Using Drive Names in Shortcuts, etc

[Shane Varnadore]

Greetings,
I'm using WIndowsXP sp2 and have an odd question.

I developed a preference for shortcuts and e-mailed links to network drives
that are based not on the drive letter (E:\ or L:\) but on the drive name
(\\Server\Drive\Path). This is nice because I can give someone else a
shortcut or link to a network drive without concern that their system is
mapped to the same drive letter. All is well, everyone's happy.

I recently got an external hard drive for data backup and so a lot of my
desktop shortcuts point to the F: drive. I also got a copy of SyncToy from
Microsoft's site and used that to automate the backup. All is still well.

Over the weekend they upgraded my system and I lost a drive (No biggie, I
didn't use it), so that now my external back-up is E: not F: and ALL my
shortcuts and sync-files are no longer able to deal.

Thinking outside the Operating System, I recalled that my NETWORK-based
links use the server name.... and my external drive has a name
(BackupDrive) but try as I might, I can't get a shortcut to point to the
drive name and I'm hesitant, given that situation, to try SyncToy with a
drive name.

Is there a way to point to a LOCAL drive using the volume name (I
right-click on my E: drive and it has the name BackupDrive)???

If not, is there a way to shortcut to a local drive that doesn't involve the
drive letter?
Any suggestions on what to search for on-line?

Thanks,

Shane

 

[Tracy]

Have you tried to map the drive again...and use the same letters you had
before?
If E: is still available F: is no longer connected, but the links go to F:,
then try mapping the current E: drive and map it using the letter F:

I was just in the same situation and on my laptop disconnecting both the
mapped drives and starting again worked.
I disconnected the F: and G: from the network (not physically, but in the
explorer)
Then mapped the (now G and used the letter F: instead.
All worked fine.

Tracy

 

[Tom Porterfield]

Greetings,
I'm using WIndowsXP sp2 and have an odd question.

I developed a preference for shortcuts and e-mailed links to network
drives that are based not on the drive letter (E:\ or L:\) but on the
drive name (\\Server\Drive\Path). This is nice because I can give
someone else a shortcut or link to a network drive without concern that
their system is mapped to the same drive letter. All is well, everyone's
happy.
I recently got an external hard drive for data backup and so a lot of my
desktop shortcuts point to the F: drive. I also got a copy of SyncToy from
Microsoft's site and used that to automate the backup. All is still well.

Over the weekend they upgraded my system and I lost a drive (No biggie, I
didn't use it), so that now my external back-up is E: not F: and ALL my
shortcuts and sync-files are no longer able to deal.

Thinking outside the Operating System, I recalled that my NETWORK-based
links use the server name.... and my external drive has a name
(BackupDrive) but try as I might, I can't get a shortcut to point to the
drive name and I'm hesitant, given that situation, to try SyncToy with a
drive name.

Is there a way to point to a LOCAL drive using the volume name (I
right-click on my E: drive and it has the name BackupDrive)???

If not, is there a way to shortcut to a local drive that doesn't involve
the drive letter?
Any suggestions on what to search for on-line?

You have several options. First is you could simply set your external drive
back to F:. Right click on My Computer and select Manage. Under Storage
select Disk Management. Once it connects to the disk manager, find your
external drive, right click on it and select Change Drive Letter and
Paths... Select the existing drive letter and click change. While there,
you will notice that you also have the option to set the mount point to a
local folder instead of a drive letter.

 

[Shane Varnadore]

Tracy and Tom,
Thanks for the info, I never thought about simply re-mapping /
re-designating (D'OH!) the drive.

Shane