Mysterious filesystem corruption

I have an old desktop PC that I have used as a file server and Media Server. It has been running Win10 Pro since that came out years ago -- and there have been no issues with that.

Then after I had been using Win11 on my primary desktop for awhile, I decided to "upgrade" this desktop to Win11. Since the hardware was incompatible, I used RUFUS and their "hacks" to create the install media, installed Win11 -- and it has been working fine ever since. I used a new SSD for Win11, as I wished to retain Win10 on the old SSD.

Presuming that MS is going to close this Win11 loophole sometime in the future, I continue to keep the Win10Pro install updated every month, in case I need to swap SSDs because Win11 stops working.

Lately, in the last couple of weeks, I have run into a mysterious problem. When I swap SSDs and boot from the Win10 SSD, soon after using it, when I go into one of the 5 drive to open a folder, I get errors. Sometimes permission errors. Sometimes errors saying that Windows can't open the folder. So, I open MiniTool Partition Wizard and use the filesystem check option to run CHKDSK on the drive. That finds errors and fixes them. It find errors every single time, just not always on the same drive.

When I reboot using the Win11 SSD, same thing happens -- filesystem errors. I run MTPW and fix those.

If I stay in one OS and simply reboot it day after day, the errors don't return. This only happens when I swap SSDs.

I have other machines that run the same version of Win10 or Win11 and I don't get these filesystem errors on them.

I even went to the trouble to get a new SSD and install Win10Pro anew, presuming it was something with the existing install. But the same problems are happening with that install when I swap drives.

These are all different drives, some are SSDs, some are HDDs, and they are all different brands.

I don't know where to look to find out WHY this is happening.

Running Win10 Pro 19045.4239

Are you using Windows Media Player? It has a "library" feature, that I don't know a lot about since I prefer my own management, that is very simple because I nearly don't add or remove files. Maybe each WMP is "marking" the files as its. It might happen with other similar programs/suites too. Each Windows install has an ID that lands in some files, I believe.

It should not happen and it does not happen on a properly configured system!

Make sure that both installations use the same storage controller driver.
Under properties open the security tab of each partition and add the right user from both systems to have full access.

Ghot said:

@Mark Phelps


I also have Win 10 on one SSD and Win 11 on another.
When I want to switch, I switch the cables.

After a few bouts of file system corruption I learned... always disconnect the power, then the data cable.
When attaching to the other drive, always connect the power then the data cable.

Once I started doing that... no more file system corruption.

OK, so you were having the same issues?

Thanks for the info -- I will do this in the future.

Ghot said:

Yes.

In fact, it corrupted files so bad... it wouldn't boot.

I just remembered a couple of complications.

First, the Win11 install is on a m.2 SSD, so there is no way to remove the power before the data.

Second, my primary desktop also has both Win11 and Win10 -- on separate SSDs -- but there is no file corruption happening there. The difference is that they are both NVMe drives and they are connected all the time. Maybe this last issue makes the difference, as I switch OSs by selecting the default boot drive in the UEFI settings.

I will try connecting both drives in the other destkop to see if this makes a difference. I just haven't done it to prevent me having to reboot into the BIOS settings every time I want to switch boot drives.

Will let you know how that goes.