D: drive disappeared

vm303 · 12 Mar 2021

I have Windows 10

Here is what happened
1. D: drive disappeared for no obvious reason
2. Shortly after that, Windows got updated
3. In the disk management window I could see that partition but it had no letter assigned and I could not assign it by right-clicking (the only available option to select was "help")
4. In command prompt I assigned letter D to that partition (which was "hidden")
5. After that, I could finally see the D drive in the file explorer. The D drive was half full but all the files were gone. However nothing changed in the disk management window
6. In diskpart, I typed assign, then set id=07. After that the partition got the D letter assigned in the disk management window. But in the file explorer there is now a duplicate of the D drive, named G drive. In diskpart it's also named G (there's no D there anymore).

I have the following questions:
a) what did I do wrong
b) how to get rid of that drive duplicate
c) is there any way to restore the files

Thanks

ignatzatsonic · 12 Mar 2021

vm303 said:

The D drive was half full but all the files were gone.

Half full of what....if the files were gone?

Post a screen shot of Disk Management.

vm303 · 13 Mar 2021

ignatzatsonic said:

Half full of what....if the files were gone?

Post a screen shot of Disk Management.

D: drive disappeared-disk-management.png

I'm sorry I'm computer illiterate, so I can't explain everything clearly.
The screenshot is not in English but I hope it's still readable.
Yesterday, there was no "Dysk 1" in the disk management. It just reappeared today, although I haven't done anything since making the post. So the missing D: drive is back (with all the files), just renamed as H:

I checked on WinDirStat, the D drive (and it's dupilcate named G drive) contains 2 folders: Recovery and System Volume Information. Actually it's not that missing drive, it's much smaller obviously but I posted that late at night, I was tired and misread MB for GB.

So bascially everything looks the same as a few days ago, except now I can also see that 809MB partition (and its duplicate, that is D: and G: drives respectively) in my file explorer. How do I hide them?

Bree · 13 Mar 2021

vm303 said:

Here is what happened....

Welcome to Ten Forums vm303

1. D: drive disappeared for no obvious reason

Your Disk 1 reappeared later without you doing anything, so it looks like a loose cable was the most likely cause.

2. Shortly after that, Windows got updated
3. In the disk management window I could see that partition but it had no letter assigned and I could not assign it by right-clicking (the only available option to select was "help")

The windows update was almost certainly just a coincidence. When you looked in Disk Management you probably didn't see your Disk 1, so you incorrectly assumed that the partition with no drive letter was the missing 'D:'. In actual fact it was most likely to have been your hidden Recovery partition. The size of 809MB and only getting 'Help' with a right-click would be consistent with that.

...the D drive (and it's dupilcate named G drive) contains 2 folders: Recovery and System Volume Information. Actually it's not that missing drive, it's much smaller obviously but I posted that late at night, I was tired and misread MB for GB.

That confirms that you are looking at a Recovery partition.

4. In command prompt I assigned letter D to that partition (which was "hidden")
5. After that, I could finally see the D drive in the file explorer..
6. In diskpart, I typed assign, then set id=07. After that the partition got the D letter assigned in the disk management window. But in the file explorer there is now a duplicate of the D drive, named G drive. In diskpart it's also named G (there's no D there anymore)....

Now that D: has reappeared (with a different letter now) we know that it was in fact a completely separate disk, not a partition on your Disk 0 as you thought. Now you have your Disk 1 back again, I suggest you check all the cables and connections for that drive. We don't want it to disappear again.

That also means that your steps 4-6 were unnecessary and need to be undone. The correct ID for a Recovery partition on an MBR disk such as yours is 27. Here are screenshots of a similar MBR system disk to show how it should look after you have set everything back the way it was.

D: drive disappeared-mbr-disk-layout.png

D: drive disappeared-mbr-recovery-partition-id.png

vm303 · 13 Mar 2021

Thanks, but how do I delete that letter and how to correct the ID for the recovery partition? The command set id=27 isn't working, it says "virtual disk service error" and " this device is in use".

Bree · 13 Mar 2021

vm303 said:

Thanks, but how do I delete that letter and how to correct the ID for the recovery partition? The command set id=27 isn't working, it says "virtual disk service error" and " this device is in use".

It's probably 'in use' because you set a drive letter for it....

4. In command prompt I assigned letter D to that partition (which was "hidden")

What command did you use for that? You probably need to undo that command before you can set the ID using diskpart.

