My external drive is missing or unavailable

If the location, name, or letter of a drive changes, you may notice that the backup selection reports the file is missing, or the destination reports the drive as unavailable. You might see a message in the application indicating the missing drive or simply notice that the data is missing.

To resolve this, we recommend renaming the drive to match the original location. If you know the original drive's name or letter, follow the steps below for changing the drive name in your operating system.

Steps for Windows

1. Press Windows key to open search.
2. Type Disk Management.
3. Select Create and format hard disk partitions.
4. Right-click the drive you wish to change, and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.
5. Click Change.
6. Click Assign the following drive letter.
7. Choose the original drive letter, and press Ok.
8. Click Yes to confirm the warning.

Steps for Mac

1. Open the Finder.
2. In the top menu, select Go.
3. Choose Go to folder...
4. Enter /Volumes
   In the Volumes folder, you will see duplicate drives: the original external drive name and the renamed external drive. The external drive that has been renamed usually includes an extra space or "1" after the name.
5. Select the original external drive, and delete it.  
6. Select the new external drive. 
7. Rename the drive so it is using the original name again. 

What if I'm not sure what the original drive letter/name is?

You can use the steps below to check the Code42 app for the original drive name, letter, or location used.