1. Minitool Partition Wizard Gpt To Mbr Without Data Loss Control
2. Minitool Partition Wizard Gpt To Mbr Without Data Loss Calculator
3. Minitool Partition Wizard Gpt To Mbr Without Data Loss Free
4. Minitool Partition Wizard Gpt To Mbr Without Data Loss Code

So AOMEI Partition Assistant offers the best way to convert MBR to GPT without data loss. As a matter of fact, MBR and GPT have different merits and shortcomings under different situations. Just choose the right one based on your own situations. EaseUS Partition Manager Free is your best choice to convert MBR to GPT without losing data. Select the disk to convert Right-click the MBR disk and choose 'Convert to GPT' Click 'Apply' to commit the changes. It doesn't require partition deleting or formatting before MBR to GPT converting process. Applies to Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP.

As the best partition manager for Windows, MiniTool Partition Wizard aims to maximize disk performance. It also helps create/resize/format partition flexibly, convert disk between MBR and GPT disks, convert partition between NTFS and FAT32, and convert dynamic disk to basic without data loss in a. Techniques to Convert GPT Partition to MBR Without Data Loss. Users can convert a GPT partition disk to an MBR disk with multiple techniques and some of them are mentioned below. It is highly recommended to follow the instructions carefully and sequentially as any misstep may lead to permanent data loss. To convert GPT disk with OS installed to MBR for better compatibility, most users might want to finish the conversion without losing data. Then AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is a great tool, which can convert GPT to MBR (or MBR to GPT) without damaging inside data including the operating system.

Summary :

Are you still troubled by the issue 'hard drive not showing up'? This article will show you how to slove the probelm 'hard drive not showing up'. In addition, the issue 'hard drive not showing up' may lead to data loss. But, don't worry! MiniTool Power Data Recover, a piece of profesional data recovery software, can help you to get the lost data back.

Hard Drive Not Showing up

Hard drive containing massive important data is not showing up in My Computer or Windows Explorer? Have you ever encountered this problem?

It is believed that many users have encountered the situation mentioned above. Let's see a true example from answers.microsoft.com:

My 2nd hard drive isn't showing up in my computer. The hard drive was a slave I took out of my old XP machine after it crashed. I had installed it into my new vista machine before and it was working, but then I had to reinstall the OS and ever since then it has not shown up. I have double checked to make sure it was set as a slave drive and it is. It shows up in the Bios, the device manager, and in Disk Management, just not in my computer. Nothing is showing up as unallocated in disk management and the drive says it's healthy. In the device manager it says the device is working properly. I've tried to just give it a drive letter in disk management, but when I right click on it the only option I have is help. I've also tried to update the drivers, and it says they are up to date. I've tried disabling and enabling the hard drive. I've even tried uninstalling it. When I restarted it did detect it and reinstalled the drivers, but I still can't get it to show up in my computer. answers.microsoft.com

Why does hard drive (including external hard drive or, USB hard drive) not show up in My Computer or Windows Explorer? Do you know how to deal with this issue? Besides, can we recover data from hard drive when it is not showing up?

Want to know answers of these questions? Here we are!

Why Hard Drive Isn't Showing up and How to Fix

According to the questionnaire survey and the result of experiment, we find there are many factors that can cause the 'hard drive not showing up' issue, including mistaken operation, computer virus invasion, and hard drive letter missing, and so on.

Let's discuss the details.

Case 1- Hard Drive Is Not Initialized

As we know, once hard drive shows as uninitialized, we are unable to see it in Windows Explorer, and cannot access its files. And many reasons (such as virus invasion, master boot record corruption, bad sectors, and so on) can lead to disk not initialized issue.

Solution

Minitool Partition Wizard Gpt To Mbr Without Data Loss Control

To solve this issue, you can right-click the uninitialized disk, and then choose Initialize Disk to initialize it to use it again.

If your disk is not initialized anymore due to sudden change, we don’t suggest you to initialize the disk immediately. Conversely, you had better recover all your missing data from it, and then initialize it to make it usable again. Otherwise, the original data will be lost forever. Here, if you don't know how to perfectly recover lost data, you can try using MiniTool Power Data Recovery because of its excellent performance, simple operation and high security.

