Accessing An External HD: Sr. Citizen Question ?


  1. Robert11
    Posts : 302
    W7
       New #1

    Accessing An External HD: Sr. Citizen Question ?


    Hi,

    So simple a question, I'm embarased to ask.
    Will blame it on old age now.

    Should have stayed with W7.

    Anyway, I have an external HD plugged into a USB Port for doing some backups

    How do i get to it afterwards, please ?

    I thought "File Explorer," but it doesn't seem to show up.

    No problem using the right mouse button and "Send To," to load stuff easily onto this external HD, but how do I access it afterwards ?

    Are there severaL (easy) ways ?

    Thanks,
    Bob
      My Computer
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  3. DeaconFrost
    Posts : 1,366
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       New #2

    Do you know if the drive is formatted? You can right-click the Windows logo on the lower left of your screen and click on Disk Management. See if the drive shows up in there. If it is formatted, it may just need to be assigned a drive letter.
      My Computer
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  4. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #3

    And while you're there, you can post a screenshot of disk management and we can help you further:
    Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of - Windows 10 Forums
      My Computer
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  6. Hydranix
    Posts : 201
    Kernel 4.x.x
       New #4

    Robert11 said:
    Hi,

    So simple a question, I'm embarased to ask.
    Will blame it on old age now.

    Should have stayed with W7.

    Anyway, I have an external HD plugged into a USB Port for doing some backups

    How do i get to it afterwards, please ?

    I thought "File Explorer," but it doesn't seem to show up.

    No problem using the right mouse button and "Send To," to load stuff easily onto this external HD, but how do I access it afterwards ?

    Are there severaL (easy) ways ?

    Thanks,
    Bob
    Hey Bob, the new name for "My Computer" is "This PC"

    Since you can use SendTo to send your files to the drive, it should show up as one of the drives in "This PC".

    Probably a drive letter of "D:" or "E:" or something like that. You can also check in the system tray for the USB-looking icon, the one used to safely remove hardware, and when you right click it, It should show the drive letter of the external hard drive. Note that you don't have to remove it, you're just checking which letter it has been assigned via the remove hardware menu.
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  7. essenbe
    Posts : 12,801
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #5

    The screenshot of Disk Management that NavyLCDR and Deacon Frost asked for, will help a lot. But, you should be able to access the drive from 'This PC' not file explorer. This PC in Windows 10 is much the same as Computer in Windows 7.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  8. Hydranix
    Posts : 201
    Kernel 4.x.x
       New #6

    essenbe said:
    The screenshot of Disk Management that NavyLCDR and Deacon Frost asked for, will help a lot. But, you should be able to access the drive from 'This PC' not file explorer. This PC in Windows 10 is much the same as Computer in Windows 7.
    "This PC" is a shortcut to file explorer. I don't see how two can be considered different.

    It's the virtual directory which {20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d} points to.
      My Computers
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  9. essenbe
    Posts : 12,801
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #7

    Hydranix, technically, you may be correct. However, under the default settings, hard drives are not shown in the main window under file explorer, they are shown in the left column if you scroll down enough. They are shown in the main Window under This PC. The OP is ,self described, not familiar with Windows 10. If he can 'send to' his external hard drive, it obviously has a drive letter and is visible to the OS. He just can't find it.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

 

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