I have used USB storage devices in two USB ports recently, have removed the devices
but those Local Disks stay empty when I insert another USB storage device into the SAME USB port?
In this case it shows up in Local Disk (H: )
Are Local Disks (D: ) and (G: ) now forbidden territory and only available for those devices first inserted? How can I get those 2 Local Disks D & G to be available again for OTHER USB devices?
Windows 10 Pro v1709
Yes, they are (G: ) and (D: )
(G: ) was used for the Media Creation tool during a highly successful Clean Unstall yesterday by an expert official HP repairman
(D: ) was used after that by me to see what was on a broken USB 256GB storage device [it was empty and broken, apparently from having been stored for months directly on top of and touching the backup removed HDD from my EliteBook, replaced by a super SSD; the HD expert told me, as I suspected only after trying to use that USB stick the last time, that the magnetized HDD was the culprit]
BOTH of these USB devices are removed and the only USB input is from my Huawei Mobile Partner Internet connecting dongle shown in (E: )
When as a test I now plugged in my Sennheiser USB headset the system showed NO change from above (no new disk in use in "This PC" or "Disk Management")
Pretty weird, Airider, that D: and G: show physically as part of Disk 0!
It may be worth running "winsat formal" from an elevated (admin) command prompt to see if Windows changes its mind on what's there.
from winsat formal
have no idea how to interpret this, OR how to post the entire result >
from Disc Management just now (after running winsat formal 2x now)
OK, Airider, thanks for giving it a go.
Disk Mgmt shows D: and G: as partitions on same disk as C: . Can you open D: and/or G: in File Explorer?
What about using "diskpart" from a command prompt? Once at the diskpart prompt, what are the outputs of "list disk" and "list vol"? Also useful would be:
select disk 0
list par
Yes, D and G have nothing to do with USB removable drives. Considering they are so small, you could only delete letter from those partitions. Or delete partitions and merge them in C partition.
First, let's remember that this is v1709 which was automatically loaded in the Clean Install (no comment)
"Can you open D: and/or G: in File Explorer?" > both indicate "This folder is empty."
I don't know how to do that. Or wisely worth doing? (though one might expect this nonsense to continue till it runs out of assignable letters). Is it dangerous, meaning can I ruin something with a stupid mistake?
As an experiment, since I have used and plan to periodically repeatedly use my new USB 256GB storage for File History backup, I inserted it (in the same port as the others, before)
it is in (H: ) >
after completion and "Safe to Remove"/eject >
So, could this simply be an anomalie? G was used by the HP guy for his Media Creation tool (Clean Install) and D by me to re-test the broken USB 256GB memory stick (computer asked me to insert something there even when the dead device was in the port)
And as such .... is it worth fixing the issue, and how should I do it?
Last edited by Airider; 08 Nov 2017 at 15:10.
Hmmm. Despite what history you've described, Airider, it shows that these two drives are part of your disk 0. I would go back into disk mgmt, right click on and remove the volumes (you could also use "Change Drive Letter and Paths" to remove the drive letters), and then re-expand C: volume to reclaim the space.
This begs the question of just what kind of HP "expert" would do such a thing, assuming it wasn't inadvertently you, much less not explain to you what they did.
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