External SSD gone missing

[johnblatch]

Hi, I wonder if someone can help me with this.
I have a Dell 8930 with internal 256SSD plus 1Tb HDD. The latter went missing and I was unable to correct the error after using Troubleshooter and other advice from the net, so I bought an external 1Tb SSD (Samsung T7) and plugged it in. It showed up OK, I was able to re-direct new apps to the drive and I installed a game on it which ran perfectly. I just checked and the drive no longer shows up in the System Storage section, and new apps are directed to the C drive (internal SSD256). The game I installed on the external SSD still runs OK.
Can anyone help?
Thanks
john

[Bruce]

the new 1TB external SSD, have you plugged that into another PC to see if it works there?

[johnblatch]

No, I only have one PC so that would be difficult. I want to be clear, the drive is working because I can run the game that is installed on it, but it doesn’t show up on the system.

[Bruce]

if you go to System > Storage, only C:\ is shown.
you have to go to System > Storage > Advanced > Storage used on other drives, then you’ll see all your drives.

or just use Disk Management or File Explorer - do you see the 1TB external drive then?

[johnblatch]

OK, so it doesnt appear on the system>storage on other drives, but it does show under the disk management and file explorer.
Given this, how can I direct new apps to the external drive (C drive is almost full)?

[Bruce]

during the installing of new programs, most offer the chance to tell the software where to install.
it shows the default location and allows you to change it.
doesn’t happen all the time, but most give the opportunity.
if the offer isn’t shown, you can’t change it.

[johnblatch]

OK, cool. Thanks for your help.

[Bruce]

no worries.
happy computing. (y)