In this how-to guide, I'll outline the different ways to troubleshoot a hard drive that refuses to appear in File Explorer.
Computers often have more than one drive, including CD (Compact Disc) or DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) drives and hard drives. To view all the drives connected to your computer and their status (e.g., available drive or disk space), select your operating system in the list below.
Whether you have a Windows laptop or desktop computer, there are 4 easy ways to check if your drive is Solid State (SSD) or a standard platter hard drive (HDD)—using Task Manager, Device Manager, the Defragment tool, and Windows PowerShell.