Solved No drive letters for external drives

SnarkyTwit

Member
VIP Member
Member
Messages
19
Location
Winnipeg, Canada
HI there folks!

I have googled the crap out of this problem, but I can't seem to find an answer. All 3 of my external drives suddenly have no drive letters assigned to them. There is no hardware problem that I can find. Each are plugged into their own dedicated USB port on the computer. I can assign letters to them manually and use the drives as normal, but when I reboot, the drive letters are "forgotten". I have tried using the drives under different operating systems and on different computers all with the same results. Any suggestions are appreciated :cool:

Snarks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Centre RTM
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    Intel i7-4770 Quad Core
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GeForce GTX 660
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster Recon 3D
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    256 GB SSD Boot drive with 3 TB Data drive
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbit
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Norton 360
What pops into my head is that somehow the external drives where assigned an ID or Attribute - That tells windows not to automatically assign a drive letter
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
What pops into my head is that somehow the external drives where assigned an ID or Attribute - That tells windows not to automatically assign a drive letter

I had that issue after using a drive for a Windows To Go install. I formatted it and went to use it as storage latter on and it would not get a drive letter. I could assign one and it would be good until I unplugged it and tried to use it on another PC. I ended up doing a diskpart clean to fix it and get it back to normal.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
[DEL]Now, what pops into my head after Alphanumeric's comment - is the drive is marked as "Active"[/DEL]

No just ran a little test using diskpart "Active" not the cause..

View attachment 59878

But, do notice in the partition details above it states > Hidden=No
A Hidden Drive would not be assigned a drive letter > as below

View attachment 59880

Which was set as "Hidden" and "Required" by the "Attribute"
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
That's the issue I had. Windows to Go sets the drive as Hidden. If you don't boot from it, and just plug it into a USB port it doesn't get a drive letter and is thus hidden. Just formatting the drive doesn't kill the hidden attribute. I could have fixed it via diskpart by changing the attribute. I just didn't figure it out quick enough. Doing a clean fixed it. Latter on I figured out what was going on. likely not the issue here though, not for 3 drives.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Yeah but it is 3 drives in different PC's - all with the same result - so would lead me to believe it is the drive..

If OP follows the diskpart commands in the cmd windows - he can see the drive "Detail"
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
I have tried using the drives under different operating systems and on different computers all with the same results.
Yeah but it is 3 drives in different PC's - all with the same result - so would lead me to believe it is the drive..
That's the spooky part.

Is your computer malware free?

Do you use bitlocker? Are the drives encrypted?

I might pull one of the drives out of the enclosure and connect it directly to the computer via SATA instead of through the enclosure's USB interface and see what happens. While it seems unlikely, it is possible something took out all 3 enclosures - like a power hit.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Well, two of the drives are now dead. One is even preventing the computer from booting up as long as it is plugged in to it. I have the one backup drive left so I will try changing the attribute from hidden (if that is the case) using diskpart. I can trace this all happening to a Windows 10 Tech Preview install. I had all 3 drives on when I did it. I don't know if the Tech Preview gibbled the drives somehow, but I'll wager it had something to do with it.

Snarks:cool:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Centre RTM
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    Intel i7-4770 Quad Core
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GeForce GTX 660
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster Recon 3D
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    256 GB SSD Boot drive with 3 TB Data drive
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbit
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Norton 360

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro Prieview x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    MacBook Pro Core2Duo
    CPU
    T7600
    Memory
    3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon X1600
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Internal
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 800
    Hard Drives
    40GB
    Keyboard
    Apple
    Mouse
    Apple
    Internet Speed
    Varies
    Browser
    Various
    Antivirus
    Defender
Well. there you go...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
Thanks everyone for your help! I was able to restore one drive back to full functionality. The other two drives I'm still working on but you folks gave me some good information to start in on them. From what I've read on the windows 10 forums from TechNet, it looks like the old Tech Preview was the culprit. My 3TB drive is still visible but I have no read or write access to it. The other 1TB drive is completely unresponsive. I will try the Linux tool as described in the posts earlier recommended here and see if it's a power save thing.

Anyways. I'm sure it will get resolved now so I have marked this as solved. Thanx and +rep to all who helped!

Snarks:cool:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Centre RTM
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    Intel i7-4770 Quad Core
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GeForce GTX 660
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster Recon 3D
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    256 GB SSD Boot drive with 3 TB Data drive
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbit
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Norton 360
Back
Top