What to do if the computer does not see the disk?

Modern computer technology is developing so fast that keeping track of this process is quite difficult. Not many will remember when they last had to use a device to view disks, that is, a drive. Current computer models are designed in such a way that the need for this part is virtually no longer needed. But there are people who still need these devices, for example, lovers to listen to old and rare compositions recorded on a disc. Also, fans of computer games most often are faced with the need to install new entertainment from a portable drive. But quite often there are situations when the computer simply refuses to read the information. From this article we will learn what to do if the computer does not see the disk, and how to solve the problem yourself.

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The reasons for the lack of contact between the computer and the drive

There are a huge number of probable causes of such a malfunction, due to which the computer does not see the disks or the drive does not work correctly. Now we will examine each of them in more detail and find out whether it is possible to fix the problem without resorting to the help of a wizard.

Inoperative disk

Disks cannot be called very reliable data carriers, because they are often damaged and broken. If you do not use them carefully and store them incorrectly, then they become covered with scratches and that is why the drive stops accepting them.

To diagnose this problem, you just need to insert another disk into the device - if it starts working, it means that the reason is still in the specific medium.

Important! What to do if the computer does not see a damaged disk? You can try polishing it with a soft rag and a special paste.

No contact

It also happens that the drive simply refuses to work when the desired button is pressed, and this happens due to the lack of contact between it and the power supply.

In this situation, you can solve the problem as follows:

1. Start the computer.
2. Remove the side cover from the system unit and carefully look if the cables leading to the device are disconnected.
3. Note that there should be two of them: one - feeds the drive with electricity, and the second - information, and it is connected to the motherboard.
4. To resume contact, disconnect both wires and reconnect.

The read head is dirty

But the most common reason for such a breakdown is the accumulation of dust on the drive head, which is responsible for reading information. There are two ways to clean it:

• The first way. Remove the side cover from the system unit, unscrew the drive and pull it out, carefully disassemble, wipe the head with a soft cloth or cotton wool.
• The second way. Purchase a special disc in a store with brushes already glued to it. Insert it and wait a bit for the head to be cleaned, and then pull it out again. The computer sees this device and begins to spin it, and the brushes carefully remove dust.

Laser out of order

Inside any drive there is a laser that is responsible for reading data from the surface of the inserted disk:

• If the device works, and you hear it clearly, but the computer does not see it, then there is definitely a problem with the laser.
• Also a clear sign of such a breakdown is selective reading of information.

Important! If the drive works with media, but disk formats are not detected, then this indicates precisely internal problems — it is better to contact specialists with such problems.

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Why did my computer stop seeing the drive?

Not only the disk can cause incorrect reading of information or lack of contact. The problem may be hidden in the drive itself. Therefore, it is very important at this stage to find out what to do if the computer does not see the drive. There can also be many reasons, and it would be wise to familiarize yourself with each of them in detail.

Driver issues

Often the problems are not associated with physical damage, but with the incorrect operation of the system itself. Due to the harmful effects of software crashes and virus attacks, the device may become damaged and start functioning incorrectly. In this situation, you need to perform the following steps:

1. Use the service button to call up the “Start” menu.
2. Use the mouse to select the “Computer” element and click on it.
3. In the menu that appears, select the line “Properties”.
4. In the left part of the bookmark menu window, select the “Device Manager” section.
5. Open the partition associated with the drive.
6. Click on the object with the mouse and stop at the “Properties” section.
7. Select the “Driver” tab.
8. Click the “Delete” button.
9. Download from the Internet new drivers designed for your model and install them.

The problem in installed programs

Think carefully about what programs you downloaded and installed on your computer recently. Perhaps your children were installing some new games. Virtual media managers are considered a fairly common problem.

Important! Often games install virtual disks for their own needs, and those, in turn, may conflict with each other.

To check if this is the problem, you need to uninstall recently installed programs and see if the drive resumes working.

Malfunctions are hiding in the hardware

If you still do not know what to do, if the computer does not see the drive, then:

• Try replacing the cable with a new one that works correctly and replace it with a different power plug.
• As with the read head inside, the drive itself may also become clogged, so it will not be superfluous to completely disassemble and clean it.
• If you can’t do this, you can blow off the drive using a can of compressed air through the open tray.
• You can try updating the firmware.
• And the best thing is to buy a new one and replace the idle drive.

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Is it possible to read a damaged disk?

If everything is fine with the drive, but the disk is badly scratched, and the information stored on it is extremely important to you, then you can use some secrets of how to re-breathe life into it. There are several special programs that help restore such seemingly permanently damaged media. They act quite simply: many times in a row they try to read bad sectors using different parameters. Those places that still cannot be read, they skip and retain at least what is possible.

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Stock footage

In this article, we examined all the probable reasons that the computer does not see the disk, and proposed solutions to this problem. We hope one way helped you.