Troubleshooting an external drive in Windows Vista will begin in different places depending on

• whether the drive worked fine for a while (even just one time) but now no longer works or
• whether you are having trouble with a completely new installation.

For troubleshooting after the drive has worked successfully for at least a short time but is no longer detected.

For troubleshooting a non-detection problem at time of first installation of a new drive.

*Note: This is NOT a software troubleshooter. The procedure on this page is for correcting detection issues of the hardware. To troubleshoot external drive software, please consult the Seagate Knowledge Base.

To troubleshoot error messages seen with your hard drive, please see the I Am Receiving An Error page.

Does the operating system detect the drive?