How to view contents on a partition with no drive letter?

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  1. davidhelp
    Posts : 83
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
       New #1

    How to view contents on a partition with no drive letter?


    How to view contents on a partition with no drive letter?

    I have a Seagate 14tb external hard drive. I use it for my backup files and image file and general junkdrawer.
    The hard drive uses GUID/GPT
    I opened Disk Management and it shows the following:

    200MB EFI (FAT32) system partition - no drive letter
    13038.80GB exFAT - drive H

    Question: How to see what if anything is on the 200MB partition?

    Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.4123 64bit
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  3. Pentagon
    Posts : 13
    WIN 10
       New #2

    You should not have an EFI-Partition on an external disc. You must have created it! That partition contains boot-files and is probably the same you have on your primary disc.
    You have to change the gpt attributes to have access. Reformat the partition as FAT32 or NTFS using diskpart and forget it. Or do you understand what a winsipolicy.p7b or a kd_02_8086.dll is?
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  4. zbook
    Posts : 41,625
    windows 10 professional version 1607 build 14393.969 64 bit
       New #3

    A drive letter may be able to be assigned to a partition using ACP diskpart.

    Please run: Diskpar info > post a share link

    https://www.tenforums.com/attachment...iskparinfo.bat

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  6. Bree
    Posts : 32,022
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       New #4

    davidhelp said:
    How to view contents on a partition with no drive letter?
    A partition without a drive letter can be explored with MiniTools Partition Wizard, right-click on it and select Explore.

    How to view contents on a partition with no drive letter?-image.png
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  7. davidhelp
    Posts : 83
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    MiniTool Partition Wizard shows files


    Thanks to all for answering.

    I used MiniTool Partition Wizard. <- neat program.
    This is what I see.
    I use BitDefender now. My records show I bought Kaspersky back on 1-1-23 but went back to BitDefender.
    Hmm.... I do not remember how the 14TB drive would have been partitioned like this.
    I will delete it and add it to the other larger partition using MiniTool.

    How to view contents on a partition with no drive letter?-minitool.gif
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  8. spunk
    Posts : 4,860
    Windows 11 Pro 64 Bit 22H2
       New #6

    An FAT32 EFI partition is usually created when installing Windows in a UEFI Bios. System Volume Information is associated with System Restore where it stores System Restore Points.
    You can Configure System Restore and Disable System Protection for this external HDD then Delete all Restore Points for this drive ONLY. That may clear that partition, and you can safely delete the partition.
    Kaspersky may have installed the partition as part of it's protection.

    BTW, you do not need any 3rd party Anti-Virus apps on your computer. The Built In Windows Security (Defender) works just as well and comes with Windows and is free.
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  9. davidhelp
    Posts : 83
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #7

    I checked System Properties> System Protection
    This is what I see. No 14TB drive at all.
    I wonder if it is the: (C:) (Missing) On ?
    I can disable by clicking on the Configure button.
    Then turn on: Local Disk (C:) (System)

    That should fix things.
    Unusual...

    Available Drives Protection
    Local Disk (C:) (System) Off
    8TB Backup 2 (D:) Off
    8TB Backup 1 (E:) Off
    4TB internal backup (F:) Off
    (C:) (Missing) On <--- odd

    When I have "(C:) (Missing) On" highlighted then click on the System Restore button I see this message:

    Restore system files and settings
    System protection is turned off. To turn it back on so that you can use System Restore, configure System protection.
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  10. spunk
    Posts : 4,860
    Windows 11 Pro 64 Bit 22H2
       New #8

    Go to Search and type Control Panel and press Enter. Go to Recovery/Configure System Restore. Highlight C: and click Configure. Click the Turn on System Protection radio button.
    drag the Current Usage bar to how much drive space you want to reserve for System Restore Points.
    Backing out of that, see if your external Disk 5 is showing.
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  12. davidhelp
    Posts : 83
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #9

    I disabled (C:) (Missing) On and it disappeared.
    Turned On for: Local Disk (C:) (System)

    The 4TB and the two 8TB are internal drives.
    No 14TB showed up. That is ok as it is the external drive.
    The rest looks ok.
    How it all happened in the first place I do not know.

    Available Drives Protection
    Local Disk (C:) (System) On
    8TB Backup 2 (D:) Off
    8TB Backup 1 (E:) Off
    4TB internal backup (F:) Off

    Thanks.
    Last edited by davidhelp; 04 Mar 2024 at 21:34.
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  13. spunk
    Posts : 4,860
    Windows 11 Pro 64 Bit 22H2
       New #10

    Now you can delete that EFI partition in your 14TB drive in Minitool, if it still exists.
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