Solved Secondary SSD missing after waking from sleep

I have a self build PC.

Samsung 2TB 980 Pro M2 as a primary drive and a secondary 500g Samsung 850 Evo SATA3 SSD.

Freshly installed Win11*; but now noticed, that Samsung 850 drive is missing after the PC wakes from sleeping. Brief scan on internet, some people solved through replacing drive, others through Intel RST. Shouldn't need either. Any ideas? Any reference to upgrade the BIOS likely to result in hysterical laughter*.

( ** Part of ongoing 20 hour L1/Billing/L2/L3 activation saga following multiple BIOS upgrades etc.)

Check BIOS to see if the SSD detected.

Check device manager and Disk Management to see SSD detected.

SSD is always present after cold boot. SSD is present in BIOS.
Device manager shows SSD after cold boot.
Device manager does not show SSD after waking from sleep

If you can check S.M.AR.T. health status with CrystalDiskInfo.


Assign a new drive letter.

I've loaded Samsung Magician and checked both disk status. Both report completely OK.

Did you assign a different drive letter also you can uninstall that SSD device driver from Device Manager and check its cable connections.

OK, I'll try cables, but why would that make a difference if the SSD is 100% present when I cold boot.
Then if I select Sleep, or wait for PC to sleep, then the disk will disappear until I reboot, then 100% of the time it will be back again.
Why would changing the drive letter make any difference?

It could be corruption on registry instead of asking why, how about you try my suggestion if it's not causing you any trouble.

Will try this evening. I appreciate the help. I do a lot of diagnostics with my job - and "Why?" - is the first and last question. Sorry to be a pain.

I understand i try to answer your questions.

You should also execute Sfc /scannow command to repair any damage in Windows 11 system files.

OK think I've fixed this if not explained it.

Fix: Disable MSI Fast Boot in BIOS.

@FreeBooter : I verified windows files and components using SFC and DISM yesterday.

Meanwhile, I tried one more thing, I disabled the MSI Fast Boot in the BIOS.

MSI fast boot enabled : * FAIL* Disk always present at start; missing after sleep.
MSI fast boot disabled: * PASS * Disk always present at start and after sleep. Following cold boot, power off or restart.

If issue comes back, I can relate to this and I had fast startup disabled from the get-go. I already had this typed up so am going to post it anyway even though you say you fixed your problem. It might help someone else.
It's going to boil down to power and how you have your drive connected. Is the secondary drive mounted in your case or did you per chance put it into a drive enclosure (what I did)and use it as an external drive?

If the drive is mounted try Crucial's suggestions here. SSD Disappears or Crashes when Resuming from Sleep or During Normal Use

If it is external here are things you can try.

1..You can try swapping usb ports. Make sure to use one on the back of computer.

2.. Your system is new and may not have USB2. If it does try it in a usb2 port just to see if it works correctly there

3.. Go into control panel>power options>make sure power plan is balanced. Beside the plan select change plan settings>click usb settings>disable usb selective suspend.

4. Device Manager>Universal Serial Bus Controllers>For each USB controller Right Click>Properties>Power Management tab> Uncheck allow the computer to turn off this device to turn off to save power for each controller there. Then do the same thing for each Root Hub

5.. Use an externally powered usb enclosure and don't buy one of the extra cheap ones.Their control circuitry is crappy (this worked for me) Yes, I know 2.5 external drives are designed to be used using bus power but not all systems, ssds, or enclosures are equal.... especially in this day and time when so much emphasis is put on energy saving.

6. Mount the drive internally if all else fails.

Thanks @glasskuter - in my case the drive is internal SATA.

Just one clarification in case others are reading. I had already disabled Windows Fast Start, I prefer to boot afresh each time. MSI MOBO BIOS has "Fast boot" which is different, it remembers the boot setting and doesn't bother to check other devices (e.g. USB or SSD); manual says "Fast booting - UEFI can directly boot the operating system and save the BIOS selftest process. And also eliminates the time to switch to CSM mode during POST."

In BIOS help is a little more descriptive.

With fast disks and fast PC, neither fast boot or fast start make much of a positive difference - at least to me.

MetaMorpheus said:

I have a self build PC.

Samsung 2TB 980 Pro M2 as a primary drive and a secondary 500g Samsung 850 Evo SATA3 SSD.

Freshly installed Win11*; but now noticed, that Samsung 850 drive is missing after the PC wakes from sleeping. Brief scan on internet, some people solved through replacing drive, others through Intel RST. Shouldn't need either. Any ideas? Any reference to upgrade the BIOS likely to result in hysterical laughter*.

( ** Part of ongoing 20 hour L1/Billing/L2/L3 activation saga following multiple BIOS upgrades etc.)

Click to expand...

I have a similar issue but my G drive is missing from file explorer and also disc management after waking. I have 4 drives 2 SSD and 2 6tb WD HDDs.. the G drive is my last one on the list. I have discovered that if I go in disc management and rescan drives.. the drive comes back. Of course restarting the computer also works. I'll likely just turn off PC sleep and just enable monitor sleep until MS figures this out.