Solution: USB mass storage device network drive conflict

[moriartyNZ]

I recently had a problem and it took me hours to find an
obscure post that enabled me to solve it. I thought I
would share it as the solution was so hard to find.

In short, if you have a usb mass storage device (like a
mmc or sd card reader) that allocates a drive letter
automatically, the drive letter could potentially
conflict with mapped network drives on your system.
Where this is the case (or if you simply don't like the
drive letter that has been allocated):
1) click Start
2) right-click My Computer
3) click Manage on the popup menu
4) click Disk Management (Under Computer Management)
5) In the list of drives in the right pane, right-click
the problematic Removable Device and then click Change
Drive Letter and Paths.
6) Click Change
7) In the drop-down box, choose a new drive letter for
the Removable Device that is not assigned to mapped
network drives
8) Click OK
9) click OK again.
10) Your device should now be allocated to a free drive
letter that does not conflict with your network drive.

QED

 

[Pavel]

Yes, this is a known problem. My solution was to give each such device a
Volume name and then assign a drive letter to this device. The WindowsXP
seems to keep track of named devices and it assigns the same drive letter to
this device each time you re-insert it. Then as long as you do not use this
drive letter for mapped drive you be ok.
In addition, when such device does not have assigned drive letter, WindowsXP
will pick the next available letter, so again, as long as you keep your
mapped drive selection above these letters, you will be get no conflict as
long as you do not exceed the limit imposed by the number of letters in the
alphabet.