Why Does My D Drive Keep Disappearing? Causes & Fixes

D: Drive Disappears from Time to Time

Having a drive suddenly disappear from your computer can be frustrating, especially when it’s one that contains important files or applications. If you’ve ever encountered the issue where your D drive keeps disappearing on Windows, you are not alone. It’s a common problem that can be caused by a variety of factors, from minor system glitches to more serious hardware issues.

In this article, we’ll discuss why this happens and provide solutions to fix the issue, along with steps for recovering data if the drive has been formatted or if data was lost during the troubleshooting process.

Why Does My D Drive Keep Disappearing?

There are several reasons why your D drive might keep disappearing. From these causes, you may be able to find a solution to the problem and prevent this situation from happening again. Let’s break down the potential causes:

🔍Loose or Faulty Connections: If you're using an external drive or USB storage device, a loose connection could be the culprit. This can cause the drive to appear and disappear intermittently.

🔍Drive Letter Conflict: Sometimes, Windows assigns the same drive letter to multiple devices, which can result in one of the drives disappearing from File Explorer.

🔍Outdated or Corrupt Drivers: Faulty or outdated drivers for your drive or USB ports can lead to issues where the drive is not recognized consistently.

🔍Corrupted File System: A corrupted file system could cause the drive to malfunction, resulting in the disappearance of the drive from your system.

🔍Faulty or Failing Hardware: If the D drive is a physical hard drive and it is failing, it may intermittently disappear due to internal errors or hardware damage.

🔍Power Management Settings: Certain power settings in Windows may cause external drives to turn off or stop being recognized, especially if the system is in power-saving mode.

🔍Operating System Bugs or Conflicts: Sometimes, bugs or conflicts with the Windows OS can cause drives to become temporarily inaccessible or to disappear from File Explorer.

How to Fix D Drive Keeps Disappearing on Windows

Now that we understand some of the common causes of this issue, let’s look at how to fix it. We’ll walk through several solutions you can try to get your D drive back and working properly.

Check the Connection

If you’re using an external drive, the first step is to ensure the connection is secure. For external hard drives or USB devices, check both the USB cable and the port. A loose connection or faulty cable could cause intermittent detection. Try plugging the device into a different USB port, and if possible, use a different cable to rule out issues with the hardware.

Rescan Disks

Sometimes, Windows just needs a little push to recognize the drive again. You can use the Disk Management tool to force a rescan for all connected drives.

Step 1. Press "Win" + "X" and choose "Disk Management" to open it.

Step 2. Click on "Action" in the menu bar and select "Rescan Disks". This will refresh the list of available drives and might help Windows detect the D drive again.

Update or Reinstall USB Drivers

Outdated or corrupted USB drivers can cause issues where your drive isn’t consistently recognized. Updating or reinstalling the drivers can often resolve the D drive keep disappearing issue.

Step 1. Press "Win" + "X" and choose "Device Manager" to open it.

Step 2. Expand "Disk drivers" and right click your hard drive, then choose "Update driver".

Step 3. Click "Search automatically for updated driver software" to continue the process. Alternatively, you can uninstall the device and then reboot your system to automatically reinstall the driver.

Run Hardware and Device Troubleshooter

The Hardware and Devices troubleshooter is built to resolve common issues with peripherals like keyboards, printers, Bluetooth devices, and USBs. You can run it to troubleshoot the missing hard drive problem.

Step 1. Press "Win" + "X" and choose "Windows PowerShell (Admin)" to open it.

Step 2. Input the following command "msdt.exe - id DeviceDiagnostic" and press "Enter" key to open Hardware and Device Troubleshooter.

This tool will detect any hardware problems with your drive and attempt to resolve them.

Disable USB Selective Suspending Setting

Windows may disable USB ports to conserve power, a behavior that can cause your USB devices to disconnect unexpectedly. To prevent this, we recommend disabling this power-saving feature to ensure your USB drive operates without interruptions.

Step 1. Press "Win" + "X" and choose "Power Options" to open it.

Step 2. In the opened "Power & sleep" window, click "Additional power settings".

Step 3. Select "Change plan settings" > "Change advanced power settings".

Step 4. On the Power Options window, locate the USB settings. Expand "USB selective suspending setting" and switch to "Disabled", then click "Apply" and "OK" to save the settings.

Format the Drive in Disk Management

If none of the above methods work and your D drive is still disappearing, you might need to format the D drive. However, formatting will erase all data on the drive, so only proceed with this step if you've already backed up your files or if you're able to recover them with reliable tools.

Step 1. Press "Win" + "X" and choose "Disk Management" to open it.

Step 2. Locate the D drive and check if any drive letter conflict. If it is, right click on the D drive and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths" to assign a new drive letter.

Step 3. If there is no drive letter conflict, right click on D drive and choose "Format".

Step 4. Select the appropriate file system (NTFS is recommended for most drives) and check the "Perform a quick format" option, then click "Start" to begin the process.

How to Recover Lost Data from Formatted D Drive

After formatting the D drive, it should keep appear on Windows. However, a new issue arises: all files on the D drive have been lost due to the formatting. Don’t worry, the professional data recovery software like MyRecover can come to the rescue in this case. Equipped with AI-embedded recognition technology, it scans all storage devices on your computer to ensure no files are missed during the recovery process.

Step 1. Download and install MyRecover on your computer from Microsoft Store, avoid installing it on the formatted D drive in such case.

Step 2. Launch the app and select D drive to scan for lost files, then click "Scan".

Step 3. Under the "Type" or "Path" tab, choose the files you wish to recover from the recoverable lists and click "Recover".

Step 4. Select a safe destination folder to save the recovered files.

Once the process is done, you'll see the message "Files have been recovered successfully". Then, you can access the recovered files by clicking on the destination folder path or the "Browse" button.

The End

Dealing with a D drive that keeps disappearing can be stressful, but with the right troubleshooting steps and tools mentioned above, you can get your D drive back to normal and recover any lost data. Whether you’re dealing with connection issues, file system corruption, or driver conflicts, there are solutions available to help.

If you’ve lost important data from the D drive or formatted it, MyRecover is a great tool for getting it back. It’s designed to recover files from formatted, corrupted, or inaccessible drives, providing peace of mind. With its Professional edition, you even can restore data from dead computer.