If you meet the error “File history doesn’t recognize this drive” when backing up Windows files, read this article. It will explain why this happens and how to fix the issue on both Windows 10 and 11. Quickly resolve the “ file history drive not recognized” problem with our step-by-step guide.
File History is a built-in backup feature in Windows that automatically saves copies of your personal files, such as documents, photos, and videos, to an external drive or network location. Unlike traditional backup solutions, File History continuously tracks changes to your files and retains multiple versions of them. This makes it easy to recover files to any earlier versions.
File History runs in the background, ensuring that your files are regularly backed up without requiring manual intervention. It provides a simple and efficient way to safeguard your important data from accidental loss or corruption, offering peace of mind with minimal effort. Whether you’re recovering a single file or restoring an entire folder from a previous date, File History is a valuable tool for maintaining file security.
I've been using File History on my Win10 laptop for a couple of years with no problems, saving to an external drive. For the last couple of weeks, when I go to run it, I get the message: "File History doesn't recognize this drive." How can I fix this?
- Question from answers.microsoft.com
Although File History can be an effective way to protect Windows files from accident loss, sometimes it might not work as expected. For example, it might not recognize any connected external hard drive or network drive as described in the above user case.
When you encounter the "File History Drive Not Recognized" error, it typically means that Windows is having trouble detecting or accessing the external drive you have selected for backup. Why this happen? Any one of the following reasons might explain that:
After understanding the reasons behind "File History doesn't recognize this drive Windows 11or Windows 10" issue, we can begin exploring how to fix the "File History Doesn't Recognize This Drive" problem, ensuring that your files can be successfully backed up to the designated drive. Next, we will walk through some common solutions to help you restore the File History feature.
First of all, check whether the File History service is enabled or not. If it is disabled by accident, it won’t detect or recognize the drive. In this case, you can turn it on again by the following steps (Windows 10):
Step 1. Access to "Windows Setting", locate and click on "Update & Security".
Step 2. In the "Windows Update" window, click on "Files Backup" in the left pane. Check whether the "Back up using File History" feature is enabled. If not, simply toggle it to "On.".
If the drive is still not recognized by File History feature, then ensure the target external drive is connected to your computer well.
Re-plug the drive: Unplug the external drive and plug it back into a different USB port to ensure a solid connection.
Try a different cable: Sometimes, faulty cables can prevent the drive from being detected. So just try another different cable.
A drive that lacks a drive letter or is formatted with an unsupported file system (such as Ext, typically used on Linux) may also fail to be recognized by the operating system. In such cases, you can open Disk Management to make a check.
Step 1. Press "Windows + X" and select "Disk Management".
Step 2. In the Disk Management Windows, locat your external drive in the list.
If the drive contains some errors, the Windows might not recognize it as usual. To check disk error, you can turn to CHKDSK command line tool.
Step 1: Press "Win+R" to bring out "Run" dialogue, input "cmd", and hit Enter. Be sure to run it as administrator.
Step 2. Input "chkdsk d: /f" in the window. This command will check and fix errors that it found on D: volume. You can replace d with the target drive letter.
Or you can open File Explorer, right-click the external drive, and select "Properties". Under the "Tools" tab, click "Check" to scan and fix any file system errors.
If there's an issue with the external drive's driver, such as it not being installed correctly or being outdated, Windows may fail to detect or recognize the drive. In such cases, you may need to update or reinstall the driver.
Step 1. Go to Device Manager by pressing "Windows + X" and selecting it.
Step 2. Find your external drive under Disk Drives, right-click, and choose "Update driver". If no updates are available, try uninstalling and reinstalling the driver.
Choose "Uninstall device", then unplug and replug the external drive. Windows will attempt to reinstall the correct drivers automatically.
If you've tried all the above methods and the "File History doesn't recognize this drive" issue persists, you can try selecting a different drive for the backup.
If you don't have File History backup available or it's not functioning properly like the above issue "File Historydoesn't recognize this drive", there are still ways to restore your files. Among all alternatives, best option should be using professional data recovery software.
With many data recovery tools available on the market, choosing the right one can be challenging. Today, we’ll focus on MyRecover as a reliable solution. This tool allows you to easily recover lost or deleted data from Windows with simple steps. Specifically, it offers fast recovery speeds and a high success rate across various scenarios, including:
Now, you can check the following tutorial to learn how to recover data from hard drive even if you don’t have File History backup due to the “File History drive not recognized”problem.
Step 1. Download and install MyRecover.
Step 2. Open the data recovery softare. Choose the drive which contains the lost data and click on "Scan".
Step 3. After the software scan the drive and list all deleted data, choose what you want to recover and click on "Recover".
Step 4. Choose a local drive folder to save the recovered data.
This article not only explains why File History doesn't recognize this drive, but also lists 6 effective methods for your reference. What’s more, if the File History cannot help back up Windows data any longer, you can download MyRecover to recover lost or deleted data effortlessly even without any backup created before. To recover unlimited data and preview all before final recovery, please upgrade to the advanced version.
