USB Drive seen as removable drive instead of local drive

  • Thread starter thierry(point)benchetrit_news
  • Start date
T

thierry(point)benchetrit_news

Hi,

I have two usb memory keys from two vendors. The first one is seen as a
local drive, so I am able to backup it doing an image with DriveImage or
other products. The second one is seen as a removable drive. And I am
not able to do image backup, but only file backup.

Do you know a way to force the system (WinXP Home) to recognize the
second drive as a local drive ? (Do not tell me to choose a key from the
first vendor.)

Or do you know a way (I have already tested powerquest driveimage and
acronis trueimage, so I need either a way to force them to recognize the
disk, or a name of another software that support image backup while the
system is running and allow compression, password protection, and
browsing of the image) to do a image backup.

Regards,

Thierry
 
J

Jim Macklin

Which two different USB thumb drives do you have, make and
model? I understand that there are different chipsets in
these types of drives, some function one way and others
function differently and that is fixed by hardware.



"thierry(point)benchetrit_news"
message | Hi,
|
| I have two usb memory keys from two vendors. The first one
is seen as a
| local drive, so I am able to backup it doing an image with
DriveImage or
| other products. The second one is seen as a removable
drive. And I am
| not able to do image backup, but only file backup.
|
| Do you know a way to force the system (WinXP Home) to
recognize the
| second drive as a local drive ? (Do not tell me to choose
a key from the
| first vendor.)
|
| Or do you know a way (I have already tested powerquest
driveimage and
| acronis trueimage, so I need either a way to force them to
recognize the
| disk, or a name of another software that support image
backup while the
| system is running and allow compression, password
protection, and
| browsing of the image) to do a image backup.
|
| Regards,
|
| Thierry
 
T

thierry(point)benchetrit_news

The one that is not recognize as local drive is from DiskOnKey, the
model is the one that is USB2.0.
 
J

Jim Macklin

They have a webpage http://www.diskonkey.com/ that lists
FAQs under support.
What should I do after I insert the DiskOnKey into
the USB port?

After the DiskOnKey is inserted for the first time
into the computer, the operating system performs a
recognition process. When the process is complete, the
DiskOnKey appears as a hard drive in the system, and can be
used as any other drive. In a computer running Windows,
click on the My Computer icon and look for an icon labeled
as the removable storage device. Click on it and begin
working. In a Macintosh computer, the DiskOnKey will appear
as a removable disk on the desktop.


My DiskOnKey is not detected during system boot-up, what
should I do?

If you are using Windows 98, be sure to install the drivers
for the DiskOnKey. The drivers can be found at
www.diskonkey.com
Key and plug it into your USB port again so that your
operating system can recognize the new device. If this does
not occur, please contact our Technical Support at
1-866-347-5665.


What should I do if I do not see the removable disk in
Windows Explorer after I have inserted the DiskOnKey?

Refresh the screen by right clicking on the "My Computer"
icon and selecting the "Refresh" menu item (or by pressing
the F5 key). If this fails, remove the DiskOnKey and replace
it back into the USB slot. Be sure that you have installed
drivers, if you are using the Window's 98 Operating System.
If the DiskOnKey fails to be initialized again, please call
our customer support at 1-866-347-5665.

installed my new DiskOnKey but there is no drive
letter assigned?

You can refresh the page by clicking on "VIEW" and
"REFRESH" or by clicking on the F5 key on your keyboard.



My XP system doesn't assign a drive letter to my
DiskOnKey and it doesn't appear on "My Computer", although
it is recognized by my device manager and the eject icon
appears.
Check to see if you have a network location which is
mapped with a drive letter such as "E:, F:, G:, etc.",
letters which the DiskOnKey will usually be assigned.

If the DiskOnKey was once assigned a drive letter and
then the same drive has been taken by a network location,
the DiskOnKey will not be given a drive letter (XP is
designed this way).

Map another drive letter to the network location and
the DiskOnKey will reappear on "My Computer" with that drive
letter.



Thisd last one may be your issue



"thierry(point)benchetrit_news"
message | The one that is not recognize as local drive is from
DiskOnKey, the
| model is the one that is USB2.0.
|
|
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| > Which two different USB thumb drives do you have, make
and
| > model? I understand that there are different chipsets
in
| > these types of drives, some function one way and others
| > function differently and that is fixed by hardware.
| >
| >
| >
| > "thierry(point)benchetrit_news"
| > <"thierry(point)benchetrit_news"@polytechnique.org>
wrote in
| > message | > | Hi,
| > |
| > | I have two usb memory keys from two vendors. The first
one
| > is seen as a
| > | local drive, so I am able to backup it doing an image
with
| > DriveImage or
| > | other products. The second one is seen as a
removable
| > drive. And I am
| > | not able to do image backup, but only file backup.
| > |
| > | Do you know a way to force the system (WinXP Home) to
| > recognize the
| > | second drive as a local drive ? (Do not tell me to
choose
| > a key from the
| > | first vendor.)
| > |
| > | Or do you know a way (I have already tested powerquest
| > driveimage and
| > | acronis trueimage, so I need either a way to force
them to
| > recognize the
| > | disk, or a name of another software that support image
| > backup while the
| > | system is running and allow compression, password
| > protection, and
| > | browsing of the image) to do a image backup.
| > |
| > | Regards,
| > |
| > | Thierry
| >
| >
 
P

Pavel A.

The vendor of the other disk could intentionaly specify it as non-removable,
but this can be seen only in regedit or in the INF file of this device.

This has effect of enabling write caching (can improve performance if applications open and save files
directly on the flash, but not for bulk copying files) - but is less safe.
If user unplugs the key without stopping it first, cached writes may be still pending on it, and data loss will occur.

Does the other device use a different driver than DiskOnKey?
(open device manager, find your USB key under Disk Drives; then open it's properties,
Driver, Driver details, there is the list of driver files).

Regards,
-PA
 
T

thierry(point)benchetrit_news

Many thanks. I have already read these pages, but people from DOK have
no solutions to my issue. So this is why I am asking people of this
newsgroup. I thaught they can help to find a solution in XP or find
another software for image backup that support removable drives.

If you have other ideeas, I will be pleased to hear you again. Many
thanks for the time you take.
 
T

thierry(point)benchetrit_news

I have not search something in regedit. I will try to find something.

The two keys use the same Microsoft drivers : disk.sys and PartMgr.sys
(I think these drivers are common to all usb keys.)

For both drives, the write caching seems to be disabled.

If you have more ideas, you are welcome.

Regards,

Thierry
 

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