You said it has two drive letters now. The second would likely be from the diskpart assign command. Use REMOVE in diskpart to get rid of that letter.

vm303 · 13 Mar 2021

D: drive disappeared-disk-management2.png

I have removed the letter (3 times actually because another duplicate appeared) and changed the id back to 27
Does it look ok now?

Bree · 13 Mar 2021

vm303 said:

I have removed the letter (3 times actually because another duplicate appeared) and changed the id back to 27
Does it look ok now?

Well done. Yes, that now looks exactly as mine does. You are back to how it was originally set up.

zbook · 13 Mar 2021

Please run:

DiskParInfo.bat - Click here to go to the BSOD batch repository to download and run this batch file.

Tuneup.bat - Click here to go to the BSOD batch repository to download and run this batch file.

Run HD Sentinel: (free or trial edition)
Hard Disk Sentinel - HDD health and temperature monitoring
Hard Disk Sentinel - HDD health and temperature monitoring
For each drive post images of these tabs into the thread:
Overview tab
Temperature
SMART
Disk performance

Take Screenshot in Windows 10 Windows 10 General Tips Tutorials
Take Screenshot in Windows 10

vm303 · 16 Mar 2021

Code:

    Disk 0 : HDD. It has 4 partition(s). Model: HGST HTS721010A9E630   
    Disk 1 : HDD. It has 1 partition(s). Model: SAMSUNG HN-M500MBB   

    The script has found the above 2 storage device(s) in total.
=======================================================================

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.610

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: MQ-KOMPUTER

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          931 GB      0 B         
  Disk 1    Online          465 GB  1024 KB         

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     F                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media           
  Volume 1         Zastrzeľone  NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System  
  Volume 2     C                NTFS   Partition     98 GB  Healthy    Boot    
  Volume 3     E                NTFS   Partition    831 GB  Healthy            
  Volume 4                      NTFS   Partition    809 MB  Healthy    Hidden  
  Volume 5     D   Dysk         NTFS   Partition    465 GB  Healthy            

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

HGST HTS721010A9E6300 SCSI Disk Device
Disk ID: 076F9A80
Type   : SATA
Status : Online
Path   : 1
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1F02)#ATA(C01T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only  : No
Boot Disk  : Yes
Pagefile Disk  : Yes
Hibernation File Disk  : No
Crashdump Disk  : Yes
Clustered Disk  : No

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 1         Zastrzeľone  NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System  
  Volume 2     C                NTFS   Partition     98 GB  Healthy    Boot    
  Volume 3     E                NTFS   Partition    831 GB  Healthy            
  Volume 4                      NTFS   Partition    809 MB  Healthy    Hidden  

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Primary            100 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Primary             98 GB   102 MB
  Partition 3    Recovery           809 MB    99 GB
  Partition 4    Primary            831 GB    99 GB

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

Partition 1
Type  : 07
Hidden: No
Active: Yes
Offset in Bytes: 1048576

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 1         Zastrzeľone  NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System  

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

Partition 2
Type  : 07
Hidden: No
Active: No
Offset in Bytes: 106954752

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 2     C                NTFS   Partition     98 GB  Healthy    Boot    

Partition 3 is now the selected partition.

Partition 3
Type  : 27
Hidden: No
Active: No
Offset in Bytes: 106336092160

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 4                      NTFS   Partition    809 MB  Healthy    Hidden  

Partition 4 is now the selected partition.

Partition 4
Type  : 07
Hidden: No
Active: No
Offset in Bytes: 107184390144

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 3     E                NTFS   Partition    831 GB  Healthy            

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

SAMSUNG HN-M500MBB SCSI Disk Device
Disk ID: 92CDA70E
Type   : SATA
Status : Online
Path   : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1F02)#ATA(C00T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only  : No
Boot Disk  : No
Pagefile Disk  : No
Hibernation File Disk  : No
Crashdump Disk  : No
Clustered Disk  : No

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 5     D   Dysk         NTFS   Partition    465 GB  Healthy            

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Primary            465 GB    31 KB

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

Partition 1
Type  : 07
Hidden: No
Active: No
Offset in Bytes: 32256

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 5     D   Dysk         NTFS   Partition    465 GB  Healthy            

===============================================================================

Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:

    Windows RE status:         Disabled
    Windows RE location:       
    Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: e8c09afe-b541-11e9-b95e-fdf138d399e7
    Recovery image location:   
    Recovery image index:      0
    Custom image location:     
    Custom image index:        0

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.
    
