Windows 10 is removing files that were recently accessed or made on an external drive.
Windows 10 is removing files that were recently accessed or made on an external drive.
There really isn't much point in storing files for future use. It feels strange to most people unless they're aware of it. Caching was set to no use by default when I looked into it. As a physical storage device, you can touch it and sense any movement or vibrations from the spinning platters. The drive usually slows down between 30 seconds to a minute after writing something. That’s not the main problem, though—files are copied accurately, but when moved from desktop to laptop, they might not arrive if the target is accessed while the source is still offline. Sometimes it works the other way too, but it’s rare. As I mentioned before, I power off the drive when it’s not in use and simply remove it instead of pulling it out. After restarting, I ran the Windows drive scan and repair tool, and it completed in about two minutes. The available space on the drive increased slightly from 600gb to 603gb, but I still encounter missing files occasionally. The SMART scan didn’t show any changes.
I don't think caching for extended periods would be practical, especially around that percentage. My drives seem to work fine as long as they spin, or at least I believed. If they slow down, it affects speed and responsiveness. I rarely shut down my system, though I do hibernate occasionally—especially on my laptop. With multiple projects running, rebooting can take hours, which isn't ideal. Loading times aren't the main issue; it's more about getting everything back up efficiently. I'd prefer a reliability similar to long-running Linux servers, measured in years rather than days.
Caching enables the hard drive to signal a write is complete before the actual operation finishes. The drive eventually writes the cached contents, but if power cuts out beforehand, it never finishes. The benefit comes from quicker responses. Writing caching helps applications that pause due to disk delays keep going sooner. Using the phrase "writes will take longer" isn't ideal, but it captures the intent. EDIT: If data movement surpasses cache capacity, using cache isn't practical—it doesn't make sense. One scenario where this would be useful is during page swapping; you'd prioritize speed over cache usage.