External Hdd Issues

I've recently bought an external 2TB USB3.0 HDD from Samsung and while the speed for a USB is very good, theres some strange problems. Ever since I 1st gave it a name, volume label ETC, the 'icon' for the drive (which would appear in 'Computer'/My Computer) is now just a "missing icon" symbol. The same goes for shortcuts to any games & programs I install on the drive. I've already done the trick to stop the HDD letter changing every time you plug it in.

Things look pretty ugly with "missing icon" symbols everywhere. Why would the HDD icon work the first time I set the drive up, but never again? Ever so often, (such as if I install a new game on the HDD) it seems like all the icons (except the HDD icon itself) will work again but as soon as I unplug the drive or turn off the PC, it all goes to cop once again.

Any ideas how to make this work as intended? Cheers!

Drive: M3 Portable... OS: Win7 Ultimate 64bit

 

Try rebuilding the Icon Cache.
First show Hidden System Files.
Then go here.
C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Local and delete IconCache.db
Restart your PC.

 

Thanks I'll try that now. I also read that you can fix it by deleting 'Desktop.Ini' from the drive but mine doesn't have one (after showing hidden files & protected OS files).

 

Sadly it didn't work. All shortcuts to things installed on the external are still showing 'missing icons'. Only the most recently installed game has a working icon. I did manage to make the HDD icon finally reappear though. I deleted the 'Autorun.inf' file from the HDD root, so atleast I'm halfway there now.

 

Is there an autorun file in the root of the external drive?

 

Yea there was an autorun file in the root of the external drive. I deleted it, and this restored the icon for the drive itself (godknows why lol) but any and all shortcut icons for things installed on the drive are still broken, even after rebuilding the Icon Cache.

On the drive right now are a copy of mass data backups (the main purpose of the drive) and I've also installed games on it. I had to learn how to stop the drive letter changing every time I reconnected it but once I did, all installed games/apps worked fine (except for the icon problem).

 

Are there any other files, including hidden files, in the rooot of the drive?

 

Autorun.inf was the only one in the root.

There are some hidden folders though: ('MSdownload.tmp' which is empty, '$Recycle.Bin' and 'System Volume Information, which I can't access despite being the only user and the admin). These only show if I untick "hide protected OS files" BTW.

When I first bought the drive, there were random app installers in the root folder (Portable Secret Zone, Samsung Drive Manager, Secure Unlock Win, and a folder containing manuals in different languages). To keep things looking tidy, I moved those into a folder called "M3 System Stuff". I'm not sure if that could be the cause. It can't be, right? All thats in there is installer files but its something I forgot to mention!

 

That's definitely not the cause.
If it was my drive, I would move everything to another drive and format the drive. Start afresh.