FIX: Samsung SSD Not Showing Up in Disk Management

You’ve just gotten a brand new Samsung SSD drive, but when you go to install it into your computer, it doesn’t show up in Disk Management or the Windows Explorer File Explorer window. This can be frustrating because you can’t use the space that the SSD contains on your computer! This article will help you troubleshoot the issue and hopefully fix it so that you can get your new SSD installed and start using it immediately.

Download Driver Booster

Even if you’re just using a SSD for your PC, you may have to download an updated driver from time to time. Sometimes Windows will learn how to deal with your SSD on its own, but that doesn’t always happen. To make sure you have access to all of your drive’s full potential, install Driver Booster. You won’t need it very often—Driver Booster will update only those drivers that are needed—but it does get them when they’re required and can solve issues related to booting up or using certain features on an SSD.

Update Drivers

Windows may detect that you need to update drivers for your devices, but it won’t do it automatically. Head to Device Manager and look for devices with a yellow exclamation mark next to them. Right-click on those devices and go to Update Driver Software. Choose Browse my computer for driver software. Now browse to C:\Windows\System32\drivers and select all .inf files under any of your hardware categories and let Windows install them one by one. After you get through all of them, restart your computer—at least, if Windows tells you that it needs a restart for certain changes to take effect (which will be true in most cases). Once you reboot, your device should work properly again!

Restart Computer

Another step is to fix an SSD not showing up should be restarting your computer and trying to boot from it again. If Windows can’t find or read your drive, sometimes rebooting helps fix whatever went wrong. It’s a common solution for many of Windows’ issues, so it’s definitely worth a shot. And if nothing else works, you can use your freshly-restarted computer to search for solutions online!

After restarting your computer if it’s not showing SSD you may have a faulty SATA cable change your cable and try again.

Run Windows Troubleshooter

Windows has a built-in tool for fixing many common issues. To access it, press Windows Key + Q, type troubleshooting, and select Troubleshooting. Choose View all and then click any item to get more information about that issue. Here you can troubleshoot disk problems. Most issues are solved by running the check disk tool. This will scan your hard drive for errors and attempt to fix them automatically if possible. However, if it finds an error or you see that your space is being used incorrectly on disk management, run these steps: Click Run. Type CMD into the text field and hit enter.

Check BIOS Settings

Make sure that your computer’s BIOS is set to boot from a disk. This can be easily checked on most systems by looking for an option called boot priority order or something similar. When you change your BIOS settings, it is common practice to use a specific key combination (for example, F2). You’ll need to press that key before proceeding with any of these steps if you need to set BIOS options. If you are not comfortable modifying your BIOS settings, seek help from someone who is or from a professional computer technician.

Check Device Manager (Advanced View)

The first step to troubleshooting your device is to double-check that it is actually installed properly. Open Device Manager, which you can find by right-clicking My Computer and selecting Manage. You should see a list of all your hardware. Make sure that your Solid State Drive (SSD) is there. If it isn’t, check that you’ve connected it properly and check if Windows has automatically identified a new storage device – sometimes they’re easy to miss! You may also need to restart your computer after connecting an external storage device.

Format Drive in Disk Management

You’ll need to format your drive to FAT32. To do so, open Computer Management (Right click on My Computer, then select Manage). Next, go to Storage > Disk Management. Right-click on your drive, then select Format. The computer will prompt you to confirm that you want to erase all of its data—be sure not to skip over or miss any warnings!