How can I delete or eject non-existing drives?


  1. Posts : 14
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       #1

    How can I delete or eject non-existing drives?


    Hi,

    Can someone help me to delete or eject drives which physically no where to be found? When I go to disk management I can see bunch of removable media but there's no removable media inserted in my PC. When I plug my USB my USB drive letter will become J because the F,G,H and I were already assigned to these removable media, I already removed drive letters to the removable media but nothing happens. Please see attached image file of my disk management.

    How can I delete or eject non-existing drives?-capture.jpg

    Thanks.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #2

    I did a small experiment .

    I connected my Transcend Card Reader TS-RDP8K to my desktop.

    I get two brand-new drives I and K in "My Computer" :)

    How can I delete or eject non-existing drives?-04-08-2014-08-01-04.jpg

    These also show up in Computer Management Disk Map ( - but not in the list above the map).

    How can I delete or eject non-existing drives?-04-08-2014-08-04-23.jpg

    I think you get the idea now.:)

    All the same, periodically do a drive cleanup as suggested in this post USB disks not recognized although USB mouse & keyboard are

    That will remove all non-present devices and drive letters associated with those and release them.

    ( If your card Reader is in-built those cannot be removed unless you disable the Card Reader in Device Manager. Do you want to do that?????)
    Last edited by jumanji; 04 Aug 2014 at 04:58. Reason: typos corrected.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 72,046
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #3

    Hello Frank,

    Those appear to be from a smart card reader.

    You should be able to use the tutorial below to set Windows to hide empty drives to not see a drive from it anymore until you insert a media card into a slot.

    Drives - Hide or Show Empty Drives in Computer Folder

    Hope this helps, :)
    Shawn
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #4

    ^. Yep, you can hide empty drives as Brink indicated but cannot delete or eject those, unless you remove the external card reader or disable the internal card reader.

    And if you remove the drive letters going into Disk Management as you seem to have done, next time you insert a card you won't see it in My computer, unless you go into Disk Management and assign a drive letter.

    So either you hide them or leave them alone.:) It is enough if you know that it is your card reader.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 14
    Windows 7 Professional x64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Thanks Brink and Jumanji, it appears that i have 4 SD card port in my new PC that I did not notice. hahaha. But why windows showing the drives even they are not used? It supposed to act like a USB port that it wont show in disk management unless being used. Anyways thanks for your help.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 72,046
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #6

    Glad we could. :)

    Yeah, it just depends on what the setting I posted was set on. Some people like to see all drives empty or not, while others only want to see the drive if not empty.
      My Computer


 

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