Flash drive or external hard drive - Location is not available. This NOT READY error implies primarily a damaged digital device, hardware failure, compatibility issues, connection issues, or sometimes Windows file system corruption. Despite solutions to 'the device is not ready' on different devices vary, the reasons behind the occasions are similar to each other. 'The device is not ready is a common Windows 10/8/7 error message related to a flash drive, CD/DVD media, external hard drive, internal HDD, virtual disk manager, or Diskpart. How to Fix 'the device is not ready' Error? Run Sfc scan to check for corruptions > Run hardware and device troubleshooter.

Right-click on the drive which you wish to check and select Properties. Go to Device Manager, right-click the name of your device, select Uninstall. After a few seconds, plug it in all the USB ports in turn until the. Select the hard drive which becomes inaccessible on your PC.