External USB SSD = Local Disk

File Explorer usually and properly shows in the navigation pane an external USB SSD as WD001 (D:) for example.

But sometimes the external USB SSD is shown as Local Disk (D:)

I have yet to experience a negative impact, but I am curious why it happens and how I can make it not happen.

Same here Haydon. Just so I would recognize it as removable I assigned mine a custom icon that looks like a usb thumb drive.

It ought only to show it without its WD001 label for a few moments after it is connected.
I assume you can refresh the view [F5 or right-click, Refresh] to force it to be shown as WD001.

Denis

Thanks, folks, it will be a while before I can respond, the phenomenon happens only occasionally, and I don't know how to artificially induce it.

I relabel my USB drives in File Explorer or in Command Prompt [DOS command of Label] , either using their capacity [StoreNGo 64GB], a type of file such as Fonts when storing them only, Music for that only, etc. There are times that simply plugging a drive into a different port from last time changes things.

Berton said:

I relabel my USB drives in File Explorer or in Command Prompt [DOS command of Label] , either using their capacity [StoreNGo 64GB], a type of file such as Fonts when storing them only, Music for that only, etc. There are times that simply plugging a drive into a different port from last time changes things.

Click to expand...

I think we need to understand better what File Explorer does.

I have not seen this before. A USB is labelled as local because it is connected directly to the computer. The opposite (remote disk) would be a shared folder, a NAS device or other remote storage. I haven't noticed a USB disk to switch between two descriptions.

spapakons said:

I have not seen this before.

Click to expand...

Neither have I, or at least I've never noticed it. The only time I see the drives listed as Local is when I click on properties.

I see it in the few seconds during which Windows is detecting & reading an external drive [when you see its lamp slowly flashing, if it has one].

When it's been read, its allocated drive label appears in place of Local disk.

I think this has always been the case.
I'd only start worrying if, for no apparent reason, the system was so heavily loaded that I could see this happening with a small external drive.


All the best,
Denis

The Local Disk phenomenon of an external USB SSD struck again, see the first pic below. The improper label in File Explorer is permanent.

I then ejected the external USB SSD, plugged it out and back in, and it's the second pic below which is as it should be.

As I said in my OP, I have yet to experience any negative impact of this occasional phenomenon, but it makes no rhyme nor reason.

@Haydon, FYI I notice one of your external drives is Western Digital. I have one as well and it's driver kept me from turning on memory integrity. Today, I noticed a driver update in windows update for it. This new driver may fix the issue with memory integrity (if you use it)

glasskuter said:

@Haydon, FYI I notice one of your external drives is Western Digital. I have one as well and it's driver kept me from turning on memory integrity. Today, I noticed a driver update in windows update for it. This new driver may fix the issue with memory integrity (if you use it)

Click to expand...

Thanks, but I can't turn on my Memory Integrity because of

I then went to Device Manager which says that I already have the best driver installed for that device, and that's as far as I am willing to go (I don't want the cure to be worse than the very slight illness) Moreover, I see the occasional 'Local Disk' phenomenon with my other USB SSDs from Seagate and Samsung as well. Curiously, the phenomenon never happened with my plain USB flash drives So, I think that the phenomenon has to do with the devices being USB SSDs rather than with device drivers, but I can of course not be positive either