Related: Solved-Disk Unknown Not Initialized Issue on External Hard Drive

Case 2 – Hard Drive Letter Is Missing

A drive letter is a single alphabetic character A through Z that has been assigned to a physical drive or drive partition in the computer. And if you want to see your hard drive in My Computer or Windows Explorer, you should assign it with a drive letter. Once the drive letter is missing, you will encounter the 'hard drive not showing up' issue.

Solution

To solve this problem, you can assign a drive letter for it. Windows built –in disk management as well as partitioning software like MiniTool Partition Wizard can help to add a new drive letter on it.
Click here to learn several ways to get missing drive letters back in Windows.

Case 3 – Hard Drive Is Hidden

Now, some users want to turn to third-party software like MiniTool Partition Wizard to hide their hard drive to protect data. However, once accidentally hide a drive containing massive important data, what should we do since this drive isn't showing up in Windows Explorer?

Solution

If drive is hidden by mistake, what should we do since Disk Management only offers Delete Volume feature as well as Help feature, as shown above? Can we delete the hidden volume, and create a new one? Of course, we can! But, this method will cause data loss.

Case 4 – Hard Drive Becomes Unallocated

Let's start with a true example:

My external USB 3.0 HD was working perfectly well yesterday. However, today suddenly became an 'unallocated' drive without even a drive name. I'm able to detect the drive but I have no way of accessing it.

The only solution that I've tried so far is to access the HD with another computer. But, the results are the same with those computers. I haven't done anything else...

Here's a screenshot of the problem:

In this case, what should we do? Can we effectively solve this problem without losing original data?

Solution

If your hard disk space turns into unallocated, you are allowed to create new volume on this disk and make it appear in Windows Explorer. However, this solution will cause data loss forever.

In addition, you are highly recommended to recover data from unallocated drive ahead of doing anything else. MiniTool Power Data Recovery is recommended here since this all-in-one tool has been awarded as the top 10 data recovery software on TOPTENREVIEWS.

Case 5 - External hard Drive Is Not Recognized

There's also another situation where the hard drive (especially external hard drive like USB hard drive) is not showing up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. And, you will receive a warning that saying device not recognized.

As a matter of fact, this issue can be caused by various reasons, including the currently loaded USB driver has become unstable or corrupt. For more information about the device not recognized error, please see Error: 'USB Device not recognized' when you try to access a USB external hard drive.

Solution

Here, to fix the 'external hard drive not recognized' error, you can try the below methods.

Method 1: Restart computer

Unplug your USB, restart your computer and plug in and see if it works now.

Method 2: Update device driver

Open Control Panel > Printers and devices. Check if you can see any entry for Unidentified USB device or Unknown Device. Open its Properties and update its driver, if an update is found to be available.

......

Case 6 – Hard Drive Has Wrong File System

Last but not least, if your hard drive is partitioned with the wrong file system, you cannot see it in My Computer or Windows Explorer. For example, you may have formatted the drive with the ext4 file system from Linux or the HFS Plus file system from a Mac. Windows can't read these file systems. But, you can see this drive in Disk Management as shown below:

Solution

To solve this issue, you can delete this drive, and then create a new partition with the newer NTFS file system or older FAT32 file system so Windows will be able to recognize it.

Here, we want to share another case to you.

Sometimes, you will find you cannot access your NTFS drive from another device, such as a DVD player, smart TV, game console, or media center device. This is because that many devices, even Microsoft's own Xbox 360, can't read the Windows NTFS file system. And, they can only access drives formatted with the older FAT32 file system. To fix this problem, simply convert it to FAT32.

After seeing why hard drive isn't showing up in Windows and how to fix this issue, let's move onto the next part.

Recover Data from Hard Drive Not Showing up

From the above description, we can see several factors can cause the hard dive or external hard drive not showing up issue. Although you can fix the 'hard drive not showing up' issue according to the solutions we mentioned above, we advise you to recover data at first. Otherwise, the original data saved on the drive which is not showing up will be lost permanently. However, how?

