How to Fix the Device is Not Ready in Windows : The device is not ready error is displayed when you try to set up an external drive or are unable to access it. This can be because of the USB drivers not functioning correctly or issues in the hardware itself.
External HDD as well as USB drives often experience this problem. Although damaged hardware requires repairs or replacements, you are able to fix software issues on your own.
How to Fix the Device is Not Ready in Windows?
Before you start with the installation, you should connect your external drive into every port to determine if any ports are not working properly. If you discover the ports that are defective in your device, consult our guide on fixing broken or dead USB ports..
If all three have the same issue Try connecting your external drive to a different PC. If the drive is working on a different PC this could be an issue with the software on your PC.
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Run the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter
Each hardware component requires a driver to connect with the operating system. The driver acts as a interface between system components and hardware. When the driver begins to fail it may display numerous types of error.
The Hardware as well as Devices troubleshooter detects these errors and corrects them.
- Press the Windows + R to start Run Utility.
- Type
cmd
to start the the Command Prompt. - Within CMD you can type your following commands:
msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic
- The troubleshooter will be open then click the next button..
- The troubleshooter will begin the scan to identify any issues with the driver.
Update or Reinstall USB Drivers
The process of Update or Reinstall USB Drivers will help resolve issues such as malfunctioning, damaged or poorly installed drivers. Since the driver that isn’t working correctly is the main reason behind the device’s not being ready You can correct it by installing the latest USB Driver.
- Open through the Run window by using Windows + R keys.
- Click
devmgmt.msc
- Click twice to open the Universal Serial Bus controllers menu in the Device Manager.
- Right-click on any of the drivers, and then select the Update option.
- Click on Search for automatically searching for drivers.
- Utilize the same method to update the different USB drivers.
Installing the driver is like updating the drivers. This process creates a working version of the driver which eliminates the issue caused by the driver that was previously installed.
- On the Universal Serial Bus controllers menu within the Device Manager Click on the right-click to select to select your USB Driver.
- Tap on Uninstall Driver . (Do not remove the Host Control and Root Hub USB driver. Avoid these two drivers.)
- Confirm Uninstall.
- Start your PC.
When your computer is restarted it will automatically install the driver that is missing.
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Perform a CHKDSK Scan
It is the CHKDSK command is used to scan for any signs that could be caused by physical or logical errors within your drive, for instance damaged sectors on your disk, and seeks to fix the problem. It could isolate the problematic sector on your disk, or stop your computer from making reading from the location in order to restore normal operating processes.
- Within File Explorer, right-click on the drive under This computer.
- Select Property from the choices.
- Navigate to the Tools header and select the header and then select Check option.
- The PC will then look over the drive for errors.
You can also type the command chkdsk #:/r
in the Command Prompt to conduct the CHKDSK scanning of your drive. But, make sure to enter the drive number of the drive that you wish to scan in lieu in place of the #. For instance you can use the command Chkdsk G: /r
scans G. G.
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Change Drive Letter
If there are multiple drives linked to your PC or your disk is split into multiple partitions that have various drive numbers, you may be faced with this issue when two drives share the identical drive letter.
Although the system is programmed to change automatically the drive’s letter if it’s similar, errors and bugs could impede this process.
- Open Run dialog box using Windows + R shortcut key.
- Type
diskmgmt.msc
and press Shift + Enter. - Right-click on the drive you wish to change the letter and then select option to option to change the drive’s letter as well as path. option.
- Click the the Change button in this new tab.
- Next to give the drive letter the following, Choose the letter you wish to designate.
- Click on OK and Yes.
Format the Drive
If the previous methods don’t succeed, attempt formatting the disk and erase all of its contents. In addition you can format your disk within it’s NTFS file system which allows it to be more compatible with Windows.
If you do have important information stored on the drive, first try backing up the drive using third-party programs. Although you might not be able to retrieve everything, however, you could get some of it back.
- Open File Explorer.
- On this PC Right-click on the drive you wish to format.
- Tap on the Format option.
- Under File System Select NTFS and click Start .
- Your drive will begin to be formatted.
Although you can retrieve information from a drive formatted but it’s more difficult to do this.
If this method doesn’t work Try using the command clean diskpart that will erase the entire drive of data forever. Clean diskpart will not just erase data, but also will also fill your drive with zero, permanently erasing your drive.
- Within the Windows search bar, type diskpart and start it.
- Enter then the
"list disk"
command to display all the drives in your computer. - Enter the command
Select
. (In the place of disk >, select the disk that you wish to remove the diskpartlist disk
command. For, e.g.,select disk 0.
) - Type
Clean
and press Enter . - When the cleaning process is finished and you’re done, you’ll be unable to access the drive. Therefore, you must execute the following command:
list volume
select volume #
Enter the volume number of the drive using the command list volumes in in the place of #.create partition primary
format fs=ntfs quick
- Exit Command Prompt.