Windows 10: Case of the Disappearing Drive

Hey, folks --

Has anybody else run into a recent problem with hard drives simply disappearing off your computer's radar?

My wife's machine is running Win 7 (also 2 other OS's, but that's her main squeeze), and her third drive, a 2TB we use for backup, has vanished. I name those backup drives "Z", for convenience, and up until about two weeks ago, no problem. All of a sudden, the drive vanishes. Not "offline", it just doesn't exist in Disk Management at all. I tried pulling it out and checking it elsewhere, and the drive itself is fine. Put it back in, and the machine recognized it again. But a couple of boots later, it vanished once more.

I thought maybe there was a hardware or cable problem, and was about to start troubleshooting there. But tonight, I see that my OWN machine (running Windows 10, most of the time) has the same exact problem. My "Z" drive is only 1TB, and suddenly it is just not there. The chances of BOTH machines having the same hardware problem at the same time are very remote, to say the least.

So what I'm wondering is, was there something that came along in Windows Update recently that is causing issues like this? Something to do with drive letters further down the alphabet? I saw an earlier thread which pertained to very large drives (3-4TB), but it was an old thread and these drives are not that huge. Anybody have some insight here? I'm pulling my hair out! *Mad*Mad*Mad

:)

 

Battery Life Icon has disappeared from Windows 10 taskbar.

THANK-YOU JMarco! This isn't even the first time it's disappeared on me. And, it drives me nuts. I will remember this method in case there's another disappearance.. thanks for making it brief and simple.

 

Windows 10 - just in case of losing USB drive...

Hello,

I've bought a copy of Windows 10 Home 32/64 bit recently, BOX edition on USB drive. Now i wonder if I lose or damage this USB drive in the future (well accidents happen...), if:

1. I can download somehow Windows 10 Home installation files from Microsoft Website, and activate it using my product key provided with my copy

2. Such installation breaks some warranty/license rules

3. Can I do backup of this USB drive somehow (again, if that breaks any license/warranty things)

3. or do I need to buy another Windows copy as this is irreversible damage and basicaly i lost product i bought

Thanks

Sebastian