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It's been years since I bookmarked this site and had to use it.

I posted this question yesterday on StackOverflow and "General Grievance" (related to Kernel Panic?) suggested I post here as well. So here goes:

Using Windows-11 Home. I have a Toshiba external drive that I use for backups. However, starting yesterday, when I plug it into the USB3 port the D: drive seems to get mounted twice:

Screen Shot from This PC

Note that one of the mount points is vertically in-line with the C drive and the second mount point is in-line with "This PC", as if it were another host. This is weird enough. However, when I try to "Safely Remove Hardware" it can't: "This device is currently in use." No, it is not! No program I know if is accessing it! Furthermore, I have LockHunter installed; it tells me "No process locking this file or folder." (Yesterday it was claiming it is use by "System."

Why would I be getting the double-mount? I've certainly never noticed this before.

How can I safely unmount it? Pretty safe bet: The double-mount is the reason I can't unmount it.

Another consequence: When I try to run an Acronis TrueImage (2018) backup, it cannot find the backup location, although it never had that problem before. I can take that up with Acronis once I get this double-mount issue out of the away but I strongly suspect this is also related to the double-mount.

Ideas, anyone, please?

Jacob Salomon
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  • Hi and welcome to Superuser . The question definitely belongs here and not on Stack Overflow. – Yisroel Tech Jul 25 '23 at 23:39
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    So before we can deal with the issues you might be having let's get it straightened. While you mightn't have 'noticed' this behavior until now, this is actually the expected default behavior on Windows (at least since Windows 10. See https://www.intowindows.com/usb-drive-appearing-twice-in-navigation-pane-of-windows-10-file-explorer/) This isn't "mounted twice" or anything close to it, Windows Explorer simply shows USB storage devices in two places of the navigation pane, abd this doesn't cause anything. – Yisroel Tech Jul 25 '23 at 23:42
  • So as this isn't an issue and doesn't cause the "This device is currently in use." The question starts what is actually using it (it's not always gonna be a visible foreground program, it May be a background running application or service.) Maybe try some other solutions from https://superuser.com/questions/87364/can-windows-tell-me-what-is-using-my-usb-drive to find out what's using the drive. As for Acronis thing, you can already bring it up with them, as the "double-mount" thing wasn't ever not resolved... – Yisroel Tech Jul 25 '23 at 23:47

1 Answers1

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  1. As @yisroel-tech states, Windows Explorer shows the drive twice. You can stop that with a Registry hack, but that is not your issue.

  2. You can find out what is locking a drive, such as a running application or it containing a Windows resource, with a tool such as free LockHunter and forcefully unlocking it.

  3. For safety, dismount the drive with a utility such as

  4. Finally, any issue you have with using Acronis TrueImage has absolutely nothing to do with the drive appearing twice, or with it being mounted. Perhaps you need a newer TrueImage version than 2018 for Windows 11 compatibility? Can you update your imaging tool?

DrMoishe Pippik
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  • Thank you Dr. Moishe for the registry hack. Whereas the article you linked to tells me its normal and whereas the registry hack made me gag, resolved to put up with the double display. Every Windows-10 PC I've had has been an employer's machine with external drives disabled. So I never noticed it before. – Jacob Salomon Jul 27 '23 at 20:35
  • As to LockHunter, I mentioned it in my original post I mentioned it in my original post. I used it and it says nobody's locking it. And ProcessExplorer, one of the first tools I installed, finds nobody using the drive D. I will look into diskmgmt.msc. Again, thanks. – Jacob Salomon Jul 27 '23 at 20:43
  • @JacobSalomon, If you cannot get Acronis TrueImage updated and working, you might try any of the other free imaging tools, such as Marcrium Reflect 8 free (https://www.techspot.com/downloads/5442-macrium-reflect-free.html), or these: https://www.easeus.com/backup-utility/free-windows-10-disk-imaging-software.html – DrMoishe Pippik Jul 27 '23 at 20:54