USB changing drive designation

[Mary Hartman]

I have been doing my backups on alternating USB drives. When I first
installed them I designated one as drive "M:" and the other as drive
"N:". I did this so that the drive designation would not be effected
if another USB drive was connected.

Recently, both of these USB drives have decided to reconnect as drive
"D:" Is there a way to prevent this from happening because the backup
program is looking for Drive "M:" or "N:" not drive "D:"?

Thank you,

 

[Bob I]

Here at Mr. Sieber's site.
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html

 

[Jon]

The previous comment in this thread was actually made by "Mary Hartman"

I have been doing my backups on alternating USB drives. When I first
installed them I designated one as drive "M:" and the other as drive
"N:". I did this so that the drive designation would not be effected
if another USB drive was connected.

Recently, both of these USB drives have decided to reconnect as drive
"D:" Is there a way to prevent this from happening because the backup
program is looking for Drive "M:" or "N:" not drive "D:"?

Thank you,

You set permanent drive letters in Disk Management

Start > Run > diskmgmt.msc

Right-click drive > Change drive letter.....

 

[Mary Hartman]

That is where I set them (the disk manager). And they stayed that way
for quite a while. They just BOTH suddently changed and I can't
figure a reason why.

 

[R. McCarty]

Are the devices High Speed (USB 2.0) or Full Speed ( USB 1(.1)) ?

USB 1.1 devices can be socket dependant. If you have a device and
use it on say Socket #3 and then insert it to # 5 - it's possible that XP
will see this as a new instance of the device. In that case any previously
assigned drive letters do not apply.
If this is what your situation is, you'll have "Phantom" entries in Device
Manager. These are devices that XP knows existed at some time in the
current Hardware Profile but aren't currently connected or powered on.

Hard to give you exact information without knowing which particular
vendor/model units you're having difficulties with.

Best with USB 1.1 devices to always re-use the same socket if possible.

 

[Fred S *****]

Mary,

One quick question, are you using Zone Alarm? If so, what version please.

Fred S

 

[Mary Hartman]

There is no Zone Alarm on the computer.

Everything is USB2.

Both USB devices go into the same socket. Actually 2 sockets. I am
using BYTECC HD-201U2 (SILVER) Aluminum 2.5" USB2.0 mini External
Enclosure. They are USB powered and use 2 USB sockets to provide
enough power.

The drives inside are both Seagate Momentus 5400.3 ST980815A 80GB 5400
RPM 8MB Cache ATA-6 Notebook Hard Drive.

I never take the USB cord out of the computer. I detach the drive
housing from the end of the cable and connect the 2nd to the same
cable when it's time to change them.

Mary

 

[Jon]

The reason I decided to write that, was mainly because "Mary Hartman"

There is no Zone Alarm on the computer.

Everything is USB2.

Both USB devices go into the same socket. Actually 2 sockets. I am
using BYTECC HD-201U2 (SILVER) Aluminum 2.5" USB2.0 mini External
Enclosure. They are USB powered and use 2 USB sockets to provide
enough power.

The drives inside are both Seagate Momentus 5400.3 ST980815A 80GB 5400
RPM 8MB Cache ATA-6 Notebook Hard Drive.

I never take the USB cord out of the computer. I detach the drive
housing from the end of the cable and connect the 2nd to the same
cable when it's time to change them.

Mary

Turning off System Restore for the usb drives may help

Right-click My Computer > Properties > System Restore