How to Fix ‘Former Volume Not Mounted’ Error

Some Windows users are reporting that they randomly see the ‘Former volume not mounted‘ error in their torrent client. Upon expanding the error, the message says that access to the disc where the files are stored is not available. This problem is reported to occur on the majority of popular torrent clients including BitTorrent, Utorrent, and Vuse.

After investigating this particular issue, it turns out that this problem can occur due to a few potential causes. Here’s a shortlist of potential culprits:

Method 1: Reconnect the problematic drive

If you’re using an external drive and you have the habit of disconnecting it frequently, you should start by disconnecting and reconnecting the problematic external drive.

This operation will force your OS to reassign a letter to the external drive which might resolve the problem automatically.

After you reconnect the external drive via the correct cable, reboot your torrent client and see if the problem is now resolved.

If the same ‘former volume not mounted‘ error is still occurring, move down to the next method below.

Method 2: Setting the correct download location

As it turns out, one of the most common instances that will trigger this error is when one (or more) of your torrents is referencing a download path that no longer exists.

This typically occurs when users initiate downloads on removable drives and then decide to remove them (while the file is downloading or seeding).

If this scenario is applicable, you can easily fix this problem by identifying the problematic torrent and setting the correct download location from the torrent settings.

To make things easier for you, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide on setting up the correct download location:

1. Open the torrent client that triggers the error for you, right-click on the torrent that’s causing the problem and click on Advanced > Set Download Location.

   

2. From the next menu, go ahead and navigate to the location where you store the torrent files and click on Select Folder once the correct location is selected.
3. Restart your torrent client and see if the problem is now resolved.

In case the same problem is still occurring, move down to the next potential fix below.

Method 3: Match the drive letter to the computer allocated drive (uTorrent Only)

If you’re using an external drive and you regularly disconnect it from your computer, it’s possible that when you connect it back, the drive letter allotted by your PC will change.

On Utorrent, this is will most likely occur due to a setting in the Preferences tab.

This is way more common than you might think. Fortunately, this is very easy to fix – You just need to modify the directories in the Preferences screen so they match the drive letter to computer allocated drive.

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide that will walk you through the steps of doing so:

1. Open Utorrent and use the ribbon bar at the top to click on Options, then click on Preferences from the newly appeared context menu.

   

2. Once you’re inside the Preferences window, click on Directories from the left-hand side, then move over the right-hand section and check if the drive letters match your current configuration.

   

3. Hit Apply to save the changes, then restart your uTorrent client and see if the problem is now resolved.

In case you still see the same ‘former volume not mounted‘ error, move down to the next potential fix below.

Method 4: Change drive letter from Disk Management

If you have a lot of different torrents affected by this error or you don’t want to change anything from your torrent client, you can go the other way around fixing this problem.

A different way of fixing the ‘former volume not mounted‘ error is to find out which drive letter your torrent client is expected and change the drive letter containing the torrent file to match using Disk Management.

If you’re looking for step by step clarifications, follow the instructions below to change the drive letter via Disk Management:

1. Start by opening your torrent client and check the error message. If you hover your mouse over the error, you should see the drive letter that your torrent client expects.
2. Once you know which letter your torrent client expects close it, then press Windows key + R to open up a Run command. Inside the text box of the Run window, type ‘diskmgmt.msc’ and press Enter to open up the Disk Management utility.

   

3. Once you’re inside the Disk Management utility, right-click on the drive letter that doesn’t match the torrent client equivalent and choose Change Drive Letters and Paths from the newly appeared context menu.

   

4. From the Change Drive Letter and Paths screen, click on the Change button.

   

5. From the Change Drive Letter or Path, select Assign the following drive letter, then use the drop-down menu to select the same drive letter that your torrent client expects.
6. Click Ok to save the changes, then restart your computer to allow these changes to take effect.
7. Once the next startup is complete, open your torrent client and see if the problem is now resolved.

If you’re still encountering the same ‘former volume not mounted‘ error, move down to the next potential fix below.

Method 5: Re-checking the problematic torrents

If none of the potential fixes above have worked for you, one thing you can try is to force your torrent client to re-check the problematic torrent. This operation was confirmed to be successful by both uTorrent and BitTorrent users.

But it’s not just on these 2 torrent clients – Every similar client of this kind has a Force Re-Check feature that can be initiated by right-clicking on the problematic torrent and choosing the option from the context menu.

Once the re-check procedure has been completed, restart your computer and see if the error goes away the next time you start your torrent client.

If the same problem is still occurring, move down to the next potential fix below.

Method 6: Modifying the resume.dat file (uTorrent Only)

If you don’t mind modifying config files, one additional way of resolving this particular error code is to use an enhanced text editor like Notepad++ to replace all instances of the incorrect drive letter from the resume.dat file of uTorrent.

Important: The resume.dat file is sensible in the sense that after you modify it, you need to keep the exact length (only the path letter can be modified)

Several affected users that were also encountering the ‘former volume not mounted‘ error have confirmed that they managed to fix the error by using Notepad++ to replace every incorrect instance from the resume.dat files.

Here are some step-by-step instructions on how to do this:

1. Start by ensuring that every instance of uTorrent is closed and no process is running in the background.
2. Next, visit the official download page of Notepad++ and download the installer for the most recent version of the text editor.

   

   Note: You can potentially do the modifications below to the default text editor (Notepad), but this is not recommended as you run the risk of editing the wrong information.

3. Once the download is complete, open the Notepad++ installer and follow the on-screen prompts to install the software on your computer.

   

4. Once the installation is complete, press Windows key + R to open up a Run dialog box. Inside the text box, type ‘%AppData%\uTorrent\’ and press Enter to navigate directly to the location where resume.dat is stored.

   

5. Inside the uTorrent folder from Appdata, right-click on resume.dat and choose Edit with Notepad++ from the newly appeared context menu.

   

   Note: At this point, it might be a good idea to copy the resume.dat file in case you end up making a modification that breaks it. You can back this file up simply by copying the file and pasting it onto a different drive or folder.

6. Once the file is opened in Notepad++, use the ribbon at the top to access Search, then click on Replace.
   

   

7. Once you’re inside the Replace window, set the Find what box to the incorrect path (e.g. C:\Downloads\), then set the Replace with a box with the correct path (e.g. D:\Downloads\).
8. Next, kickstart the replace operation by clicking on the Replace All button.

   

9. Next, save the modifications you operated on the file and make sure you keep the name exactly the same.
10. Finally, restart your computer and see if the issue is now resolved by opening uTorrent once the next startup is complete.