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External drive does not appear in Windows Explorer. The problem arose unexpectedly with the USB ports on the front panel of PC.

All specified USB ports are version 2.0 and initially everything worked fine. At this moment, the Windows Explorer from the same front USB ports sees the USB flash drive well but the external hard disk drive detects as not initialized or prompts to format disk.

When connected to the rear USB port of the same PC or to the front USB 2.0 ports of another PC, the external hard disk drive is perfectly detected and works. The external drive box is powered from an outlet.

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  • Open computer case and check everything. Replug connectors. Remove dust.
    – Akina
    Commented Dec 30, 2020 at 4:52
  • I bought a new USB 3.0 card with an adapter cable for connecting MB under USB 2.0 The first connection with 100% positive result - both ports. Then connection became unstable, from one to another port or both ... on one of USB 2.0 MB connector on the other MB connector - stable DOS. Obviously this is a problem with MB connectors etc.
    – Uzgraph
    Commented Dec 30, 2020 at 9:29

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Not sure if this helps, but I had a similar issue a ways back. When I had multiple devices plugged into my front panel, external HDD included, it just couldn't deliver enough power for the external drive. I found that if I unplugged everything on the front panel, it worked fine.

Please forgive this suggestion if you already did it:

  1. check the cable from the panel to the motherboard, make sure it is securely seated (though likely it is or the flash drives wouldn't work)
  2. try a USB motherboard header to USB cable (something like this): https://www.amazon.com/9pin-Female-header-USB2-0-Adapter/dp/B016RPA0IS/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=usb+header+to+usb+port&qid=1609294108&sr=8-3

or this: https://www.amazon.com/10Pin-Motherboard-Female-Header-Adapter/dp/B015F6QXKO/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=usb+header+to+usb+port&qid=1609294108&sr=8-7

if it works, cable or panel is the problem. If it still doesn't work, I'm at a loss other than the rare possibility that the front ports are just shy of the power needed to start the drive - which again, I know, doesn't make sense since you said it was working fine.

  1. third option to try - unplug ALL USB peripherals except keyboard/mouse and try and see if it works or not - if it does, then the power draw from other peripherals is just too much for the motherboard to supply to the USB ports I guess...
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  • Reconnected the USB front panel connector on the motherboard to another USB connector on the MB. Once the external drive connected and opened but after the reconnecting everything started over again - the drive was not initialized, let's format it ... I reconnected connector to the old MB connector, the disk appeared in the explorer and when I tried to click on the disk, the explorer hang up, hung down immediately after I pulled out the USB cable of the external disk from the front panel ...
    – Uzgraph
    Commented Dec 30, 2020 at 3:04

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