Windows 10: Disappearing Hard drives, both external (USB) as well as internal (SATA)

Last three or four w10 64 bit updates I have occasionally seen internal disk drive 1 (G disappearing from file explorer, this has been significantly reduced with the latest (1903) but still occurs under certain circumstances which is critical as it causes backups to fail.


Issue 1 Run backup and set Laptop to shut down after validation of backup to external USB HDD. Next day power up laptop with external USB drive still plugged in, then when you try to safely remove the drive there is no USB icon in the tray and the external USB drive appears as Internal drive G: whilst internal DRIVE1 G: is not there and not accessible.


As it is not possible to safely remove the external drive, Laptop is shut down, external drive unplugged, then Laptop repowered up, hey presto all drives appear as normal, very concerned about drive detection and file reliability of latest windows updates.


Have seen similar posts with DRIVE1 disappearing a year or so ago and have experienced this too but somehow these issues are reported in different ways and do not seem to be categorised and collated, I think AI could be very useful here!

:)

 

SATA internal HDD and external SATA HDD

using a USB makes it a external drive to the system. suggest that you do some research on USB vs SATA.

 

Why is a USB 3.0 external hard drive is performing faster than internal hard drives?

Why is my USB 3.0 connected external hard drive transferring files quicker than my two internal drives? I am using Windows 10.

1. Internal Primary: 1TB NVMe Samsung SSD 960 (PCIe Connected)
   
2. Internal Storage: 4TB WDC WD40E31X (SATA Connected)
   
3. External Storage: 2TB USB 3.0 Interface Hard Drive
   

Now I have a 6.5GB Movie file on my Samsung 960 Pro which I copy to my 4TB WD internal at a rate of 100MB/s

I have the same exact file on my 2TB USB external hard drive which transfers to the same 4TB internal storage Hard Drive at 175MB/s

The same holds true if I try to move 20 large movie files.

Here are some benchmark results from two tools.

Performance Test 9:





User BenchMark:





I had to remove the links for the drives because i don't have enough reputation to add the benchmark results Can someone please add them back

 

External hard drive not recognised

Thanks for this. I've done what you suggested and been through all the steps mentioned in the article. The hard drive works fine on a Mac computer, and I've managed to copy the information on it. It must be a Surface issue so I'll try to get a chat line tomorrow.