I am constantly tinkering with my machine and today I found some duplication I just don't understand. As shown in the screenshot, Windows 11, the left pane is C: drive and expected folders. The D: drive shows some of the same folders on the right pane. My question is twofold. Why are these folders duplicated and is it safe to delete them from the D: drive?
If they can be deleted, how do I do that? I assume they are protected the same as they are on C:.
Thoughts anyone? Help me save me from myself as I will probably do something irreversible. Again!!
Tom R
What in interesting problem.
I do not have an outright answer for you, but I have a suspicion on what might be happening.
The first thing I noticed was that Win11 is reporting your D: as an 8tb SSD.... These are not common.. So I wonder where you got it from and if Windows had been previously been built on the drive or worse, it could be a hookie drive!
To try and find out which of the two try the following:
- Step 1 Check if it is a genuine duplication. Place a text file using notepad on the C:, then check to see if it appears on your d drive. If it does not then it may not be a genuine duplication.
- Step 2, Assuming the file does not appear on the D drive, check out the dates (created/modified) on some of the files. If they are different, again it points towards the drive not duplicating your C drive and you probably just have a previous installation of Windows on the drive.
If both of these steps indicate it is not a genuine duplication, then proceed with step 3.
- Step 3, power off the system and disconnect the drive and power back on. Windows will quickly tell you if it needs your D drive connected by throwing all manner of errors. But if it doesn't immediately throw errors, run the system for a day or so without the drive connected.
If it continues to work without any problems, that would indicate that for some reason you have a drive that has previously been used and you should check where you got it from. If it was new, it sounds like someone may be passing off an old disc as a new one, if this is the case, take it up with whoever supplied the drive. If it was described as used or refurbish, then it may be as simple as someone forgot to wipe the drive before sending it to you. If you want, you can take it up with whoever sold it to you because they should have wiped the drive before sending on, or you can wipe the drive yourself which will be much quicker, but it's your call.
NOW, if when you placed a text file on the C drive, it DID appear on the d Drive, you have a completely different problem on your hands. There is a good chance the drive is hookie and the firmware that came with the drive may be trying to hide this problem from you. But worse, if it's hookie, it may have installed all manner of viruses on your system. I would switch off the system, disconnect the drive and take it to a specialist and describe what has happened and asked them to clean it up for you.
