Feature: Hide empty drives without attached media

[Lamparter]

Description

Recently I plugged in an SD card reader extension in to my computer. It comes with multiple SD card slots (MMC, microSD, SDHC, xD etc.) and so plugging it in creates a new disk interface in Disk Management.

These drives (F:, H:, I:, J:) are hidden in File Explorer automatically, which makes sense considering there is no data inside them and the SD card reader extension has nothing plugged into it.

However, in Files they display on the homepage and in the sidebar.

Trying to open these drives results in an access denied error. This error is not logged.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Plug in a drive with no media attached
2. See the drive appear in Files

Requirements

• Detect drives that have no media
• Remove them from the interface

Files Version

3.7.11.0

Windows Version

10.0.22631.4391

User ID

0b679509-8cd1-45cb-8f30-b5fd16be82cc

Log File

View full log contents

```b 2024-11-02 17:30:30.2403|Information|App launched. Launch args type: LaunchActivatedEventArgs 2024-11-02 17:30:30.8119|Information|Adding cloud provider "Creative Cloud" mapped to {0} 2024-11-02 17:30:31.1306|Information|Drive added: C:\, Fixed 2024-11-02 17:30:31.1731|Information|Drive added: D:\, Fixed 2024-11-02 17:30:31.3555|Information|Drive added: E:\, Fixed 2024-11-02 17:30:31.3734|Warning|Unauthorized: Attempting to add the device, F:\, failed at the StorageFolder initialization step. This device will be ignored. 2024-11-02 17:30:31.4069|Information|Drive added: G:\, Removable 2024-11-02 17:30:31.4267|Warning|Unauthorized: Attempting to add the device, H:\, failed at the StorageFolder initialization step. This device will be ignored. 2024-11-02 17:30:31.4356|Warning|Unauthorized: Attempting to add the device, I:\, failed at the StorageFolder initialization step. This device will be ignored. 2024-11-02 17:30:31.4664|Warning|Unauthorized: Attempting to add the device, J:\, failed at the StorageFolder initialization step. This device will be ignored. 2024-11-02 17:30:31.4884|Information|Adding cloud provider "OneDrive" mapped to D:\OneDrive 2024-11-02 17:30:31.4932|Information|Drive added: Z:\, Network 2024-11-02 17:30:31.5580|Information|Drive added: G:\ 2024-11-02 17:30:31.5670|Information|Drive added: J:\ 2024-11-02 17:30:31.5787|Information|Drive added: I:\ 2024-11-02 17:30:31.5908|Information|Drive added: F:\ 2024-11-02 17:30:31.6022|Information|Drive added: H:\ 2024-11-02 17:30:31.6069|Information|Adding cloud provider "OneDrive - {0}" mapped to D:\OneDrive - {0} ```

2024-11-02 17:30:31.3734 | Warning | Unauthorized: Attempting to add the device, "F:\", failed at the StorageFolder initialization step; this device will be ignored.
2024-11-02 17:30:31.4267 | Warning | Unauthorized: Attempting to add the device, "H:\", failed at the StorageFolder initialization step; this device will be ignored.
2024-11-02 17:30:31.4356 | Warning | Unauthorized: Attempting to add the device, "I:\", failed at the StorageFolder initialization step; this device will be ignored.
2024-11-02 17:30:31.4664 | Warning | Unauthorized: Attempting to add the device, "J:\", failed at the StorageFolder initialization step; the device will be ignored.

---

There is a high chance that this issue has already been reported, though I couldn't find anything similar while searching.

[Josh65-2201]

It was decided a while ago to not hide them https://github.com/files-community/Files/issues/9170#issuecomment-1247521970

[Lamparter]

That's a ridiculous choice since they see essentially useless being there as they lead to an error. Perhaps making the tile appear disabled would useful in this case.

[0x5bfa]

In fact, it's confusing while these removable media don't have physical storage space (it's not the case for DVD drive). @Lamparter Can you access these hidden drives from address bar in File Explorer?

[yaira2]

If there is enough interest in changing the behavior, I'm not against making this change.

[Lamparter]

@yaira2 would you like to move forward with this? Perhaps you could create a poll in the server if it isn't going too far.

[Lamparter]

Can you access these hidden drives from address bar in File Explorer?

@0x5bfa sorry, I didn't see your question!

This little dialogue appears when typing in the drive letter.

Perhaps it might be good if a smaller drive widget appears in the drive section with an "insert media" label and a similar dialogue appearing when clicked.

[yaira2]

@yaira2 would you like to move forward with this? Perhaps you could create a poll in the server if it isn't going too far.

Let's move forward with this.