D Drive Not Showing Up? 6 Quick Fixes to Restore It Easily

Why is My D Drive Not Showing Up?

Imagine turning on your computer as usual, only to notice something alarming: the familiar D drive is missing. All your documents, projects, and even games stored there seem to have vanished overnight. This is a common issue faced by many Windows users. The D drive not showing up can happen for several reasons. Some common reasons include:

🔔Loose or Faulty Connection

If you’re using an external D Drive, a damaged cable, port, or power supply could prevent Windows from detecting it.

💥Drive Letter Conflict

Sometimes Windows assigns conflicting or missing drive letters, causing the D Drive not to appear.

👀Hidden Partition

The partition might exist but be hidden or unallocated, making the D drive invisible in File Explorer.

🗝️Outdated or Corrupted Drivers

Disk or USB controller drivers may fail, preventing proper recognition. This is also one of the common reasons why the D drive doesn't show up.

⭕File System Errors

A corrupted or unsupported file system can stop the D Drive from showing up.

💽Hardware Failure

If the drive itself is physically damaged, it may not appear at all.

How to Recover Data from Not Showing Up D Drive

Before attempting to fix the issue, it’s wise to secure your important data. If the D drive becomes inaccessible, manual fixes may risk overwriting or data loss. This is where MyRecover comes in. With its advanced scanning algorithms, MyRecover can locate and recover data from inaccessible hard drive whether the issue is caused by formatting, missing partitions, or corruption.

Step 1. Download and install MyRecover on your computer from Microsoft Store or the official channel.

Step 2. Launch it and select the D drive to scan for lost files, then click "Scan".

Step 3. Choose the files you intend to recover from the recoverable lists and click "Recover". If there are no files that need to be recovered, you can select the "Existing Files" folder to extract files from the not showing up hard drive.

Step 4. Select a safe location to save the recovered files.

When the process is completed, the message "Files have been recovered successfully" will pop up. You can check the recovered files by clicking on the destination folder path or "Browse" button.

How to Fix the "D Drive Not Showing Up" Issue

Once your data is secured, you can focus on troubleshooting to bring the D drive back. This section will provide 6 methods to help you fix the issue of the D drive not showing up. You can try them one by one until the D drive appears.

Solution 1. Check Connection

If your D drive is an external hard drive, when it doesn't show up in File Explorer, the first thing you should consider is a connection issue. Try using another USB port or connecting it to another computer to see if the drive appears.

Solution 2. Change Drive Letter

A missing or conflicting drive letter may prevent the D drive from showing. Open Disk Management and check if there is a drive letter conflict with other drives.

Step 1. Press "Win + X" and choose "Disk Management" to open it.

Step 2. If the drive has no drive letter or there is a conflict with other drives, select the drive, right-click on it, and choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths".

Step 3. Assign a new and unused drive letter for the drive.

Solution 3. Rescan Disk

Sometimes, the drive simply needs to be refreshed in the system. You can try rescanning disks in Disk Management, which will force Windows to detect connected but unrecognized drives.

Step 1. Press "Win +X" and choose "Disk Management".

Step 2. Click "Action" on the top menu and choose "Rescan Disks".

Step 3. Check if the D drive reappears in Disk Management and File Explorer.

Solution 4. Update Device Drivers

Corrupted or outdated drivers can also be the cause of D drive not showing up in Windows 10/11. Here's how to fix it:

Step 1. Press "Win + X" and select "Device Manager" to open it.

Step 2. Click "Disk drives" to expand it.

Step 3. Locate your D drive and right click on it, then choose "Update driver" (or "Uninstall driver" if needed).

Step 4. Then click "Search automatically for updated driver software". Windows will automatically look for the driver software for updating.

When your external drive like Toshiba external hard drive not showing up, you also try this way to solve the problem.

Solution 5. Unhidden the D Drive

Sometimes after a Windows update, system settings may be altered, causing the D drive to be hidden. You can use registry settings to make the hidden D drive reappear.

Step 1. Press "Win + R" to open the Run dialog, then type "gpedit.msc" in the dialog and press "Enter".

Step 2. Locate "Computer Configuration" > "Administrative Templates" > "Windows Components", then select "File Explorer" and double click on it in the right panel.

Step 3. Select "Hide these specified drives in My Computer" and right click on it, then select "Edit".

Step 4. Check "Not configured" option, then click "Apply" and "OK" to save the changes. Restart the computer to see if the D drive reappears.

Solution 6. Format the D Drive

Sometimes, if a drive becomes a RAW or unallocated partition, it can also cause the drive to not show up in File Explorer. Formatting the drive can help you regain access to it. But this way will erase all of the data on the D drive, you’d better first recover the data on the D drive using professional data recovery software like MyRecover.

Step 1. Open "Disk Management" as mentioned above.

Step 2. Locate the missing drive, it may show as "RAW" or "Unallocated" drive. Right click on it and choose "Format".

Step 3. Set a file system based on your needs, and check the "Perform a quick format" option then click "Start" to begin the process.

Even if you haven't recovered data from the hard drive in advance, MyRecover can still recover data from the formatted hard drive.

The End

In a summary, you can try the above methods to fix the issue of the D drive not showing up. However, before proceeding with specific repair steps, it’s best to ensure the safety of the data on the hard drive. You can use MyRecover to extract files or recover lost files from this drive.

MyRecover covers most data loss scenarios, such as recovering data from uninitialized disks, deleted partitions, inaccessible drives, etc. In addition, you can upgrade to MyRecover's Professional version to unlock unlimited data recovery capacity and the function of previewing file contents before restoration.