Windows 7: SCANDISK asked for Force Mounting?

Okay this is weird... i have 2 hardisks on my PC running win 7 ultimate...



previously when i click defragment i can see both hardisks C: and D:..

but now when i click it .. i can only see C: and no D:

although both hardisks still running fine.. but i just dont get it when it is not there when i choose defragment, before it was there..

and secondly, when i want to run scan disk on the drive D:, and check both options, it says something about "mounting disk" and i choose to cancel it cause im afraid it might format everything...

and then after that comes the second options to run the scandisk after restart...that one i cancel too because im afraid due to the 1st option... is it okay if i cancel the mounting and run the scandisk? but what is happening? why is it asked for mounting?

but the D: is still running fine and accessible, files inside it are mostly private used e.g. medias etc..

It sounds as if something made the volume on your second drive inactive to some extent. One idea you can try would be going into the Disk Management tool and simply changing the drive letter if D let's say often used by optical drives to E, F, or G. That should reinitialize the drive for you as far as Windows is concerned despite still being able to access all files and folders in Windows Explorer or Computer.

Also if you plainly see the drive in either Computer or W.Explorer right click on it to bring up the properties screen and open the Tools tab to click on the "check disk for errors" button there. That should get the scandisk tool running on the drive itself in case the Partition Table or Master File Table has lost any information making the volume a little unstable.

A gltch in the PT or MFT can result in seeing numerous Windows errors at times. These would be the first two steps in order to refresh the volume information as well as checking for any errors with Scan Disk and refreshing the volume by having Windows remount it as a logical drive with a change of drive letter.

Okay so if i change the drive letter lets say from D to J, later can i change it back to D? Cause it contains my songs and that songs is used by real player..or maybe i should try do the scandisk first?

okay i cannot do the scandisk for errors because it asked for force dismount..

as for changing the drive letter, i tried to change it to K: and this i what i get (attached pic) ..

im too scared to continue worried that it affect the hdd .. and yea regarding my previous question, if i change the drive letter to another letter, will it be possible to change it back to "D" ?

The prompt you see there is a standard warning by Windows which explains about the first drive letter not being available until you restart and on some programs not working due to the change of letter. You'll see that every time you go to change any drive's or device's(external drives, usb flash drives, memory cards) drive letter automatically. You simply go ahead and make the change folowed by the restart to see it put into effect.

As for changing back to the first letter whether D or another you simply revert at any time following the restart or on any other day. That would restore the letter you assigned via media player(s). If the player you use allows for changing the drive letter from one to another you can also change the letter to the new one there as well.

You already tried the Scan Disk tool and now are simply trying the letter change to see if that will reinitialize the drive where everything will be working normally again. It doesn't matter if you waited to run scan disk before or after while after the change and restart you may find it works later. The idea here is to see if you can save the present partition on the drive and get it to be remounted by Windows in order to refresh it.

Another thing I should mention here is that the drive itself may be starting to show signs of wear or bad sectors forming particularly where Windows had previously placed the system information it needs to read as well as mount the volume itself. You may want to go for the drive diagnostics program the drive manufacturer provides or another good testing tool to see if that's where the problem is.

The last option may be the best move in either case which would be backing everything up from the drive in case it's taking a turn for the worse or you will end up needing to repartition the drive due to volume corruption starting over fresh with a new partition on the drive.

So i changed the drive letter and do the scandisk but still the force dismount option persists.. Well is it fine if i just leave it like that? That hdd only contains personal files, no app installed or other system files..

By way of explanation. When Windows loads, it locks all hard drives. Scan disk cannot be run while the drive is in use. By forced dismount, it is asking you to take it out of service. I always say no. By running it on startup it will run scan disk next time you reboot, before it is put in service. Check yes and reboot. It will take quite some time to check the drive depending on the size of the drive and the hardware in your computer. That is the short explanation of my understanding of what is happening.

Generally you would schedule it for the next system restart and wait while it goes to work rather then pressing any key to cancel if you had a hard boot for some reason. Actually it isn't scandisk as referred to in XP but Check Disk or use of the chkdsk command for example at a command prompt for C.

A guide on another site shows what I was explaining before on going into the properties screen for the drive in question and opening the Tools tab to click on "Error Checking". You are then asked if you want to schedule a run of the tool on the next start up. You can see the guide at: How to use CHKDSK (Check Disk) - Windows 7

okay thanks!!the chkdsk runs fine and completed successfully.. i guess i dont have to worry anymore right?

Well are you seeing D now to defrag after that ran? If you are still not simply go right back to it in WE and right click on the drive itself to bring up the properties screen again. On the Tools tab look below for the "Defragment now" button and the defrag tool right there.

Here I run four drives internally but not able to grab a screen for you on how to get to D since you are having problems. Another program Auslogics Disk Defrag takes care of alll of them automatically on a regular schedule.

One thing I found with that not even scheduled to run lately is the schedule for the Windows defrag has to be unchecked first before you can click to analyse or defrag any drive. Note the screen here even showing the System Reserved boot partitions. The second drive has a letter assigned to that to be able to view just what is on it as far as the BCD store and boot files.



Besides some expected fragmentation on the two storage drives C and the second drive for testing restored system images using either the Windows option or Acronis show both drives at 0% while Auslogics hadn't been run at all since August 2010.