USB drive not showing data but using space is one of the main reasons for the data loss disaster. It usually prevents you from seeing your data while checking the used space and the unused space is being displayed correctly.
In recent years, flash storage media has become very popular and is used by us, literally, every day, thanks to its advantages over disk storage. It's almost impossible to overestimate your use of flash media, because you can quickly record information or count it, it doesn't take up much space in a folder or bag, and the price segment is pleasantly pleasant.
Despite all the positive moments, there are times when it is impossible to read the data due to the flash drive or the computer itself. After all, at the most important moment, you can lose access to stored files and, to get everything back to normal quickly, you need to have certain knowledge. In this article, we'll look at all possible problematic situations and find ways to resolve why the computer doesn't see the flash drive.
Problem – Files Not Showing in External Hard Drive
Although external hard drives have brought as great convenience in daily life and work, there are chances that they might fail to display some of their files or even seem to have lost them completely, despite the disk capacity in disk properties being shown as utilized.
You will be able to tell that it is indeed your files utilizing that space in the external drive if you have a general impression of how much space your data occupies.
But here is the problem - people sometimes find their files not showing in external hard drive and get anxious; they are afraid of losing the important files forever.
What is really happening when this issue is present? Can you fix it or rescue the missing data here?
I will answer those questions for you. Now, let's start with rescuing files missing from external hard drive with MiniTool Power Data Recovery.
When data recovery is done, I will explain the possible causes for files not showing problem and then give corresponding solutions. In the last section, I am going to help you know more about the external hard drive you use.
Recover Data from External Hard Drive
When you finally discover that some files are missing from external hard drive or even a partition in it is damaged/lost, you must conduct data recovery on external hard drive right away.
In this case, please stop writing any new data into the external hard drive and then follow the operations below to recover data with MiniTool Power Data Recovery easily. This software will light the hope of data recovery as long as the external hard drive is not physically damaged.
3 Steps to Recover Data from External Hard Drive
When you find that some useful files not showing in external hard drive are actually lost, please adopt MiniTool Power Data Recovery immediately.
Then, follow this tutorial to recover data.
Step 1: connect the external hard drive to computer. Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery, and then choose Hard Disk Drive.
Step 2: select the target external hard drive from the right side and click on the Scan button.
Step 3: during the scan, you can see more and more files being found by the software. Now, you can browse them one by one to check the ones you need and then choose a safe location to store them by pressing the “Save” button. After that, click on the OK button to confirm your selection. Soon, the data you choose will be recovered to the appointed location.
Please note that if you’re using the trial edition, you’ll see the following interface that prevents you from saving any of the found files.
When you can confirm that all data you need are recovered successfully to another device and all the existing files have been backed up, you can choose to format the external hard drive in order to use it again.
Why Can't See Files in External Hard Drive & How to Solve
I find files missing from external hard drive become a frequently discussed issue in many forums. So there must be some ideas that catch the point.
Based on this, I decide to make a list of the possible reasons and useful suggestions for users to refer to. Here, I have summarized 4 main causes as well as the solutions in Windows 7 through internet searching and actual operations.
Possible cause 1 – the files are hidden.
Sometimes, the files are not really missing from external hard drive; they’re just hidden and not being shown. Here are 4 solutions to unhide them.
Solution 1:
Type cmd to the search box and press Enter.
Right click on the exe and select Run as administrator.
Input DIR/A x:-s (x refers to the drive letter of your external hard drive). The meaning of this command is: list the non-system files in x: drive.
If this command returns nothing, it means your folder has been marked as protected system files, and then you can refer to the second solution.
Solution 2: check whether the files are endowed with system property.
Run control folders, or go to Control Panel and Appearance and Personalization.
You can see the window Folder Options.
In view tab, check show hidden files, folders, and drives and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).
Then check whether the files/folders are there.
Solution 3:
If your files keep missing from the external hard d drive, run cmd and press Enter key.
Then, if the hard drive letter is O:, you should enter this command: attrib -h -r -s /s /d o:*.*.
Finally, check if the real files will be showed.
Solution 4:
If all solutions above failed, try the following process which is most complex:
Run cmd.
Type the location of the external hard drive. Example: "d:", "e:", "f:", etc.
Type dir /ah. You will now see the files/folders with hidden attributes.
Type attrib [name of file/folder] -r -a -s -h.
You should repeatedly type dir /ah after un-hiding some files/folders so you know if the files/folders are now appearing or hiding.
Finally check your external hard drives, all data should be there.
Please note:
If you're going to unhide files, you should type the whole name plus the expanded-name. Example for file named party: attrib party.jpg -r -a -s -h.
If you have folder names with 6 characters or more, type the first 6 characters followed by "~1". Example for folder named birthday: attrib birthd~1 -r -a -s -h.
Possible cause 2 – there are file system errors.
In some cases, the files may be not showing in external hard drive because the file system is corrupted or because it doesn't contain a recognized file system. At this time, you had better recover data from external hard drive firstly.
Here's how to confirm:
Right click on the external hard drive.
Choose Properties.
Select Tools tab and click on the Check now button.
Check Automatically fix file system errors from the pop-up window.
Click on the Start button to begin and wait for the process.
Possible cause 3 – “CheckedValue” is suffering from virus infection.
Here’s how to fix:
Run Regedit.
Then, follow this route in Registry Editor: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWAL.
Check whether the data value of CheckedValue is 1.
If NOT, delete CheckedValue, create a new DWOR in the blank and rename it as CheckedValue. After that, modify the value data as 1.
Possible cause 4 – the mirror image in memory is damaged.
Sometimes the mirror image in memory is damaged and the operating system does not respond a timely refresh, which happens by chance.
That's all for the solutions. In fact, each solution has helped many users get rid of files not showing in external hard drive problem, and I also hope they are helpful for you.
In Conclusion
As a general rule, as a result of improper handling with removable media, beginners have a question: "Why doesn't a flash drive see files?" To solve this type of difficulty, you need to download and install a special program on your PC. Among the huge amount of this software, the most attractive is the free utility to retrieve information from MiniTool, which you will learn about in the section above and also learn the basic techniques for working with hard drive not showing files though they still exist.
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