Can't share external hard drive

[rmpete]

I can share and view my external hard drive in the session that I activate it
in, but when I shut down and restart, my external hard drive, that I
had marked for sharing, has been lost. The other folders that I marked for
sharing appear correctly each time. But I am not able to share drive D: on
any computer.

I am running Windows XP SP3 through a Belkin wired router with a WDC MyBook
500 GB external hard drive that only shares for one session.
All the file and folder shares carry over from one session to the next.
But I am not able to share drive D: on any computer.

My computer does not have a non-Microsoft network management program, nor a
VPN, and in my Windows Firewall, File and Print Sharing is checked.

What should I look at next?

Thanks

 

[Ronaldo]

Setting up Network Shares
http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/comp/shares/index.asp

How to configure file sharing in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304040

HOW TO: Create a Shortcut to a Network Location in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308416

 

[Rich/rerat]

rmpete,
Try assigning/changing Drive Letter for the external drive. What might have
happened is that you already assigned, or the PC is assigning it when the
external HDD is turned on, the same Drive letter on the external HDD as what
is already on your PC. With the external HDD turned off.

Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Computer Management> Disk Management>

So if the PC Drives are set up like this:
a. HDD Partition1: C:\
b. HDD Partition2: D:\
c. CD/DVD-ROM1: E:\
d. CD/DVD-ROM2: F:\

1. Personally the first thing I do, from my PackardBell experience, is
change the Drive letters of the CD/DVD ROMs, to Q:\ and R:\. Then they don't
seem to interfere with the Drive Letter assignment of the HDD's.
2. Since you having a problem with Drive D:\, change the drive letter to
something like W:\ temporarily. Reboot PC.
3. Turn on the Ext HDD, and go back Disk Management. You should see the
external drive listed there.
a. One partition at a time change the Drive letter of the external
drive, say starting at Drive M:\
4. Change the drive letter for W:\ back to D:\
5. Reboot PC.
6. Under My Computer you should see:
a. HDD Partition1: C:\
b. HDD Partition2: D:\
c. ExtHDD Partition1: M:\
d. ExtHDD Partition2: N:\
e. CD/DVD-ROM1: Q:\
f. CD/DVD-ROM2: R:\

Now you can reset the sharing properties to all the Drives that you want to.

 

[glee]

You may find some of the info here useful:

The Care and Feeding of USB Storage Devices in XP
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=28888