Removable Drive Not Detected Properly

[Jay Sage]

When I attach one of my external hard drives on my new computer, it is detected as non-removable by TCC:

Has anyone else seen this? Does anyone have an explanation?

 

[rconn]

It's not TCC; the Windows API is returning non-removable for that drive.

 

[Charles G]

When I attach one of my external hard drives on my new computer, it is detected as non-removable by TCC:

View attachment 3282

Has anyone else seen this? Does anyone have an explanation?

would be interested in your drives.btm please...

 

[Jay Sage]

RConn: Well, Windows sort-of knows that it a removable drive, because it appears on the "eject" list. I say "sort of" because it never lets me eject the drive, reporting that it is in use by a process. (It doesn't tell me what process, and I've closed just about everything.)

I'll have to try using some other external drives to see if it's a general problem or something related to this specific drive (WD Elements).

 

[Jay Sage]

would be interested in your drives.btm please...

I'll paste it in here.

@echo off

:: Display information about all currently accessible drives

setlocal

echo.
echo ` Currently Accessible Drives (drives.btm)`
echo.
echo ` Drive TOT [G] USED[G] FREE[G] CDROM REMOVABLE REMOTE VOLUME NAME TRUE NAME`
echo ` ----- ------- ------- ------- ----- --------- ------ ------------------ ---------`

do i = %@ascii[A] to %@ascii[%_lastdisk]

*set drv=%@char[%i]:

if %@ready[%drv] EQ 1 (

echos ` `%drv

echos ` `%@formatn[7.2,%@eval[%@disktotal[%drv,M]/1024]]

echos ` `%@formatn[7.2,%@eval[%@diskused[%drv,M]/1024]]

echos ` `%@formatn[7.2,%@eval[%@diskfree[%drv,M]/1024]]

*set cddrv=%@if[%@cdrom[%drv] EQ 1,Y,N]
echos ` `%cddrv

iff %cddrv EQ Y then
*set rmdrv=Y
else
*set rmdrv=%@if[%@removable[%drv] EQ 1,Y,N]
endiff
echos ` `%rmdrv

echos ` `%@if[%@remote[%drv] EQ 1,Y,N]

echos ` `%@format[-18.18,%@label[%drv]]` `

echo ` `%@left[-1,%@truename[%drv\]]

)

enddo

 

[vefatica]

Jay, is the drive old? I have an old WD (at least 12 years old) that is not identified as removable. But I do get a tray icon from which I can get to "Safe to remove hardware". Have you any idea why my output from your BTM is not as pretty as yours?

 

[Charles G]

I did pretty up the output but think it's the difference between tabs and spaces.

@echo off

:: Display information about all currently accessible drives

setlocal

echo.
echo ` Currently Accessible Drives (drives.btm)`
echo.
echo ` Drive TOT [G] USED[G] FREE[G] CDROM REMOVABLE REMOTE VOLUME NAME        TRUE NAME`
echo ` ----- ------- ------- ------- ----- --------- ------ ------------------ ---------`

do i = %@ascii[A] to %@ascii[%_lastdisk]

    *set drv=%@char[%i]:

    if %@ready[%drv] EQ 1 (

        echos %@repeat[ ,4]%drv

        echos ` `%@formatn[7.2,%@eval[%@disktotal[%drv,M]/1024]]

        echos ` `%@formatn[7.2,%@eval[%@diskused[%drv,M]/1024]]

        echos ` `%@formatn[7.2,%@eval[%@diskfree[%drv,M]/1024]]

        *set cddrv=%@if[%@cdrom[%drv] EQ 1,Y,N]

        echos %@repeat[ ,5]%cddrv

        iff %cddrv EQ Y then
           *set rmdrv=Y
        else
         *set rmdrv=%@if[%@removable[%drv] EQ 1,Y,N]
        endiff

        echos %@repeat[ ,9]%rmdrv

        echos %@repeat[ ,6]%@if[%@remote[%drv] EQ 1,Y,N]

        echos ` `%@format[-18.18,%@label[%drv]]` `

        echo %@repeat[ ,7]%@left[-1,%@truename[%drv\]]

  )

enddo

 

[Jay Sage]

Jay, is the drive old?

No, it's a brand new, state-of-the-art drive. It's hard to believe that something that tiny (3" x 4") and cheap (~$60) holds 2 TB. For my CP/M bulletin board system (using an acoustic modem) back in the '80s, I paid $400 for a 40 MB hard disk.

 

[Jay Sage]

I just tried mounting several other devices. All of my external hard drives are reported to be non-removable, but memory sticks and a label printer are properly indicated as removable.

 

[Charles Dye]

Ah, but does "removable" mean that the drive is removable, or the media?

 

[Jay Sage]

Does Windows make a distinction between a memory stick and an external drive. Both look like drives to the user?

It turns out that this is only something I never noticed before. I just attached one of the external drives to the old machine, which is running TCMD v.19, and it also shows the drive as non-removable.

 

[AnrDaemon]

It makes distinction between device and storage drive.