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Reconnect Your Drive: 5 Ways to Remove This Notification
Expert fixes to start using the built-in file backup feature
5 min. read
Updated onOctober 4, 2023
updated onOctober 4, 2023
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Key notes
Having a file backup is crucial, and thanks to the File History feature, you can easilycreate a backup for your files on Windows 10.
Unfortunately, certain issues with File History can occur occasionally, and you might get a notification saying that you need to reconnect your drive on Windows 10. This can be a serious problem due to the importance of your backup files.
What does it mean to reconnect your drive?
Below are some of the potential factors that can cause the File History to show reconnect your drive error:
How can I fix Reconnect your drive error?
1. Reconnect your drive and manually start the backup process
The File History feature requires an external hard drive to be connected to your PC. If for some reason, your external hard drive has been disconnected for too long, you’ll see a message asking you to reconnect your drive.
To fix this problem, reconnect your external hard drive and manually start the backup process. To manually start the backup, complete the above procedure.
In addition to manually starting the backup process, you can connect your hard drive and wait for the scheduled backup to start automatically.
2. Uninstall recent updates
A lot of users complained that File History stopped working for them after installing recent Windows 10 updates, particularly KB4601319.
They managed to get the program running only after uninstalling the respective update. This is only a workaround, but it works.
3. Make sure your drivers are up to date
In some cases, reconnect your drive message appears if your external hard drive isn’t fully compatible with Windows 10. Following the steps above should help you update your drivers manually.
However, if you don’t want the hassle of searching for drivers on your own, you can use a tool that will do this for you automatically.
Of course, this tool won’t be useful if you cannot connect to the internet now. However, once you get online, it will help you to keep all your drivers up to date so that you won’t be in this situation anymore.
Outbyte Driver Updater
4. Delete the File History configuration files
Before trying this solution, create a backup for your files. This process might delete all the files you use for backup on your external hard drive.
So, make sure you save them somewhere safe. After you’ve saved your files to a safe location, complete the above procedure.
5. Format your external hard drive
If you’re getting reconnecting your drive error message, you might want to format the external hard drive you use for backup and recreate your backup again.
Formatting your external hard drive will permanently delete all your files from that external hard drive. So, you might want to back up certain files. To format an external hard drive, follow the above steps.
There you have it: Everything you need to fix the reconnect your drive error. The solutions in this guide are simple and direct and should help you start backing your files up again.
If you want to knowhow to access and use the File History in the Control Panel, check our detailed guide.
Feel free to let us know the solution that helped you fix this issue in the comments below.
More about the topics:Fix Hard Drive issues
Milan Stanojevic
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He’s a PC enthusiast and he spends most of his time learning about computers and technology.
Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s one of the Troubleshooting experts in our worldwide team, specializing in Windows errors & software issues.
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Milan Stanojevic
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s specialized in Windows errors & software issues.
