How To Find Hard Drive On Windows 10

In Windows 10, the central hub for seeing all difficult drives and other volumes connected to your computer is This PC (calledMy Estimator in older versions of Windows). This lets y'all admission your internal storage drives, plus whatever removable media connected to your PC, such every bit wink drives.

Still, by default, Windows simply shows drives currently continued to your system that have data on them. If you desire to show all drives continued to your computer, no matter whether they're empty or not, follow these steps.

How to Prove All Drives in This PC on Windows 10

To start, open a File Explorer window. On the pinnacle bar, click theView tab to open up that card, then select theOptions icon hither to open a new window.

On the resulting dialog box, select theView tab. Here, scroll downwards and notice theHide empty drives selection, which is checked by default. Uncheck this box, which tells Windows to evidence all possible drives on your PC, even if they don't take any data to read.

You might not see any difference in This PC after making this change if you're using all of your drives. One common scenario that produces a bare bulldoze is a laptop with a built-in SD card slot that doesn't currently accept a carte du jour inside. This tin also happen if you have an SD bill of fare reader or docking station connected to your computer without whatever media continued to the device.

When you tell Windows to show all drives, it only displays that drive onThis PC with the same letter, even when at that place's naught to browse on the device.

How to Find Other Drives Connected to Windows

If you have another external drive that you lot expect to see inThis PC but it doesn't bear witness up, it might need formatting or have another issue. See our guide to fixing an external drive not being recognized in Windows for help.

Using the Disk Management tool as mentioned in that guide volition also allow you to change the drive letters of removable media, if you wish.

How to Show Drives on the Desktop in Windows 10

If you've used macOS or Linux, you're probably used to a characteristic where drives prove up on the desktop when connected.

Unfortunately, you can't replicate this exact feature in Windows without tertiary-party software, about of which is outdated. Yous can try a tool similar Desk Drive, but it was concluding updated long agone, so there's no guarantee it will work with modern versions of Windows.

Withal, you tin can add shortcuts to specific drives on your Windows desktop. To practice this, simply open a File Explorer window to This PC, then elevate and driblet the drive yous want to use as a shortcut onto your desktop. This makes a shortcut that will take you right to that drive—of course, information technology won't work right if yous disconnect that bulldoze.

If you like, you can also place a shortcut toThis PC on your desktop. Head toSettings > Personalization > Themes and clickDesktop icon settings in the correct sidebar. On the resulting card, check theComputer box underDesktop Icons and strikingOK. This will bear witness aThis PC icon on your desktop, letting you jump right to the interface.

How to Open New File Explorer Windows to This PC

Anyone interested in managing their drives so closely probably views This PC often. To get there more than apace in the future, switch dorsum to the General tab in the File Explorer options panel and adjacent to Open File Explorer to, select This PC.

Now, when yous open up a new File Explorer window using the icon on your taskbar or by pressing Win + E, information technology volition open right to This PC. Quick Access, which is the default panel, might not exist equally useful for you.

Hands Show All Drives on Windows 10

Now you know how to show all drives inThis PC orMy Computer on Windows, besides every bit where to locate other drives and show them on your desktop. You shouldn't ever accept to worry near a missing drive on your computer now!

For more on your drives, you should also know near managing disk partitions in Windows.

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How to Manage Hard Drive Partitions and Volumes in Windows 10

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About The Author

Ben Stegner (1807 Manufactures Published)

Ben is the Editor in Master at MakeUseOf. He left his IT chore to write total-time in 2016 and has never looked back. He's been covering tech tutorials, video game recommendations, and more than as a professional person author for over eight years.