Drive letter being skipped...

[Howard Woodard]

I have an external USB drive. It's simply a case with a USB i/f that I have
installed a 160GB hard drive in. I think that's pretty common. I use it to
back up private data, only plugging it in for the duration of the backup and
then removing it.

I'm certain that it has always been drive "H". I'm not certain whether My
Computer showed it as a "Hard Disk Drives" or as a "Device With Removable
Storage". Btw, "H" is the first unassigned drive letter. I have
"A"-floppy, "C" & "D" internal hard drives and "F" & "G" CD/DVD drives.

I haven't used it in a week or so and tonight when I plugged it in it came
up as device "I" in the "Hard Disk Drives" section even though there is no
"H" assigned. If I put my little flash memory in it takes the next
available letter "H" and shows up in the "Device With removable Storage"
section. However, the external USB drive skips "H" and shows up as "I"
whether the little flash memory is inserted or not.

The only thing that I have done since the last time I used it was to install
an HP 8250 photo printer that also connects via USB. Thinking that may have
somehow caused this I completely removed it from my system but I still have
the issue. This is causing issues with by backups as well as with other
scripts.

Not knowing which forum is the most appropriate for this I have sent it to 4
likely ones. I hope that's not considered bad manners. I'll watch all 4
for responses.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Howard

 

[Guest]

I think the following link can help you to assign drive letters of your own.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...dows2000/en/advanced/help/dm_drive_letter.htm

If helpful then let us know.

 

[Howard Woodard]

Thanks. That does allow me to specifiy a drive letter and I did. So at
least it's back using the correct letter.

However, I'm curious as to why it has started skipping the next available
letter. Isn't that the way the USB devices are supposed to work? When you
plug a storage device in isn't it supposed to just take the next available
letter?

Howard
====================================

 

[Guest]

Not only with USB drivers. According to my knowledge whenever you plug in a
disk then windows automatically assign the next available driver letter.

Hope you will not face any trouble in future regarding driver letters.

With Regards

 

[Galen]

In rajkohli had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Not only with USB drivers. According to my knowledge whenever you
plug in a disk then windows automatically assign the next available
driver letter.

Hope you will not face any trouble in future regarding driver letters.

With Regards

Did you reboot during that time at all?

If you plug in a USB drive or device that appears to be a drive (here at
least) and then plug in another, and another, etc... They'll retain their
old drive letter until something has changed like a reboot. Or, well, I
expect a reboot resets it. Simply setting the drive (here's an odd one - set
it to a letter above the letter "N" if possible for you - some funny things
have happened in the past and that seemed to be the ticket to fix it)
manually is the best course of action that I've seen.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"At present I am, as you know, fairly busy, but I propose to devote my
declining years to the composition of a textbook which shall focus the
whole art of detection into one volume." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Howard Woodard]

Thanks Galen. I set it to H because that's the way some of my automatic
scripts are set up and I didn't have to change them this way. If I have
problems I'll try the "greater than N" approach.

Howard
===================================

 

[LVTravel]

Did this HP Photo printer have a card slot in it? If so, it has taken over
the drive letter since you did not have the hard drive plugged in when you
put in the printer.

Next time, when you install the photo printer (if it has a card reader slot)
make sure the portable hard drive is plugged in and turned on then the photo
printer's slot will be the next drive letter.