I have some experience with Linux distros, but I have primarily been using Windows; I do want to get away from Windows, I suppose to some Linux distro, but every time I try to do that I run into problems that require searching for a solution. When a solution is found, often offered by some snarky jerk with questionable teaching authority, it frequently requires going in and tinkering with one or more system settings, not knowing what side effects that tinkering will have; sometimes the effects are quickly visible: things no longer work.
A typical problem with Zorin (and apparently other distros) is the system failing to auto-mount partitions which have been designated as "mount at startup". It seems to me that it is quite reasonable to expect this to work: the system either auto-mounts these partitions or it doesn't, and if it doesn't it is a failure in the system. This a trivial problem; the easy solution is to manually make sure the partitions are mounted before using them, but why? I don't care if the failure is ultimately the fault of Ubuntu or Debian or Canonical or whoever: in this case I expect Zorin to fix that problem, at least for the Zorin distro, so that a Windows escapee can install Zorin and not have to experience that kind of problem. Is this expectation unreasonable or illogical? For the sake of the "cause", please fix this auto-mount problem.
In the Disks app, have you set the partitions to automount?
I know that on one of mine, I needed to click the toggle for User Session Defaults. If that is toggled to on, it will not obey the checkboxes below that say Mount at system startup.
This is normal when moving to a new operating system. As a very long time Windows user, I often ran into "illegal operation" or "Error at 8x00000" and what have you. And searching for answers was equally hair-pulling.
I know what you mean about "elitism" in GnuLinux - it is something we try to move away from, here.
I would suggest simply adding entries in /etc/fstab to automatically mount file systems or logical volumes at startup, if you haven't done so.
I wish that the screen that pops up would be a little more clear in that that setting is NOT being followed presently. I almost wish that you had to disable "User Session Defaults" for it to show the more settings that are below. Reason being is because the "greyed out" area makes it LOOK like it should be mounting at startup, when it's really not.
Even after so long of doing it, every once in a blue moon I take a quick glance like that and get confused for a brief second.
It really should and most apps operate just that way.
This has been noted for several years as a problem. But.
Gnome.