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Simple volumes may become inaccessible if a power loss occurs shortly after creation

Article ID: 2001877 - View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

Consider the follow scenario. In Windows 7, you create a new simple volume in Disk Management or DiskPart.exe on a non-removable disk. If your Windows 7 system experiences a sudden power loss within a few minutes of volume creation, you may notice the volume you created before the power loss is inaccessible and is not assigned a drive letter when you power the system back on.

Additionally, in Disk Management the volume may not have a status (for example, "Healthy") or a file system type listed. If you try to modify the volume in Disk Management, you may receive the following error message:

The operation failed to complete because the Disk Management console view is not up-to-date. Refresh the view by using the refresh task. If the problem persists close the Disk Management Console, then restart Disk Management or restart the computer.

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Cause

This issue occurs because the configuration information for the new volume was not written to disk by the time the power loss occurred.

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Resolution

To have us fix this problem for you, go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you prefer to fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. In the File Download dialog box, click Run and then follow the steps in the Fix it Wizard.

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Note This wizard may be in English only. However, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or to a CD so that you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

Then, go to the "Did this fix the problem" section.

Let me fix it myself

If you are experiencing the issue described in the "Symptoms" section, reinstalling the volume will resolve the issue. Please follow these steps to reinstall the volume.

Open Device Manager. You can access Device Manager by typing "Device Manager" or "devmgmt.msc" in the Start Search box.
Once Device Manager is open, click on "Storage Volumes" to expand the Storage Volumes portion of the device tree.
Under Storage Volumes, you should notice a volume listed as "Unknown device." Right click on this device and choose "Uninstall." When asked to confirm, choose OK.
Restart the system if you are prompted to do so. The volume should be accessible once the system finishes restarting. If you are not prompted to restart the system, right click in Device Manager and choose "Scan for hardware changes." Once the scan is complete and installation of the volume completes, you will be able to access the volume.

Note: If the power loss occurs within a few seconds of volume creation, in rare circumstances you may be prompted to format the volume after you follow the above steps. If this occurs, the file system configuration was not written by the time the power loss occurred. You may need to reformat or recreate the volume.

Did this fix the problem?

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this section. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support.
We would appreciate your feedback. To provide feedback or to report any issues with this solution, please leave a comment on the "Fix it for me" blog or send us an email message.

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