You are probably wondering:

'How do I effectively recover data from hard drive when it is not showing up?'

Right now, MiniTool Power Data Recovery (PCWORLD, a professional IT magazine, speaks very highly of this data recovery software) can help you effectively recover lost data because of its powerful functions.

Now, let’s see the detailed steps.

Download MiniTool Power Data Recovery Trail edition.

Launch this professional tool to get its main interface as follows.

4 different data recovery modules are listed in the main interface of this all-in-one data recovery software.

• This PC focuses on recovering lost or deleted data from damaged, RAW or formatted partitions. And this module is selected by default.
• Removable Disk Drive is designed to recover lost photos, mp3/mp4 files, and videos from flash drives and memory sticks.
• Hard Disk Drive can recover files after partition loss or deletion.
• CD/DVD Drive helps to recover data from formatted or erased CD/DVD discs.

Here, you can click the Hard Disk Drive to recover lost data. After selecting this module, you will see the following window.

Now, select the target hard drive which is not showing up in Windows Explorer, and then click Scan button. In this window, you are able to click Settings to specify needed file systems as well as file types.

Wait for the full scanning finishes to get the best recovery result.

Finally, select all needed files, and save them. It is recommended to store needed files on another drive. Otherwise, the original data will be overwritten.

The trial edition of MiniTool Power Data Recovery can only scan lost data. If you need to recover more data, please choose the paid edition. Here, you might be interested in this post: MiniTool Power Data Recovery License Comparison.

Conclusion

Are you still worried about the 'hard drive not showing up' issue? Now, after reading this post, I guess you might have a basic understanding of how to fix this issue.

Should you have any question or suggestion about the hard drive not showing up in This PC or My Computer, please feel free to send your email to [email protected].

Hard Drive Not Showing up FAQ

1. Hard drive is not initialized.
2. Hard drive letter is missing.
3. Hard drive is hidden.
4. Hard drive becomes unallocated.
5. Hard drive has a wrong file system.

1. Initialize hard drive.
2. Assign drive letter.
3. Hide hard drive.
4. Recover hard drive partitions along with data.
5. Format hard drive.

1. Right-click This PC.
2. Choose Manage.
3. Click Disk Management.
4. Right-click the new hard drive.
5. Choose Initialize Disk to initialize it.

Overview of MBR and GPT Disk

Before learning how to convert GPT to MBR, it is necessary to get a deeper understanding of MBR and GPT hard disk. On the whole, they are two different partition styles.

Minitool Partition Wizard Gpt To Mbr Without Data Loss Calculator

MBR, short for Master Boot Record, is a guide sector at the very front of the drive. MBR describes the information on logical partitions and contains file systems and the organization type. It contains the boot routine – this is the executable code produced when the computer loads the OS in the second stage of the start-up or the boot record which connects every partition (VBR).

GPT, short for – GUID (Globally Unique Identifiers) Partition Table, has become the new standard of disk partition table originating from the EFI (Extensive Firmware Interface). It is gradually replacing MBR with something more modern. On GPT disk, every partition has its own “globally unique identifier”.

What are the limitations of an MBR disk?
▸MBR disks only support disk up to 2TB in size. If the hard disk surpasses 2TB, the additional space will show as unallocated space.
▸MBR disk only supports 4 primary partitions at most. To create more, you have to make one primary partition ”extended drive”, within which you can create many logical drives.
▸MBR partitioning rules are complex and poorly designed. On an MBR disk, the partitioning and boot data is stored in one place. If this data is overwritten or corrupted, it’s difficult to recover it.
▸MBR cannot be created on media which cannot be partitioned – such as CDs/DVDs.

What are the advantages of a GPT disk?
▸GPT can take full advantage of a large hard drives over 2TB .The partition size is limited to 256TB as each partition in GPT can be up to 2^64 logical blocks in length.
▸GPT also allows for a nearly unlimited number of partitions. Generally, Windows allows up to 128 partitions on a GPT drive.
▸A Partition on a GPT disk has self-contained backup at the end of the disk, with the original being stored at the front of the disk. When one of the two is destroyed, you can restore it with the other.

When do you need to convert GPT to MBR partition style?

