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Why Does My E Drive Keep Disappearing? Recover Missing Partitions
Why does my E drive keep disappearing in Windows File Explorer? This post lists the reasons for drive missing and methods for lost partitions recovery.
By Lora / Updated on December 9, 2022
D and E drive suddenly disappeared
Yesterday I shut down and update my computer. After the update finishes and it shut down, my brother pulled the Wi-Fi cable from the computer and used it for his laptop. After reattaching the said Wi-Fi cable to the computer and launching it, some shortcuts at the desktop disappeared. All of these are shortcuts to files in drive E or D. This PC shows that only drive C is attached. Drive D and E are gone. How do I make both of these appear again?
Are you experiencing the situation described above? You couldn’t find your E drive in Windows File Explorer. If the answer is yes, you came the right way. This article will go through a few different ways to fix the E drive missing issue.
Reasons for E drive missing
Windows users are frequently faced with the issue "E drive suddenly missing." Hard drive problems are complicated, and many factors cause this issue. Windows update is the most possible reason for the partition disappearing in Windows 11/10.
Usually, Windows 10 couldn’t recognize the hard disk and set it up automatically, maybe due to a physical problem of hard disk connection, the drive letter loss, partition corruption, etc.
- Windows updates. After you install the Windows updates, some system settings and configurations may be changed.
- The drive letter is missing. Maybe you have some other drives that take up the E drive letter.
- Accidentally deletion. The E drive may be accidentally deleted in Disk Management when you make some disk partitioning operations.
- The drive is hidden.
- The drive driver is outdated.
- Some physical problems with the hard drive.
3 ways to fix E drive keep disappearing in Windows 11/10
After you know "why does my E drive keep disappearing", you'd better take action immediately to fix this issue and restore the E drive and the data in it. The methods below are also suitable for other computer drives missing.
Fix 1. Rescan Disks in Disk Management
Rescanning the targeted disk in Disk Management could reload the disk and solve the E drive disappearing problem.
Step 1. Right-click the Start button and select “Disk Management”.
Step 2. Select “Action” > “Rescan Disks”.
Fix 2. Reassign a drive letter in Disk Management
Check whether the E Drive is available or not in Disk Management. If it is visible but without a drive letter, you could right-click the partition and select “Change a drive letter and path”. Follow the changing drive letter wizard to reassign a drive letter to the missing E drive. After the process completes, the disappearing E drive will be accessible in File Explorer.
Fix 3. Update device driver in Windows 11/10
If the E drive missing issue is caused by the storage driver, you can resolve it by reinstalling or updating the driver to the latest. If you want to update the hard drive driver, you need to download the latest available hard drive driver from the official website of the drive manufacturer and follow the steps below to uninstall/update the device driver.
Steps to uninstall/update hard drive driver
Step 1. Right-click the Start button and select “Device Manager”.
Step 2. Locate “Disk Drives” and expand it.
Step 3. Right-click the targeted disk and select “Uninstall device” (1) or “Update driver” (2).
Step 4(1). Restart the computer. Windows 10 will reinstall the hard driver automatically.
Step 4(2). Select “Browse my computer for drivers” and locate the unpacked latest driver. And click “OK”.
How to recover missing E drive without losing data?
Is there any easy way to recover missing partitions and data after the E drive disappeared? Yes, that is the third-party partition recovery software. You don't need to know "why does my E drive keep disappearing", because professional partition recovery tools can restore deleted or lost partitions except for physical reasons.
Among those partition rescue tools, AOMEI Partition Recovery Wizard, a built-in feature in AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, stands out due to its simple operation and powerful function.
With the user-friendly interface, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is easy-to-use for everyone without much technical knowledge required. It could find lost partitions for Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista within 4 simple steps. If the data in the missing partition has not been overwritten yet, it will recover the entire lost or deleted partition without losing data.
To recover missing partitions without losing data, you could download AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional Demo first and follow the steps below.
Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional and select “Partition Recovery Wizard” from the left panel of the main interface.
Step 2. Select the targeted disk that includes the missing E drive. And click “Next”. Select “Fast Search”. It’s recommended to choose Fast Search for the first time to save time.
Step 3. After the scanning completes, it will list all of the missing drives on the disk. Select the missing E drive and click “Proceed”. The missing E drive will be recovered in seconds.
Conclusion
Why does my E drive keep disappearing? Various reasons could lead to the E drive missing, especially after the Windows update. There are four ways to fix and recover the missing E drive.
It’s recommended to use AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to recover the missing or deleted partitions in Windows 11/10/8/7 because the partition recovery process is easy for everyone and it’s a powerful toolkit to manage hard disk partitions effortlessly.
Though professional partition recovery tools could help you restore missing computer drives, they couldn’t solve the issue when there are some physical problems. Making a regular backup could be the best way to protect your data. AOMEI Backupper freeware is worth using for everyone to back up, restore, and clone systems, files, disks, and partitions.
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