external-drives-feature-image

How To Fix Problem With External Hard Drive

Macrium Reflect is great backup software. So great that when they discontinued the free version in 2022 I decided to buy the paid version. Currently, the only free Macrium Reflect is the 30-day trial. I’ve had no problems with Macrium Reflect. However, I’ve had problems for a few months with disconnecting the hard drive where I save the backups. The problem was that this caused significant delays in Macrium Reflect and greatly delayed my disconnection of the external hard drive.

The Problem

The problems with Macrium Reflect were that there was a long delay (5 to 10 minutes) in starting the backup and similarly in showing the Macrium Console, but eventually each backup ran and was completed successfully. Sadly, Macrium support was of no help, so I was on my own. It appeared to me that Windows was indexing the hard drive after each Macrium Reflect backup. I said to myself “No problem”. My dedicated drive for backups is “D:”. I’ll just go to “D:”, open the Properties, and turn off indexing by unchecking the box next to “Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties”, as shown below:

Unfortunately, this did nothing to eliminate the problem. Perplexed, I suffered with the delays until it struck me that there must be another solution.

The Solution

Sure enough, I found another place where I must stop indexing the external hard drive. It was in Control Panel. Why it should be necessary to stop indexing an external hard drive in two places is beyond me.

First, make sure your external hard drive with this problem is connected. Now open Control Panel by using Windows to search for, you guessed it, “Control Panel”, and choose it at the top of the search results. Next, choose “Indexing Options”, as shown below:

Now you will see this where you must click on the “Modify” button:

Next, uncheck the box next to your external hard drive and click the “OK” button as shown below and your problem is solved.

Your feedback on this article is welcome. Please use the Comments section below to respond.

2 thoughts on “How To Fix Problem With External Hard Drive”

  1. Thank You. I have endured this problem for months now with Macrium and am so pleased to finally have a solution.

    1. Hi Tom,
      Thank you so much for your response to my article. I know EXACTLY how you felt, having endured this problem for months as you have. I can’t believe that many others using Macrium, or possibly other software delayed by indexing of an external drive, aren’t complaining. However, it’s great knowing I helped at least one person …… YOU.
      Stu

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Exit mobile version

WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER?

Get great content like this delivered to your inbox!

It's free, convenient, and delivered right to your inbox! We do not spam and we will not share your address. Period!