8.1 Deleted Partitions still show in File Manager

rk4262

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I have been working on several different projects lately, as a result I have partitioned, and re-partitioned a USB external HDD (250G), I have a total of 5 active partitions, not including the system partitions. However I have a total of 18 partitions showing, although everything other than the active partitions show a Drive Letter, and a "Unknown" file system, even though it has been deleted. Also there are several copies of one partition, I created one partition, and when I was done I had that partition, :)O) and two empty, but unusable, and undeletable copies :)Q, :U). Even with the USB HDD unplugged from the PC, the window still shows all partitions, on the USB, even though they should have been released when the USB was unplugged.

If I go into Administrative Tools>Partition Manger, it only shows the current partitions, not the deleted. I am not able to click on the deleted partition "Place Holder's". It's like the File Explorer is still holding the Drive Letter in service, even though the rest of the system has released the letter. I have formatted the external HDD as one big partition, and then repartitioned trying to clear any memory there (I know it does not have memory, but maybe the partition table hasn't cleared??), just as I expected that didn't help, I have unplugged the external and restarted the pc several times trying to clear any rogue memory that should have cleared but didn't. I have done several other things I don't remember at the moment, I've been trying to clear this for almost two weeks, so I don't remember everything.

Somewhere, something that should have been cleared hasn't been, that's the only reason I can think of that drive letters that should have been released, are still being held i memory. I've used a lot of USB drives, I have repartitioned a lot of drives, and the drive letters for the partitions that were removed and no longer there have always been released and able to be reused immediately. I've never had this problem before. So if someone can point me in the right direction to not only release these letters, but keep this from happening again, I would be very appreciative.

I am including a shot of the File Explorer showing all the drives, and the Computer Management Disk Partition Editor showing what is actually there, and should be showing. I have to get this cleared up before I can start my next project, because I actually can't tell what is what, it is just too confusing looking at that cluttered page.
 

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System One

  • OS
    8.1
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