Names of external drives not shown in Windows Explorer

[iron2000]

I've named my thumbdrives and eSATA HDD but in Windows Explorer the thumbdrives appear as "Removable Disk" and the eSATA HDD as "Local Disk".
(Named my thumbdrive "VALSTOCK" and eSATA HDD "MEDIA-STOR" back on XP)

Their names show up fine on XP PCs and MACs but not on my 7 PC.
But their names do show up in Disk Management on the 7 PC.

Also I can't rename the drives, they stay as the names above.
But I can rename the internal drives, at least that of C drive as the rest got back the names I gave them when I was on XP.

Tried searching around and found similar problems:
Can't change names for external hard drives - Windows 7 Taskforce
22 common Windows 7 problems solved | News | TechRadar UK
New Hard drive refuses to be renamed from "PenDrive (it's not a pendrive)

 

[TimStitt]

Hi iron2000,

Here's some thoughts:

1. Can you rename files on this drive. I had a similar problem where the drive name wouldn't show and I noticed that my files were read only. So I wrote a script to fix it, it's attached in case it fixes your issue.

2. Take a look at this posts that shows a possible problem with portable apps if that is installed on your USB

3. Can you rename them through the disk management module?

4. Are you logged in with rights to rename drives?

5. Are the drives readable, I know that my USB's appear as Local Disk if they are corrupt.

And a couple of long-shots, worth while mentioning, but I expect you'll rule them right out.
1. Run chkdsk /R /X on them to check that they are sound
2. Ensure all drives are de fragmented so that windows resources are clear.

 

[iron2000]

1. Files can be renamed
2. There are no portable apps installed
3. Hmm, the name changes in disk management but remains the same in explorer
4. How do you check this? But I did rename my C drive successfully.
5. They are readable

====

!!
Ok, I figured it out!
Just remembered that I used a program call "Ninja Pendisk" in XP.
It adds a hidden folder named "autorun.inf" to prevent malicious autoruns.

I deleted that hidden folder, eject, reinsert and the drive name showed up again!

Solved!

Thanks for the quick reply, Tim

 

[TimStitt]

1. Files can be renamed
2. There are no portable apps installed
3. Hmm, the name changes in disk management but remains the same in explorer
4. How do you check this? But I did rename my C drive successfully.
5. They are readable

====

!!
Ok, I figured it out!
Just remembered that I used a program call "Ninja Pendisk" in XP.
It adds a hidden folder named "autorun.inf" to prevent malicious autoruns.

I deleted that hidden folder, eject, reinsert and the drive name showed up again!

Solved!

Thanks for the quick reply, Tim

Great! Glad it's all fixed.

I have another batch file that I use to add a custom hidden autorun.inf and disable the drive autorun function. I can post it if you want a win7 replacement for your Ninja Pendisk.

 

[iron2000]

Do post it please!

 

[TimStitt]

Do post it please!

Here it is, it's originally written by the Trend Micro support team. I can't remember if I made any changes to it or not, so I'm giving all props to them.