Windows 10: External USB drive not recognized for Disk Image

Greeting with a smile.

I'm trying to save a first time disk image on an external USB drive. And I had it working at the start. The first time, it started fine, and was running fine. But it took longer than I thought it would, and I had to shut it down before it was finished.

Now, when I try to start the process up again, I receive a message that the file history part of the computer is not connected to the USB drive. I can open and view everything on the USB drive, but the file history part of the computer says the USB drive isn't connected.

Help!

:)

 

floppy drive issues with winidows 10

Hi,

The external drive is plug and play as it is immediately recognized by the OS with no issues or request for drivers.

There are no error messages. The screen will not change between the previous disk and the next and shows what was on the previous disk with an apparent inability to recognize that the disk has been changed, with no further action available until the disk
drive is unplugged and plugged back in at the USB port; then the next disk is recognized and its contents is recognized.

Thanks.

 

External USB 2 Freecom Classic DVD +/-RW drive on Windows 10

I am trying to use a external USB 2.0 Freecom Classic DVD +/-RW drive with Windows 10 on a Aspire laptop. Windows recognizes the external drive as E, in device manager it shows the drive as working properly, however it will not accept a disk. If I insert
a disk before I plug in the usb and switch on the power it all show’s up in This PC Devices and Drives and shows the contents of the disk on trying to open the disk it shows computer not responding and will not open.

 

Hi, you mention both disk imaging and file history. I guess you are aware these are two completely different things, and assume you're using the same external disk for both.

1. Which disk imaging program are you using? Could you explain why you thought creating an image (of what?) took longer than you thought it should?

2.

- sorry- which process - disk imaging?

Note that you may need to make sure the disk is always allocated the same drive letter each time it is connected. There is a trick to achieve this: in Computer Management, simply change the drive letter to one you'll never use e.g. R - or whatever you like late in the alphabet. Next time you connect the drive it will be allocated the same letter.

 

It appears I was trying to make a "File history" backup using the file history part of the "Settings" group in windows 10. And I wanted to make a disk image. I wasn't trying to make what I thought I was trying to make.

I'd like to make both, starting with file history.

And I thought file history was about the same as system restore and should take about the same time.

Help!

 

System Restore has Restore points, you can create your own or it automatically does it for you when you install a new program or driver, usually. A System Restore just restore Windows System files and not any documents, pictures etc.
File History is all of the User files on your computer, Pictures, Music, Documents etc. So this will take a lot longer.
For your problem, go to Settings/Backup/More Options/Backup to a Different Drive/Stop Using Drive. Then you can Add the drive again in File History

 

System restore is to help you recover your system to a previously working state when sthg has gone wrong; programs you have installed since the restore point will be unavailable (a list is provided); updates will be removed; settings and driver versions will revert to their state when the restore point was created.

Note that System Restore is viewed as temperamental- it's too commonly found that restoring fails, and it's not easy to solve that.

See System Restore in the Tutorial section where there's an updated tutorial on scheduling it, should you wish to.

File history by default in '10 backs up of your documents ONLY in Libraries, Desktop, Contacts and Favourites - no others.
However, you can add other folders in Settings. (That's new in '10).
How To Work With File History In Windows 10, From The Settings App

This is a sort of scheduled on-the-fly backup.

Don't rely on the above to provide a complete backup solution. It doesn't. You need disk imaging. Think: what will I do if my PC is unbootable? If I get hit with ransomware? If my hard disk/SSD fails?