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Error 0x800701b1: A non-existent device is specified predominantly appears in two situations. One of them is an attempt to copy some files from the flash drive to the internal memory of the computer (HDD or SSD – it doesn’t matter). Another scenario is when you enter the Disk Management utility on Windows 10, only in this case it simply displays “A non-existent device” is displayed. As it turned out, there are quite a few reasons for the error code 0x800701b1, but most of them can be fixed. This is what we are going to do now.

Causes of Error 0x800701b1

Based on user reports, it was possible to calculate the following reasons for the failure:

• Drive letter in “Disk Management” and in “Explorer” are different… It is enough to change it and restart the computer. Such a measure should be sufficient.
• Insufficient rights to use the disk… In other words, the current account does not have full privileges to manage the computer’s internal and external memory. The solution is to assign ownership of the disc to the current profile.
• Malfunctioning drivers BIOS and chipset… Outdated software can disrupt the stability of your computer with external drives.
• Damage to important sectors of the disk… They can be found and isolated with special utilities.
• Incompatibility of computer file systems and additional devices…
• Damage USB connector, to which the flash drive or external hard drive is connected. Plus, the connection cord itself may fail in the case of an HDD.
• Broken exit SATA on motherboard… You can try switching to a different connector.

How do I fix the “Specified non-existent device” crash?

The fixes will be aimed at fixing the above problems in the simplest and shortest way. In some sections, there will be additional actions that you can perform as you wish.

1) Configure access rights to the drive

One of the most common problems that can trigger error 0x800701b1 in Windows 10 is the lack of privileges to access the drive. This can be easily fixed from an account with sufficient authority.

Instructions for setting access rights:

1. Open “My Computer” or “This Computer”.
2. Among the available sections, right-click on the one that is causing the problem and select “Properties”.
3. Click on the “Security” section and under the “Groups and users” column click on the “Change” button.
4. Click on “Users” once and put the flags in the “Allow” line.
5. We do the same for accounts with administrator rights.

2) Change the connection port

As we already wrote, the problem may be in a damaged port. The most logical thing to do to figure out the nature of the problem is to switch to other connectors. It is worth trying the other USB inputs on the front, back, and keyboard (if available). Rarely, but we have seen a breakdown of a whole block of ports on the system unit or laptop case. In this case, no devices will work via USB.

Another point – the SATA connector on the motherboard could fail or become covered with dirt. There should be at least several of them. You can temporarily turn off a drive or other storage device and check if the internal hard drive is working with it. An additional recommendation is to change SATA cables every few years. They dry out very quickly due to high temperatures, which manifests itself in various computer malfunctions.

The above steps do not fix the problem itself. If the USB or SATA input is really damaged, there are 2 ways left: use others or repair these. They can be re-soldered, this is not a particularly difficult procedure, you can do it yourself. If you do not have the skills to work with a soldering iron, it is better to contact the service center. First, you need to try to clean them well by removing large pieces of debris with a toothpick and removing the remains with compressed air.

3) Change drive letter

Windows 10 can assign different drive letters in Disk Management and in Windows Explorer. Thus, we try to access disk F, the request is made, but the system cannot find it, perceiving it as H. The letter incompatibility is easily solved programmatically.

What should be done:

1. Select “Start” with the right mouse button (or press Win + X) and go to the “Disk Management” section.
2. We perform a right click on the problematic section of the drive and click on the option “Change drive letter or path to disk”.
3. Click on the “Change” button and select one of the unused letters.
4. After completing the procedure, we return to the main window “Disk Management”, click on the volume with RMB and select “Mark as active”.
5. Be sure to restart your computer.

4) Configure BIOS and drivers

Motherboard drivers do not need frequent updates, which is why they become very outdated and no longer able to fulfill their function. The system does not start to work very stably. To update the motherboard BIOS and chipset drivers, visit the manufacturer’s website. There you can not only download the current versions, but also get tips on how to perform the procedure in specific conditions.

5) Recover bad sectors

Failure of individual sectors is a rather sad problem, as it indicates significant wear and tear on the drive. You can independently extend the life of such a HDD, but in general, the destruction processes are irreversible. Sometimes it is possible to bring them back to life with stress tests. In any case, this should serve as a signal to purchase a new drive and back up important data.

The easiest way to find and eliminate bad sectors is to enter the command in the command line with administrator rights chkdsk c: / r and wait a bit. As a result, a report on the work done will be displayed. If you cannot restore the broken sectors, you should use more functional software, for example, Victoria. With its help, you can trim problem areas of the disk, they will no longer take part in the formation of the file system and data storage.

6) Format the disk

The connected drive may be in a format other than NTFS. Windows 10 either does not work with them at all, or interacts very unstably. If the drive does not contain important data, it is best to format it to NTFS. This can be done by right-clicking on the drive and choosing Format. If you have the necessary files, you can use the convert to NTFS method, but without any data loss. To do this, just enter the command convert drive (drive letter) /fs:ntfs, instead of (drive letter), insert the title of the volume you want to convert.

7) Reinstall disk

We have heard a lot about the “healing” properties of the procedure for disconnecting and reconnecting a drive, so you can try this method.

What should be done:

1. Right-click on Start and select “Disk Management”.
2. Right-click on the problem drive, then on the “Properties” option.
3. Go to the “Drivers” tab and select “Uninstall”.
4. Unplug the drive and plug it back in.

If it transfers it to the wrong place, we can start the procedure through the Device Manager tool.

Error 0x800701b1: A non-existent device in Windows 10 has a high chance of being fixed by the methods listed above. However, as a result of investigating the failure, we have seen situations in which the problem was a drive failure. Hopefully it won’t come to this, but maybe you still have to buy a new storage medium.