===============================================================================

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  pl-PL
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {e8c09afb-b541-11e9-b95e-fdf138d399e7}
displayorder            {current}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {2e1e80c1-b19a-11e5-9fe7-96efd3b5d94c}
device                  ramdisk=[unknown]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{2e1e80c2-b19a-11e5-9fe7-96efd3b5d94c}
path                    \windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Recovery Environment
locale                  pl-PL
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
displaymessage          Recovery
displaymessageoverride  Recovery
osdevice                ramdisk=[unknown]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{2e1e80c2-b19a-11e5-9fe7-96efd3b5d94c}
systemroot              \windows
nx                      OptIn
bootmenupolicy          Standard
winpe                   Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \WINDOWS\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 10
locale                  pl-PL
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {e8c09afe-b541-11e9-b95e-fdf138d399e7}
displaymessageoverride  Recovery
recoveryenabled         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \WINDOWS
resumeobject            {e8c09afb-b541-11e9-b95e-fdf138d399e7}
nx                      OptIn
bootmenupolicy          Standard

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {e8c09afe-b541-11e9-b95e-fdf138d399e7}
device                  ramdisk=[\Device\HarddiskVolume3]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{e8c09aff-b541-11e9-b95e-fdf138d399e7}
path                    \windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Recovery Environment
locale                  pl-PL
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
displaymessage          Recovery
osdevice                ramdisk=[\Device\HarddiskVolume3]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{e8c09aff-b541-11e9-b95e-fdf138d399e7}
systemroot              \windows
nx                      OptIn
bootmenupolicy          Standard
winpe                   Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {f7d2b6d2-c297-11e4-8a4d-fa69145e90a8}
device                  ramdisk=[C:]\Recovery\f7d2b6d2-c297-11e4-8a4d-fa69145e90a8\Winre.wim,{f7d2b6d3-c297-11e4-8a4d-fa69145e90a8}
path                    \windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Recovery Environment
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                ramdisk=[C:]\Recovery\f7d2b6d2-c297-11e4-8a4d-fa69145e90a8\Winre.wim,{f7d2b6d3-c297-11e4-8a4d-fa69145e90a8}
systemroot              \windows
nx                      OptIn
winpe                   Yes

Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier              {e8c09afb-b541-11e9-b95e-fdf138d399e7}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \WINDOWS\system32\winresume.exe
description             Windows Resume Application
locale                  pl-PL
inherit                 {resumeloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {e8c09afe-b541-11e9-b95e-fdf138d399e7}
recoveryenabled         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
filedevice              partition=C:
filepath                \hiberfil.sys
bootmenupolicy          Standard
debugoptionenabled      No

Windows Memory Tester
---------------------
identifier              {memdiag}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path                    \boot\memtest.exe
description             Diagnostyka pami©ci systemu Windows
locale                  pl-PL
inherit                 {globalsettings}
badmemoryaccess         Yes

EMS Settings
------------
identifier              {emssettings}
bootems                 No

Debugger Settings
-----------------
identifier              {dbgsettings}
debugtype               Serial
debugport               1
baudrate                115200

RAM Defects
-----------
identifier              {badmemory}
badmemorylist           0x10007

Global Settings
---------------
identifier              {globalsettings}
inherit                 {dbgsettings}
                        {emssettings}
                        {badmemory}

Boot Loader Settings
--------------------
identifier              {bootloadersettings}
inherit                 {globalsettings}
                        {hypervisorsettings}

Hypervisor Settings
-------------------
identifier              {hypervisorsettings}
hypervisordebugtype     Serial
hypervisordebugport     1
hypervisorbaudrate      115200

Resume Loader Settings
----------------------
identifier              {resumeloadersettings}
inherit                 {globalsettings}

Device options
--------------
identifier              {e8c09aff-b541-11e9-b95e-fdf138d399e7}
description             Windows Recovery
ramdisksdidevice        partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume3
ramdisksdipath          \Recovery\WindowsRE\boot.sdi

Device options
--------------
identifier              {f7d2b6d3-c297-11e4-8a4d-fa69145e90a8}
description             Ramdisk Options
ramdisksdidevice        partition=C:
ramdisksdipath          \Recovery\f7d2b6d2-c297-11e4-8a4d-fa69145e90a8\boot.sdi

Code:

