The drive detection and adding an additional drive letter to that drive should have been pretty dang quick. Turn off the computer and double check your connections are fully seated etc.
Accessing user files does take a long time the first time you do it. As far as Windows ( or any OS that has user permissions ) is concerned... Rob from Computer A is not Rob from Computer B... so each and every file permission in the user folder and sub-folder permissions needs to be updated to add the new "Rob" to it's list.
Maybe I'm biased here but... 99% of the driver utility programs I've seen on my clients computers were either malicious, adware or spyware. Almost the same can be said of PDF programs and similar utils that are not mainstream brands. Any software you may think of as possibly useful can fall into this trap, so close research of the program you may be considering is warranted. I do a generic search about the program name and include terms such as "virus, spyware, adware" ( in separate searchs, not all together ) and scan through the first couple of page results to see if anything has been reported.
Driver software packages, even the simplest ones are more than just a "*.sys" file. They also must include the "*.INF" file which describes what files the printer uses, the printer name and ID numbers, what version of Windows the driver is made to work with etc... not to mention possible language specific ones.
You will likely have to download the Win8.1 version of the drivers for your computer which can be found here
Canon Support for PIXMA MP480 | Canon U.S.A., Inc.
The other software utils they have do support newer versions of Windows of which there are Win11 versions... but the printer is so old that the drivers have not been updated like the software has. So first, if you use them... download the included util software... then get the Win8.1 drivers and install it. They probably didn't digitally "sign" those drivers back then either... which means you'll need to look up on Google on how to force an older driver into Windows. If you are lucky and they were signed, it may complain about them but should install.
Digitally signing drivers has been a thing for a number of years so Windows can verify and validate that the files included have not been tampered with. Because companies do get hacked and could have their keys they use to digitally sign a file stolen... it isn't ever recommended to download drivers from 3rd party sites.
Side rant... It's amazing on how much work hackers will do in order that they infect other peoples computers... just to get out of working at a real job.
For consumer grade printer replacements ( if needed at some point )... I don't use enough printers to recommend a specific make/model. I do however see that Canon and Epson are typically the brands mentioned in reviews for better photo quality printers but their ink is costly... and Brother is mentioned as the better workhorse printers with ink costs being more reasonable. Hp printers are usually well made enough but the company has become so greedy that they keep trying to block users from using 3rd party inks by just not working unless you install their ink... and they are also making users pay subscriptions for the inks cartridges they do sell instead of just a one time purchase when they need replacing. These tactics make me NEVER recommend any HP product printer or otherwise.