How To Fix Internal SSD Not Showing Up In Windows

Don’t be alarmed! If your new SSD does not appear in your system. In this article, we will talk about this problem and assist you to fix it.

Reasons Behind the Issue.

Several factors can contribute to the Internal SSD not showing up on your Windows 11/10 PC. Some of the most notable ones are as follows:

• The SSD drive letter is conflicting with existing system drives.
• The internal SSD is not initialized or formatted correctly.
• The File System of the SSD is Corrupted. (Showing the RAW File System).
• Obsolete SSD Drivers.
• Loose internal Connections.
• BIOS does not detect the drive.
• SSD is likely Faulty.

How to fix internal SSD not showing up in Windows.

1. Change The Drive Letter.

Drive Letter conflict is one of the most common reasons behind the ‘Internal SSD not showing up’ issue on Windows 11/10. If the drive letter of your internal SSD conflicts with an existing drive, you will not be able to discover or access it on your operating system.

• Press the Windows Key and launch the Disk Management tool.
• Next, right-click on the internal SSD disk and click the ‘Change Drive Letter and Paths…‘ option.
• Click the Change button to change the drive letter.
• Finally, pick a drive letter that is not assigned to any existing system drives and then click on OK to apply changes.

2. Initialize New SSD.

When you install a new SSD on your machine, it needs to be initialized. This initialization erases everything on the disk and prepares it to use on the Windows system.

Note: If you picked an old SSD with pre-existing data, do not initialize it, as the process will erase everything on the disk. Make sure to recover your data from it before you decide to initialize the same.

•  Open the Disk Management tool on your Windows system to find the uninitialized disk.
• Next, right-click the selected disk and press the Initialize Disk button.
• Pick your desired partition style and press the OK button to finish disk initialization.
• If you’ve recently installed a new internal SSD to your machine, this disk initialization window will pop up automatically.

3. Format SSD to fix RAW File System Error.

The RAW file system is another common reason behind the ‘Internal SSD not showing up’ issue. This usually happens when the existing file system of your SSD gets corrupted, making it unrecognizable to Windows. To fix the same, you need to re-format the internal SSD in NTFS format by following these steps.

•  Go to the Disk Management tool from the Start Menu.
• Next, locate the disk marked with the RAW file system. A RAW file system indicates that your connected disk has an unidentified or empty file system.
• Right-click on the RAW file system SSD and press the Format button.
• Finally, pick the NTFS file system and label your drive to identify it. Click the OK button to format your connected SSD.

4. Update Drivers.

Obsolete SSD drivers on Windows 11/10 machines can also create discoverability issues. You need to manually update your SSD drivers to fix the issue.

5. Configure System Power Settings.

The default power plan on Windows 11/10 system shuts down the storage disks automatically after being in an idle state for a certain amount of time to conserve battery on Windows. This idle shutdown of internal disk drives can sometimes lead to the ‘internal SSD not showing up’ issue. To resolve the same, you can edit the existing power plan settings to prevent it from shutting down.

6. Scan and Fix Errors on the Drive.

Microsoft Windows natively provides the feature to help you troubleshoot any existing issues with your disk drive, which is stashed inside the disk properties. You can access it to solve your SSD’s discoverability issue on Windows 11/10.

7. Verify that SSD is detected in BIOS.

The Basic Input/Output System, BIOS, is a program that your computer’s microprocessor use to start the system. If the SSD you’re looking for isn’t detected at boot, there’s a high chance that it might be faulty.

8. Configure BIOS.

Suppose your connected internal SSD is detected in BIOS but fails to show up in Windows after boot. In that case, the discoverability issue might be due to an existing misconfiguration of the SATA controller as it manages data flow and communication between the hard drives and the computer.

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