Drive confusion on Windows 10

Hi all--I'm new to Windows 10, and hoping you can help me.

I have a refurbished Dell Precision m4800 running Win 10 Pro. It came with two drives: an SSD and a DVD drive. Last night, I installed an internal mSata drive as well. Using Disk Management, I kept the SSD as C, made the mSata drive D, and changed the DVD drive to E.

Everything was fine until I put a Sandisk USB drive in. The last time I'd used a USB drive in this laptop, Windows had decided it would be Drive E. Because that letter was now taken by the DVD drive, my *expectation* was that Windows would make the Sandisk Drive F.

Instead, Windows made the *Sandisk* Drive E and made the DVD drive disappear. It did not appear under My PC or Disk Management. I could only see the drive if I went to Device Manager, and Windows told that the hardware could not start due to corruption in the registry.

After several panicked hours, I deleted the Upper Filters for the DVD drive in the registry, and that brought things back to the way they were (C drive SSD, D drive mSata, E drive DVD), but I am positive this will happen again the next time I plug a USB drive in. What can I do to make sure it doesn't?

I don't care what letter any specific thing is--I just want all my drives to stay where they are!

Appreciate any assistance!

- - - Updated - - -

(I have done some reading, and it sounds like this issue is due to a Windows 1903 bug. But surely I can't just avoid plugging in an external drive for the next several weeks or months unt Microsoft fixes it?)

that why i always use z as my dvd drive letter :)

Stexred said:

that why i always use z as my dvd drive letter :)

I could try that, for sure...but if it really is related to a bug in the 1903 update (which makes complete sense to me), would it still potentially cause this issue? Or is Z so far down that I would be safe?

Hi,
Drive letter doesn't mean a whole lot if you add a better identifying label to the disk
Free mini tool does this easily
Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Wizard Free

I always think its safer to leave the DVD drive with the drive letter that Windows Setup gives it

sportsfan148 said:

I always think its safer to leave the DVD drive with the drive letter that Windows Setup gives it

I could, but if I change the DVD back to D, then when I plug a USB drive in, I assume it would make the mSata drive inoperable instead, and that would be an even bigger mess.

Problem was, I think, that this is caused by the bug in Version 1903 that randomly reassigns drive letters, and I already have 1903 installed. And I can't just wait weeks or months for Microsoft to fix it--I've got to have a way to get files on and off this machine.

If I changed the DVD drive to Z--so far from anything a USB would use that it shouldn't conflict--would that solve things or make them worse? I looked at the partition link above, but I don't understand what I would be doing with it. This is all new to me.

camannwordsmith said:

I could, but if I change the DVD back to D, then when I plug a USB drive in, I assume it would make the mSata drive inoperable instead, and that would be an even bigger mess.

Problem was, I think, that this is caused by the bug in Version 1903 that randomly reassigns drive letters, and I already have 1903 installed. And I can't just wait weeks or months for Microsoft to fix it--I've got to have a way to get files on and off this machine.

If I changed the DVD drive to Z--so far from anything a USB would use that it shouldn't conflict--would that solve things or make them worse? I looked at the partition link above, but I don't understand what I would be doing with it. This is all new to me.

Have you tried changing your DVD drive back to its original letter...D in Disk Management and at the same time change your MSATA drive to drive E. You might have to change the MSATA drive temporarily to drive Z or something else first before you can make the change to the DVD Drive and then you could either leave the MSATA drive as drive Z or change it to drive E.

I thought Microsoft were supposed to have fixed that drive letter issue with 1903.
If none of this works you might be better off doing a clean install. That would definitely sort out any problems.
I have an SSD, a standard HDD and a DVD. When I clean Install I delete all partitions and drives. I clean install with a USB flash drive. Windows then sets up with SSD as Drive C and DVD drive as E (because when setting up obviously it sees the flash drive and that is using drive D. The installation flash drive is then removed. I then go into Disk Management and create a new simple volume on the HDD and that is given drive D. Any flash drives inserted after that are always given drive F. All done

sportsfan148 said:

Have you tried changing your DVD drive back to its original letter...D in Disk Management and at the same time change your MSATA drive to drive E. You might have to change the MSATA drive temporarily to drive Z or something else first before you can make the change to the DVD Drive and then you could either leave the MSATA drive as drive Z or change it to drive E.

I thought Microsoft were supposed to have fixed that drive letter issue with 1903.
If none of this works you might be better off doing a clean install. That would definitely sort out any problems.
I have an SSD, a standard HDD and a DVD. When I clean Install I delete all partitions and drives. I clean install with a USB flash drive. Windows then sets up with SSD as Drive C and DVD drive as E (because when setting up obviously it sees the flash drive and that is using drive D. The installation flash drive is then removed. I then go into Disk Management and create a new simple volume on the HDD and that is given drive D. Any flash drives inserted after that are always given drive F. All done

Looks like that did it! I changed the DVD drive back to D and made the mSata Drive Z. I also did Automount Enable from the command prompt. When i put 2 USBs in, they showed up as E and F...so my DVD and my mSata are safe.

Thanks for all the help!!

Brilliant mate. Im glad I was able to help
You sound like you have a good idea what you're doing. Automount enable is a new one on me. Ive never made any changes to that. I'm learning all the time on here from other users. Its a great site to come to for help and advice. There are a lots of really knowledgeable people on here.

Hi,
My bad you can't label a drive just a partition
If the drive only has one partition just label it and it's show that name you choose



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