External hard drive says no media in Disk Management (2023)

Finding out the “No Media” message when you plug in your external hard drive, USB drive, thumb drive or USB flash drive is a frustrating experience. The problem occurs after connecting the drive and the drive shows "no media" even though it is partially recognized by Windows Disk Management. The result of this Removable Disk Out of Media message is an inactive external media and possibly a large amount of missing data.

Gilware data recovery specialists have seen this no disk issue numerous times and there are various reasons why the errors occur. If a connected USB device is removed prematurely or power is interrupted while the USB is still being accessed or written to, there is a high probability of irreparable damage. All external USB media should be safely ejected from a computer or laptop prior to removal; To do this, simply right-click the media icon on your operating system and click Eject.

If the media was removed from the USB port multiple times, this has most likely caused problems with the media that may have corrupted the read/write sectors on the USB drive. This is even more likely if the USB drive is older or a cheaper, cheaper model. Over time, improper ejection of external media can cause file system or index table corruption. The master boot record or partition boot record on the drive may be dirty; this is due to the constant wear of the data carriers. Without a working MBR, the media is useless.

However, the good news is that the chances of these USB media being blank, the drive showing no media, and the USB drive showing no media errors are very low. The most common causes of USB Out of Media problem found by our data engineers are USB flash drive crash or problems caused by the hard drive storage controller not communicating with the computer.

Why doesn't my external hard drive show up in Disk Management?

Before you panic over the "USB drive shows no media" message, Gilware recommends that you run a few pre-checks to confirm that the issue isn't just a temporary glitch.

Paso 1- Restart the computer. This approach can fix many problems, especially when running a Windows operating system. If the reset doesn't work, turn off the computer and disconnect the power cord from the computer. Shutting down should reset the external drive's USB connections and possibly fix the USB drive with no media issues.

paso 2– If this is the case, try replacing the USB cable as it may break over time. Your phone's USB cable has most likely broken before, and the same goes for external hard drives. Right click and eject the drive, change the cable and reconnect.

level 3- Update your device drivers. This solution is recommended when you get a USB out of media error. Open Device Manager, locate the device, right-click on the device and select Update Driver.

paso 4- Upgrade your USB hub; If you are using a hub or docking station, you may need to install additional drivers for these solutions. Make sure the power cord is plugged into the correct USB port on your computer (this only applies to the USB Type-C USB port).

If you still don't see any media in Disk Management, the USB drive no media issue is most likely caused by a hardware issue. Look for warning signs of errors and possible physical problems that indicate that the external drive is faulty:

• Does the external drive/USB drive/flash drive click?
• Do you get more beeps from the device?
• Do you hear the external drive "spin"?
• Any other unusual noises such as moaning, rustling, beeping, or ticking?

If neither of these issues occurs, it is most likely a hardware issue caused by a faulty memory controller, which typically occurs when the flash controller is unable to communicate with the NAND on the media. Windows may recognize the drive but cannot identify any storage partitions on the USB mass storage device/flash drive.

NAND flash memory is a popular type of non-volatile storage technology found on most SD cards and flash drives, but it has a limited lifespan. Depending on the type of NAND technology used, each cell lasts up to100,000 recording cycles, but eventually the cell will fail. The NAND file system automatically cleans up damaged cells. Over time, this reduces the capacity of the hard drive. It's unlikely that all the cells on the external drive have failed and caused this error, but this is something to keep in mind if you encounter a "removable disk out of media" error.

Every external USB device has a storage controller that manages the data stored on the hard drive and all read/write I/O requests. The type of controller varies. On an SD card, thumb drive, or other USB drives, the controller is a small chip embedded directly into the memory card that is used to communicate with the NAND storage. With enterprise-class external NAS devices and storage, controllers are expensive riser cards that reside in the storage device and attached server.

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How to fix no removable media disk?

The first consideration is to find out how important external data is to you or your company. If business-critical data is at risk, send the external drive to Gilware Labs. Our goal is to make the Gilware customer journey a seamless transaction. Here is the process:

Paso 1– Visit our website andopen a support case, Gilware will provide a shipping label for customers in the continental US to ship the disc to us at no charge. Roll up the external drive/USB drive securely.

paso 2– Upon arrival, our team will catalog the device. Our customers can track each case online, with updates occurring as the device travels through the Gilware lab.

level 3– Our data engineers will attempt to image the media, find out if a solution is possible, and if so, how much data can be recovered. The service includesfree offerby our experienced engineers.

paso 4– Only if the client is satisfied with the procedure, our engineers will proceed with a solution.

If we find a problem with the controller, the external drive controller can be rebuilt using matching parts from our extensive library of donor parts, and if the NAND memory chips need repair, we can try exchanging parts in one of our certified clean rooms. . If there is a problem with the drive or spindle, we can rebuild the main stack, polish the platters, and then attempt to image the drive using our proprietary in-house recovery software called Hombre.

Before sending your external drive to Gilware, you should perform the following checks (if you're using Windows 7/8/10 or another version), as these fixes most likely address non-hardware related issues:

Paso 1- Look for the external USB in Device Manager:

• Opendevice administrator
• Expand the "units” Submenu and “universal serial bus controllersubmenu
• If the external drive is grayed out,the right button of the mouseand activate the device
• Then check Disk Management to see if the "Out of Media" message has been cleared and if there is space available on the disk

Note: If you cannot find the external USB drive in Device Manager, search for itVisionin the top menu and then select "show hidden devices"

paso 2- Confirm the problem with the disk part:

• open oneAdministrator Command Prompt
• model"part of the disc„
• model"disk list„
• Locate the hard drive with the status "No Media"
• model"Choose disk X” (where X is your unit number, for example, select unit 2)
• Now type "scan again„
• Once the scan is complete, check Disk Management to see if the data is available

Note: DiskPart is a command line utility built into almost all versions of Microsoft Windows (Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows XP). It is a partition manager that can query any drive regardless of the error message.

level 3– Choose the drive letter and run chkdsk

• SalidaParteDisco,
• Change the drive letter as needed
• model"chkdsk/f/r“ –This will force Windows to unmount the USB drive letter and paths and attempt to repair USB errors.

usechkdsksays the USB is locked or in use by a process, you should schedule the scan to run at the next system reboot.

There is a good chance that the above solution will fix the problem and if this process is successful, this proves that any USB drive connected to the USB port has experienced a logical error. But if you still get USB not showing media in Disk Management, the chances of hardware failure increase.

How do I fix the USB disk insertion error?

Other exams can still be completed. First, we need to investigate if the problem is caused by insufficient power supply from the external USB drive. This scenario is more likely on laptops with overloaded USB ports or additional removable drives already attached. If the USB drive has an external power source, be sure to use it, and then consider unplugging any USB hardware such as web cameras, daisy-chained USB devices, another USB flash drive, etc.

Some third-party software and apps claim they can help fix this error, but we recommend you avoid them as misuse can make our data recovery team unable to recover your device. Some of these tools can erase all the data on the media, so we recommend sending the media to a data recovery specialist like Gilware.