drive

Copy path or Copy as path will copy the full path of selected items (files and folders) wrapped in quotes to the Clipboard so you can paste (Ctrl+V) the full path(s) of the item(s) where you like. The Copy as path context menu and Copy path from the File Explorer command bar menu is not...

An empty drive is a drive with no media. For example, a connected media card reader without a SD card inserted. File Explorer will hide empty drives by default. If you turn on Show all folders for the navigation pane in File Explorer, empty drives will always show in the navigation pane even...

The drive space indicator bar gives you a visual display of available free space for each drive shown on This PC in File Explorer. The drive space indicator bar is blue until free space gets below 10%, then the bar turns red to help let you know the drive is low on free space. If wanted, you...

Windows will automatically mount new basic volumes that are added to the system, and assign them drive letters by default. A drive letter is a single alphabetic character A through Z that has been assigned by Windows to a physical drive or drive partition connected to the computer to reference...

Windows will automatically mount new basic volumes that are added to the system, and assign them drive letters by default. Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/automount...

The Turn off hard disk after setting in Power Options lets you specify the period of inactivity before the disk is automatically powered down. Having your HDDs automatically turn off after being idle can help save energy and extend the battery life. When you or anything tries to access a HDD...

You can right click on a folder or non-OS drive, and click/tap on Properties to see a Customize tab. You can right click on the background of an open folder or non-OS drive, and click/tap on Show more options (Shift+F10) to see the Customize this folder context menu. If you click/tap on the...

You can use Disk Cleanup on a regular basis to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your drives, which can free up drive space and help your PC run better. It can delete temporary files and system files, empty the Recycle Bin, and remove a variety of other items that you might no longer...

S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology; often written as SMART) is a monitoring system included in computer hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), and eMMC drives. Its primary function is to detect and report various indicators of drive reliability with the...

You can mount (make a drive accessible) in a folder rather than a drive letter if you want. This makes the drive appear as just another folder. When you mount an internal or external drive in an empty folder, you will be able to access the contents of the drive from the path of the folder. The...

A drive letter is a single alphabetic character A through Z that has been assigned by Windows to a physical drive or drive partition connected to the computer to reference the drive by. If you don't like the drive letter assigned to a drive, you can change it. See also...

A volume label is the friendly name for a connected drive or volume. An internal drive will usually be assigned Local Disk as its volume label by default. A USB flash drive will usually be assigned USB Drive as its volume label by default. A NTFS or ReFS volume label can be up to 32...

Checking your drives for errors every once in a while can help fix some performance issues. Drive errors can usually be caused by bad sectors, improper shutdowns, bad software, corruption, physical damage, etc... CHKDSK (Check Disk) checks the file system and file system metadata of a volume...

All drives are shown under the This PC group in the navigation pane of File Explorer by default. Removable drives are shown as separate groups in the navigation pane of File Explorer by default in addition to being shown under the This PC group in the navigation pane. You could Pin to Quick...

You can use Disk Cleanup on a regular basis to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your drives, which can free up drive space and help your PC run better. It can delete temporary files and system files, empty the Recycle Bin, and remove a variety of other items that you might no longer...

All drives are shown under the This PC group in the navigation pane of File Explorer by default. Removable drives are shown as separate groups in the navigation pane of File Explorer by default in addition to being shown under the This PC group in the navigation pane. You could Pin to Quick...

BitLocker Drive Encryption is a data protection feature that integrates with the operating system and addresses the threats of data theft or exposure from lost, stolen, or inappropriately decommissioned drives and computers. You can turn on BitLocker to encrypt the operating system drive...

A drive letter is a single alphabetic character A through Z that has been assigned by Windows to a physical drive or drive partition connected to the computer to reference the drive by. This tutorial will show you how to show drive letters before or after drive labels (name) in File Explorer...

A drive letter is a single alphabetic character A through Z that has been assigned by Windows to a physical drive or drive partition connected to the computer to reference the drive by. This tutorial will show you how to hide or show drive letters in File Explorer for your account in Windows 10...

Optimizing your drives can help your PC run smoother and boot up faster. Windows 11 includes Optimize Drives that will automatically retrim a SSD or defrag a HDD as needed. Retrim = Generates TRIM and Unmap hints for all currently unused sectors of the SSD or NVMe volume, notifying the...