I built my PC in 2017 with two 2TB HDDs running in RAID 1 for storage. I recently rebuilt the PC in late 2024 but kept the old drives in the tower as F:Old Data Drive. I also added a new setup of two 8TB HDDs in RAID 1 for D:Storage Drive, and two M.2 drives for boot and working purposes. Until recently, everything worked well, even though I had some permissions issues with the Old Data Drive. I struggled to update to Windows 11 for a while, but after dealing with BSODs and replacing my boot drive, I finally reinstalled Windows 10. I accessed all my drives successfully, but after trying to upgrade to Windows 11 again, the Old Data Drive is now listed as F:Local Disk and is inaccessible. I see the drive in Disk Management and Storage Spaces, and I'm using Disk Drill to recover the files, but I want to know:
1) Why did this happen, and how can I avoid similar issues in the future?
2) Is there anything else I should do besides offloading and formatting the drives to regain access?
3 Answers
When updating or making changes to your system, something might get messed up with your drives. It's essential to always have backups before major changes. Have you checked if your drives are physically healthy using a tool like CrystalDiskInfo? Those errors could stem from drive health issues, but if they show good health, then it might be something with the RAID configuration or Windows itself doing something unexpected after the update.
I recommend checking if your drives are properly configured in your BIOS settings. Sometimes, mistakes there can lead to detection problems in Windows. Also, you mentioned using RAID 1, which should provide some redundancy, but RAID isn't a replacement for backups. Have you considered creating complete backups in the future to avoid similar situations? That's often the best preventive measure!
Great point! I'm definitely going to start backing up data more regularly. I assumed RAID would be safe enough, but I see that's not always the case.
You might want to try disconnecting your Old Data Drive while upgrading. That can sometimes help prevent the OS from interfering with the RAID setup and avoid the types of conflicts you're facing. It's just a good practice whenever you're upgrading to ensure Windows doesn't mess with drives it shouldn't.
I really should have done that. It's a lesson learned for sure.
Thanks for the insight! I'll definitely check CrystalDiskInfo to rule out any drive issues before proceeding with recovery.