Windows 10: My WD easystore 25FA USB device ext hard drive makes my Windows Explorer stop working

In all honesty this is a sudden shift in a different thread I thought it'd be too confusing to continue there. I can see the hard drive in Device Manager, I right click and everything seems fine "device working properly", drivers up to date, etc. BUT if I attempt to "see" what's there with Windows Explorer or "fix" what might be going on with CHKDSK, the WE crashes and the CHDSK does nothing. Thoughts and suggestions appreciated!

:)

 

Drive Mount & Hard Link bugs - Where can I report them?

There are a number of bugs in Drive Mounts that also involves Hard Links. I summarize them below. Where can I report the bugs?

STEP 1:

I added an External USB3 Hub with 4, connected USB3 drives to USB3 Port A.

I assigned Drive Letters & added Volume Labels (example: 'W:' & 'Movies1').

All was Joy.

STEP 2:

Later, using 'Disk Management' I changed the drive letters to Mount Points (example: 'D:\Movies1').

All was Joy except 'Drive Ejection' [see Note 1].

STEP 3:

I installed USB_Disk_Eject (3rd party app) to control ejection [see Note 1].

All was Joy (including ejection via USB_Disk_Eject).

STEP 4:

Later, I changed the names of the Mount Points & the Volume Labels of the 4 USB drives (example: 'Videos1' & 'D:\Videos1').

I immediately started having problems.

- USB_Disk_Eject no longer found the USB drives.

- 'Explorer' no longer saw the USB drives.

- 'Device Manager' had marked the USB drives as hidden.

- 'Disk Management' 'Change Drive Letter & Paths...' would not remove the Mount Points [see Note 2].

The USB3 drives worked when plugged into other USB3 Ports, but not USB3 Port A (even without the Hub).

The External USB3 Hub in USB3 Port A would be recognized and enabled, but not the USB3 drives plugged into the Hub.

STEP 5:

With the External USB3 Hub removed,

I was able to individually plug in the drives and revert back to using drive letters, and

I was able to delete the Hard Links that had been created as Mount Points.

What initially appeared to a fault with USB3 Port A &/ the External USB3 Hub is instead a fault with Windows.

Now I'm back to STEP 1.

[Note 1]:

The 4 USB3 drives are all the same make & model: WD easystore 25FA. As long as the drives had letters, 'Drive Ejection' could differentiate them

- 'Eject easystore 25FA - Movies1 (W'

- 'Eject easystore 25FA - Movies2 (X'

- 'Eject easystore 25FA - Movies3 (Y'

- 'Eject easystore 25FA - MoviesP (Z'

but when I switched to Mount Points, the 4 drives appeared in 'Drive Ejection' simply as

- 'Eject easystore 25FA'

- 'Eject easystore 25FA'

- 'Eject easystore 25FA'

- 'Eject easystore 25FA'

and I could no longer differentiate them.

On recommendation from 'answers.microsoft.com', I installed USB_Disk_Eject (which includes the Mount Points in its list).

[Note 2]:

As long as the 4 Hard Links existed, 'Disk Management' 'Change Drive Letter & Paths...' would not help fix the problems.

 

Device Properties - was not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match (?)

I have 2 USB drives.

For one drive, 'WD easystore 25FA USB Device Properties' _/Events\_ shows this:

Device USBSTOR\Disk&Ven_WD&Prod_easystore_25FA&Rev_1018\575832314443384852543331&0 was not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match.

Last Device Instance Id: USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_GENERIC-

For other drive, 'WD easystore 25FA USB Device Properties' _/Events\_ shows this:

Device USBSTOR\Disk&Ven_WD&Prod_easystore_25FA&Rev_1014\5758333144353832394C5250&0 was not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match.

Last Device Instance Id: USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_GENERIC-

What is meant by "migrated"?

What would cause an "ambiguous match"?

Is this anything to worry about?

Warm Regards,

Mark.

Note: 'WD easystore 25FA USB Device Properties' _/Driver\_ 'Roll Back Driver' is grayed out.

 

[US]   WD - Easystore 8TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive - Black $130

These are at BestBuy online.

WD Easystore 8TB

Most everyone on other forums that have purchased these are stating they have new WD Red 8TB drives inside.

Pretty good deal for 8tb!!!