###########################################################
# The following commands will be run in sequence.         #
# The first 5 will take quite a while to run, be patient. #
###########################################################

sfc /scannow
dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
sfc /scannow

chkdsk /scan

wmic recoveros get autoreboot
wmic recoveros set autoreboot = false
wmic recoveros get autoreboot
wmic recoveros get DebugInfoType
wmic recoveros set DebugInfoType = 7
wmic recoveros get DebugInfoType

wmic pagefile list /format:list
wmic Computersystem where name="MQ-KOMPUTER" get AutomaticManagedPagefile
wmic Computersystem where name="MQ-KOMPUTER" set AutomaticManagedPagefile=True
wmic Computersystem where name="MQ-KOMPUTER" get AutomaticManagedPagefile

bcdedit /enum {badmemory}


C:\WINDOWS\system32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan.  This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844

Image Version: 10.0.19041.867

[==========================100.0%==========================] No component store corruption detected.
The operation completed successfully.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844

Image Version: 10.0.19041.867

[==========================100.0%==========================] The restore operation completed successfully.
The operation completed successfully.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan.  This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>chkdsk /scan
The type of the file system is NTFS.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
  707072 file records processed.
File verification completed.
 Phase duration (File record verification): 46.42 seconds.
  22491 large file records processed.
 Phase duration (Orphan file record recovery): 0.00 milliseconds.
  0 bad file records processed.
 Phase duration (Bad file record checking): 0.51 milliseconds.

Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
  45242 reparse records processed.
  893314 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
 Phase duration (Index verification): 2.25 minutes.
  0 unindexed files scanned.
 Phase duration (Orphan reconnection): 1.96 seconds.
  0 unindexed files recovered to lost and found.
 Phase duration (Orphan recovery to lost and found): 11.05 milliseconds.
  45242 reparse records processed.
 Phase duration (Reparse point and Object ID verification): 254.72 milliseconds.

Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Security descriptor verification completed.
 Phase duration (Security descriptor verification): 665.32 milliseconds.
  93122 data files processed.
 Phase duration (Data attribute verification): 1.82 milliseconds.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
Usn Journal verification completed.

Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
No further action is required.

 103738901 KB total disk space.
  69248836 KB in 361742 files.
    268184 KB in 93123 indexes.
         0 KB in bad sectors.
    798265 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
  33423616 KB available on disk.

      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
  25934725 total allocation units on disk.
   8355904 allocation units available on disk.
Total duration: 3.08 minutes (184939 ms).

C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic recoveros get autoreboot
AutoReboot
FALSE


C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic recoveros set autoreboot = false
Updating property(s) of '\\MQ-KOMPUTER\ROOT\CIMV2:Win32_OSRecoveryConfiguration.Name="Microsoft Windows 10 Home|C:\\WINDOWS|\\Device\\Harddisk0\\Partition2"'
Property(s) update successful.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic recoveros get autoreboot
AutoReboot
FALSE


C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic recoveros get DebugInfoType
DebugInfoType
7


C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic recoveros set DebugInfoType = 7
Updating property(s) of '\\MQ-KOMPUTER\ROOT\CIMV2:Win32_OSRecoveryConfiguration.Name="Microsoft Windows 10 Home|C:\\WINDOWS|\\Device\\Harddisk0\\Partition2"'
Property(s) update successful.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic recoveros get DebugInfoType
DebugInfoType
7


C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic pagefile list /format:list


AllocatedBaseSize=16384
CurrentUsage=669
Description=C:\pagefile.sys
InstallDate=20150304185827.547633+060
Name=C:\pagefile.sys
PeakUsage=669
Status=
TempPageFile=FALSE




C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic Computersystem where name="MQ-KOMPUTER" get AutomaticManagedPagefile
AutomaticManagedPagefile
TRUE


C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic Computersystem where name="MQ-KOMPUTER" set AutomaticManagedPagefile=True
Updating property(s) of '\\MQ-KOMPUTER\ROOT\CIMV2:Win32_ComputerSystem.Name="MQ-KOMPUTER"'
Property(s) update successful.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic Computersystem where name="MQ-KOMPUTER" get AutomaticManagedPagefile
AutomaticManagedPagefile
TRUE


C:\WINDOWS\system32>bcdedit /enum {badmemory}

RAM Defects
-----------
identifier              {badmemory}
badmemorylist           0x10007

C:\WINDOWS\system32>Echo off
   ###################################################################################
   #    How to capture batch file data and post in your thread in the BSOD forum     #
   #                                                                                 #
   #      Batch files and instructions for use in BSOD debugging[Part Two-Four]      #
   #                                                                                 #
   #        Press [V] to visit the above web page for detailed instructions.         #
   #        Press [C] to close this window.                                          #
   ###################################################################################

Disc 0

D: drive disappeared-dysk0-temperatura.jpg

D: drive disappeared-dysk0-wydajnosc.jpg

Disc 1