New files on external hard drive disappear when connecting to another PC

[Dave3000]

Sometimes ,and often, when I copy files from my main PC to an external hard drive, the new files disappear when I connect the external hard drive to my NUC. However, the hard drive space still is taken up by those new files. Strange thing is that when I reconnect the external hard drive to my main PC again after disconnecting it from my NUC, the new files still don't show up. When running chkdsk it show that the files are orphaned and I can fix this with chkdsk. Also one time when I did this to recover an mkv file, I ended up with the file displaying artifacts for a second at the beginning of the video where as the original copy of this mkv file did not have those artifacts. This happens with any new file, not just new mkv files. I'm using Windows 10 Home on my NUC. This happened on my 6TB WD Green hard drive in an external enclosure as well. It can't be my hard drive going out because I connected it to a blu-ray player and the blu-ray player saw the new mkv file but next I connected it to my NUC and that same mkv file disappeard but was still taken up space on the hard drive. I'm also getting issues with message about a corrupted recycle bin when I open up folders in that hard drive. The original mkv files are stored in a dual bay external enclosure, in a 6TB WD Green HDD, that is connected to my main PC. Is this a Windows issue about the new files disappearing and becoming "orphaned" but still taken up hard drive space? I can't rely on my NUC as a HTPC if this keeps up.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Are you properly "ejecting" the USB device when you switch computers, or just unplugging it? Do you have Write Cacheing enabled?

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/04/write-caching-for-usb-devices-in-windows-just-dont-bother/

 

[Dave3000]

I go to the lower right corner of the screen and I click on the USB connector icon and I wait until it tells me that it is safe to eject the drive the I wait 5 seconds and disconnect the drive from the USB port. I'm sure I'm ejecting it properly. The blu-ray player sees the file. Then I test it out on the NUC and the file does not show even though it's still taking up space on the hard drive. My main PC, where the file was copied from then does not show the file either and it's still taking up space. I'm not sure if it's a Windows USB driver issue with my particular NUC but it's doing something that makes new files "orphaned" when I connect it to my NUC frequently. It does this on 2 different hard drives, so it can't be a hard drive issue. I have not seen this issue with Libreelec but I prefer to use Kodi in Windows if it weren't for this issue and I have a couple of different issues with Libreelec, so I can't win either way. Maybe I'll just use my NUC as a Plex Media Server with Linux Mint installed and just use my Roku Ultra as my media player.

 

[Elixer]

This seems like a flaky USB controller.

 

[Dave3000]

This issue also happens in the Windows Desktop UI. I was trying to recreate the issue with files disappearing on the USB hard drive once it is connected to my NUC through the blue USB port on the front. It happened again today. It happens to any file on the hard drive, not specific files. Then when I go back to my other PC and reconnect the hard drive, I get a message saying to do a scandisk because it found problems with the drive. So I do a scandisk and repair and still the files don't show up, yet the storage space is taken up that the files used up. Someone here said it might be a flaky USB controller. This issue also happens with the Intel Rapid Storage drivers installed. Can it be a flaky USB controller on my NUC or my other PC which I originally copied the files from? A flaky USB port on my NUC or my other PC? A Windows 10 Home issue?

 

[Dave3000]

Also I want to add that on my main PC, I connect the USB hard drive to an USB 3.0 bay and my motherboard USB 3.0 is not native, it uses a 3rd party controller for USB 3.0.

 

[Elixer]

The controller on the external unit itself most likely.

 

[Dave3000]

Well I don't seem to get this issue about files not showing up when I copy files from my NUC as the files are still showing up on my external hard drive after disconnecting it and reconnecting on my NUC (same pc I copied the files from). At least it has not happened so far doing it this way. It only happens when I copy the files from my main PC and then transfer the external hard drive to the NUC. Something fishy could be going on in the USB hard drive disconnection process on my main PC event though I don't disconnect it until I get a message saying it's safe to disconnect my USB storage device? So by the controller on the external unit, you mean the controller on my external hard drive?

 

[Dave3000]

Well it looks like the issue only happens when I transfer the external hard drive to my NUC after copying files to the external hard drive from my other PC. It's been 2 days now that I was using my NUC to copy random GB's of files to the external hard drive and disconnecting the drive from the NUC and reconnecting to the NUC and the files still show up on the external hard drive. I did this several times these past 2 days just to see if I an recreate the issue if the files are copied from the same PC that I reconnect the external drive to. Anyone here have any idea why this issue only happens when I copy the files from a different PC and not same PC?