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When I connect my WD external hard drive (F:), it also shows up as a CD drive (E:). I tried a different USB port - same problem. This drive is an older model (about 8" X 6" container). I googled this situation and all I could find to try was to format the drive, which I did. It still shows the CD drive. Following is a screen shot from "This PC" after the format.
Following is what is shown when I Open the CD Drive. Note the dates. Since I formatted the hard drive, where is this information coming from ?
Following is a screen shot from Disk Management:
Before I formatted the hard drive, I had created a System Image on it, and the message said "completed successfully", and the information on the drive looked like the right stuff. But I am concerned what would happen if I tried to restore the System Image with the drive also showing up as a CD drive.
Any ideas ?
thanks
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Just ran into the same problem and figured out the Cause and Solution.
Cause: The drive was formatted as an Apple OS X APFS drive, and then used by a backup program called SuperDuper (disk backup image application for Macs).
Solution: Plugged the drive into my MacBook Pro and Erased (reformatted) the drive using FAT32 option. Plug the newly formatted drive back into my Win10 Pro PC and voila! Drive is displayed as an external drive.
HTH
Jim
Greg, again thanks for pursuing this. Before I try the tests you suggested, I ran into the following while googling - it seems to describe what I am seeing. I don't recall seeing the cd showing up in the past, but I have not used this external disk for quite awhile, and maybe I just overlooked it. I wonder if it is related to specific hard disk models.
Software and Firmware Downloads | WD Support
support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?FW&lang=en&family=wdsmartwareutilitiesmac
A small portion of drive space on your new My Passport or My Book hard drive has been used to create a Virtual CD (VCD). The VCD contains the WD SmartWare installation software, the encryption and password protection application, User Manuals, and other resource files.
If what I am seeing is to be expected, I am sorry for taking up your time. I will try your test suggestions anyway.
rockydean
Greg, thanks for the response.
I did run the "Clean All" function and that appeared to work ok. After that, Disk Management said I "must initialize the disk before Logical Disk Manager Can Access It. Use the following partition style for the selected disk." It gave me 2 options. I choose the one that appeared to be the default: GUID Partition Table.
After that, the disk looked good, except the CD Drive (E:) still showed up. I have not figured out how to insert the information in this post, so following is a partial list of the information that shows up when I open the CD Drive:
Extras, User Manuals, WD Smart Ware, … several more. All of these show a Date Modified of year 2009.
This makes absolutely no sense to me. After running Clean All and formatting, how could there be information going clear back to 2009.
It's almost like there is some information in the operating system on my internal hard drive that is somehow remembering the external hard drive. Crazy.
Also, there is no option to delete the CD Drive.
I guess I best purchase a different external hard drive. BTW, I have other types of WD external hard drives that do not have this problem.
Rocky, you'll need to save each snip with the Snipping tool as a file, then attach them where you want them placed by using the Attach Image button on Reply box toolbar.
You can test the backup image by queuing it up to make sure it's detected.
What's most important is the drive is sound so I'd test it with drive diagnostics to be certain:
https://www.lifewire.com/free-hard-drive-testin...
It seems you've tried everything else, although when you reformatted it I would have wiped the drive first with Diskpart Clean Command to make sure no boot- or partition table-level code is interfering:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/85819-erase...
I know of no specific fixes for a external hard drive being detected as CD/DVD as it's apparently very rare.
I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and keep me posted. If you will wait to choose if I resolved your problem, I will keep working with you until it's resolved.
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I used the Snip tool to paste the screens. They showed up, but after I submitted this post, they are now gone. ????