GPT disk seems to be more advanced when compared to MBR disk, you might still need to convert GPT to MBR disk sometimes. For example, if you are using a very old operating system like Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT4, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 32-bit, and Windows XP 32-bit version, you have to convert the system disk from GPT to MBR because they do not support GPT partitions. GPT disk will display as a 'GPT protective partition' in these systems and you won’t be able to access your data unless you convert the drive back to MBR. Also, there are still some situations where you might need to convert GPT disk to MBR disk.

How to convert GPT to MBR without data loss in Windows PC?

To convert GPT disk with OS installed to MBR for better compatibility, most users might want to finish the conversion without losing data. Then AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is a great tool, which can convert GPT to MBR (or MBR to GPT) without damaging inside data including the operating system. That is a bigger advantage than converting GPT to MBR via Command Prompt, which requires you to delete all partition inside.

Moreover, if you can boot into Windows successfully, only 3 steps can make it done. If you cannot boot into Windows, you can create a bootable media via this software first, and then realize the conversion in WinPE mode. Now You can download the Demo version and see how it works in the two different cases (with or without OS).

✎Notes:
①If you want to convert a disk larger than 2TB GPT disk to an MBR disk, you should be aware that any data above 2TB will be lost. If you still wish to convert your GPT drive to MBR you can transfer the extra data before the conversion to another drive via this helpful data migration software.
②In case of some improper operations or sudden interruptions that lead to data loss, it is better to make a backup before conversion.

Case 1. Convert GPT to MBR within Windows

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional Edition. Select the system GPT disk you want to convert and right-click it, and then select 'Convert to MBR Disk' in the drop-down menu.

If your disk is MBR and you want to convert it to GPT, please choose 'Convert to GPT Disk'.

Step 2. Click 'OK' after confirming the operation.

Step 3. You can preview the conversion under “Pending Operations”. In order to save the changes, please click “Apply” on the toolbar and wait for the process to be completed.

To boot into Windows successfully after conversion, you might need to enter BIOS to change UEFI to Legacy boot mode, or Legacy to UEFI.

Case 2. Convert GPT to MBR without an operating system

When installing Windows 10, 8, and 7, you may get an error message saying that Windows can’t be installed on this disk: The selected disk has an MBR partition table or GPT partition table. Thus you have to convert the disk from MBR to GPT (or vice versa) before OS installation. But how to convert disk to MBR/GPT without OS installed on the PC? Don’t worry, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional allows you to make a bootable USB drive to boot the computer without OS, and convert GPT to MBR in WinPE environment.

Step 1. Insert an empty USB flash drive or CD into another working computer running Windows 10, 8, and 7 and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Step 2. Click on 'Make Bootable Media'.

Step 3. Choose the USB drive and click on “Proceed” to finish creating a bootable media drive/disk.

Step 4. Insert the bootable drive/disk into the computer that you’re having problem installing Windows on, and enter BIOS to change boot order (make the bootable USB first), then boot computer from the bootable media drive/disk.

Step 5. Once login, you will enter the AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional interface. Then you can do as above to convert GPT to MBR without operating system.

Once you have changed the disk's format you should be able to install Windows on this disk. If you are not worried about data loss you can follow the instructions here in convert MBR to GPT with DiskPart utility.

Minitool Partition Wizard Gpt To Mbr Without Data Loss Free

✎Notes:
①When converting between MBR or GPT on laptops you should make sure the laptop has sufficient power supply by connecting it to the power outlet.
②In order to protect your data, you must not terminate the program during the conversion process.
③If you are working with Windows Server, you can use AOMEI Partition Assistant Server or Advanced Edition.

Minitool Partition Wizard Gpt To Mbr Without Data Loss Code

Summary

In this page, we not only introduce what’s MBR and GPT, what’s their limitation and advantage, and most importantly, we share a great GPT to MBR converter, which allows you to convert GPT to MBR, or MBR to GPT without data loss or operating system. Besides this amazing function, the AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional also provides many other features: clone MBR to GPT disk, clone GPT to MBR disk, migrate OS to SSD/HDD, align SSD partition and more.