Troubleshooting Your PC For Dummies®

Chapter 15. Mishaps in the Storage System

They named the command Save for a reason. The word implies safety, a reprise from peril. And it's a much better term than Transfer, which was the original command to save stuff in old Microsoft applications, back when Bill Gates was worth only tens of millions of dollars. Your PC's storage system safely stores not only your own stuff but also all your programs and the operating system. Storage is a key part of the computer, and therefore it's near panic-inducing terror that strikes at your soul when something goes amiss with the storage system: disk disaster, media card mayhem, or DVD death. Turn to this chapter to help ease your pain.

• Your PC's storage system includes disk drives as well as media cards and memory cards. It's all the same storage system, though the disk drives are your PC's primary storage gizmo and the source of most troubleshooting needs.

• Refer to Part IV of this book, which deals with preventive maintenance, backup, and other storage system tools.

"My Storage Device Is Missing!"

You may not have seen it scamper off, but suddenly you notice that one of your PC's storage devices is missing. You may see a Drive Not Available error, or you may just notice that the drive letter isn't showing up on a menu or in the Computer window. Whoops! How did the thing escape? That depends on the type of drive.

• Hard drive: Your first option, as usual, is to restart the computer to see whether the missing hard drive can be found. That generally ...