Strange window on the comuter screen

no.. they have they too be used at the same time

i'm forced to limit my use to TWO devices on the available usb ports
there fore i have to choose to use two external hard drives out of four available
or ONE HD and the DVD drive
NO internal cd/dvd

if i am processing a video from one drive and storing the finished product on another drive, it takes BOTH of the available ports
then to burn or transfer that file i have to unplug the first drive and connect the dvd burner

none of that has anything to do OP problem
Except that PC sometimes gives me the same message

when i get MY laptop back , all will be well

MrWizard wrote:
I have a USB hub, it is not practical for my uses
Processing and transferring video information between drives sharing the same port on the laptop, by sharing that port using a hub
Not practical..slows down too much

Switching is faster?

I have a USB hub, it is not practical for my uses
Processing and transferring video information between drives sharing the same port on the laptop, by sharing that port using a hub
Not practical..slows down too much

Get a usb hub and you can connect all you want.

i have seen that window
on this (less than 4 weeks old) Dell LOANER
when some process expected my external DVD burner to have a disc inside
this laptop has NO cd/dvd drive
and i have to use an external
i only load it, when i'm going to burn a disc
but occasionally this thing thinks there is supposed to media inside
i think its a bug in windows 8.1

yeah yeah .. i know somebody is going to NOT agree with me
never had this problem on my win8 Lenovo
only on this win8.1 DELL

this thing is also short on USB ports
and i have too swap around between my external Hard Drives
and i have trouble disconnecting
it will tell me can not do that because the drive is in use
when i closed all windows and programs, that been accessing that drive
whether it is the Dell hardware , BIOS or the win8.1
it is still a Royal Pain
and NO.. i am NOT going to in depth research diagnostic and meddeling
this thing is NOT mine, it is a LOANER from Frys and going back in the next 2~4 weeks, when mine comes back from repair

This could indicate an imminent failure of one of your hard drives or disc controllers. Could also be a loose or defective cable. Check you connections.

You may also want to run error checking and disc utilities to determine the status of the affected drive.

Did you run or access anything from the external? It sounds like something is trying to find it or it is conflicting with another drive.

It could also be that you changed (by removing and reattaching) the drive letter of the external, which something was accessing.


Reboot with external disconnected then reconnect after you log in.