Windows Server 2016
A Microsoft server operating system that supports enterprise-level management updated to data storage.
2,370 questions
Non-existent virtual disk drive found on Windows Server 2016
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(73.60000000000001, 48%, 17%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EO%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
oldsports
21
Reputation points
I have a relatively simple Windows Server 2016 Essentials set-up. The 3 internal SATA drives are for the operating system (120GB), shared data (2TB) and Plex server files (1TB). There are 2 external USB drives for client computer back-ups (1TB) and server internal drive back-ups (4TB).
Everything has been running smoothly since installation this summer until the external 1TB hard drive started failing. It was a 3.5" hard drive in a USB case; I replaced it with a 2.5" hard drive in a USB case because I had it handy. I moved the client back-up folders to the new hard drive and everything seemed normal again.
Recently, I started receiving an Information message stating that a new hard drive is available on my server. It says that the drive is "Msft Virtual Disk Drive #5". I have not set up any virtual disk drives, so I assume that this must somehow be related to switching out the 1TB drive. I do not recall seeing this message prior to switching out the 1TB drive, but I cannot 100% swear to it. The odd thing is that when I look at the drives using the Disk Management app, it reports the 1TB drive as an "extended partition" and "logical drive" where all of the other drives (including the 4TB external drive) are reported as "primary partitions".
Any clues as to what is happening? Thanks!