management by Running Hardware & Device Troubleshooter
The Hardware & Devices Troubleshooter is a feature that is available in almost all Windows versions. However, this feature is handy and already disabled on Windows 11 systems. Therefore, when you navigate to Settings >> System >> Troubleshooter option >> Other Troubleshooter, then you would not find the Hardware & Devices Troubleshooter there.
Though if you want to use this feature to solve hardware-related problems, you have to enable this option & then run Hardware & Devices Troubleshooter.
Follow these steps to do so:
- Go to Start, and type Command Prompt.
- Then, click on the Command Prompt >> Run as administrator >> Yes.
- Once the command prompt window opens >> type: exe -id DeviceDiagnostic >> hit Enter.
- This will open Hardware & Devices Troubleshooter >> click on Next.
- After completion of this process, now follow the on-screen’s instructions to solve hardware issues.
- Restart your computer.
Way 7: Fix the Memory Issues
If your SSD drive has insufficient space then also you may face an SSD not detected Windows 11/10 issue.
In order to troubleshoot the issue, you can run the Windows Memory Diagnostic utility by following the below steps:
- Initially, go to the search bar & type ‘mdsched’ >> hit Enter. This will open the Windows Diagnostic Memory.
- Choose ‘Restart now and check for problems (recommended).’
- Now, follow the on-screen instructions to finish the process.
Way 8: Format the SSD Drive with NTFS to Fix SSD Not Detected in Disk Management
If the above methods fail to solve this SSD problem then consider formatting the drive with NTFS File System. This one is the last DIY resort to deal with every hard drive-related error & issue.
Please Note: Formatting the SSD drive will erase all the data on it, so make sure you have backed up the important files. However, if you don’t have a backup, you can use an advanced SSD data recovery tool mentioned in this post to restore SSD drive data.
Way 9: Replace the Faulty SSD
SSDs are quickly replacing hard disks and are even prone to corruption & other issues. Thus, if your SSD not recognized by Windows 11 even after applying the above solutions, then consider replacing your SSD drive with a new one.
That’s all…!
How to Recover Data from SSD Not Detected?
You can try SSD Drive Data Recovery software to recover data from SSD not detected. It can restore media files like photos, videos, and audio files from USB drives or other removable devices that aren’t recognized by a PC.
This software has an advanced algorithm that deeply scans the drive & previews a recoverable file for free.
* Free version of the program only scans and previews recoverable objects.
So, just download this tool on your PC & follow the step-by-step guide to recover data from SSD with ease.
Related FAQs:
Does Windows 11 Support SSD?
Yes, Windows 11 supports the SSD hard drives.
Can a Failed SSD Be Recovered?
Yes, a failed SSD drive data can be easily recovered by using the most reliable SSD Drive Data Recovery tool.
How Do I Fix SSD Not Showing Up in Disk Management?
You can fix SSD drive not showing up in disk management by trying the below fixes:
- Check If SSD Showing Up in the BIOS
- Repair Faulty Hardware
- Change the SSD Drive Letter
- Initialize the SSD Drive
- Fix the Memory Issues
- Format the SSD Drive
Bottom Line
I hope the given solutions resolved the SSD not showing up in BIOS/disk management problem and now you are able to access the data saved in it.
Moreover, if you have any queries, feel free to ask us on Twitter.
Taposhi is an expert technical writer with 5+ years of experience. Her in-depth knowledge about data recovery and fascination to explore new DIY tools & technologies have helped many. She has a great interest in photography and loves to share photography tips and tricks with others.