Force Drive Letters ??

[Andy100]

I have 2 USB hard drives which i use for storage. I have a backup program
which automatically backs up my mp3s and digital camera pictures.

When i plug in the USB hard drives they show up as C (80Gb HD) and D (160Gb
HD) - (my main Hard Drive is 'J').

problem is that if my digital camera is plugged into my USB port before any
of the USB hard drives are plugged in, the digital camera then takes up
Drive Letter 'C'. Then if i plug my USB Hard Drives in they now become D and
E !!. See my problem ?? The backup program no longer recognises that the USB
hard drives have moved up a letter and so won't back up until i restart with
only the USB hard drives in tomake them C and D again !!

So my question is, how do i force WinXP to make sure that my 80Gb HD is the
only thing to ever be allocated 'C', and my 160Gb HD is the only thing to
ever be allocated the letter 'D' ?. i.e. I want to make WinXP automatically
recognise which HD i am plugging in and always allocate it the Drive Letter
i want ?

Kinda hard to explain in writing !


Cheers
Andy

 

[Guest]

I don't think you can force this. A new drive will always be given the next
available letter. You could change them after the fact though. Change C: to
E: then D: to C: then E: to Dif needed). Or you could just make sure you
plug them in in the same order each time.

 

[Andy100]

Yeah, was beginning to think that was the case, just wondered if it was
possible. Cheers for the info anyway !

Regards
Andrew

 

[Nepatsfan]

I have 2 USB hard drives which i use for storage. I have a
backup program which automatically backs up my mp3s and
digital camera pictures.

When i plug in the USB hard drives they show up as C (80Gb
HD) and D (160Gb HD) - (my main Hard Drive is 'J').

problem is that if my digital camera is plugged into my USB
port before any of the USB hard drives are plugged in, the
digital camera then takes up Drive Letter 'C'. Then if i
plug my USB Hard Drives in they now become D and E !!. See
my problem ?? The backup program no longer recognises that
the USB hard drives have moved up a letter and so won't back
up until i restart with only the USB hard drives in tomake
them C and D again !!

So my question is, how do i force WinXP to make sure that my
80Gb HD is the only thing to ever be allocated 'C', and my
160Gb HD is the only thing to ever be allocated the letter
'D' ?. i.e. I want to make WinXP automatically recognise
which HD i am plugging in and always allocate it the Drive
Letter i want ?

Kinda hard to explain in writing !


Cheers
Andy

If you want drives to retain certain letters, your best option
is to start at the end of the alphabet. Go into Disk
Management, (Start -> Run -> diskmgmt.msc), and right click
your USB drives and select "Change Drive Letters and Paths...".
Make one Y and the other Z. Windows should reassign the
appropriate letter whenever you plug in your USB drives. Make
sure to adjust your backup program accordingly.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Andy100]

Nepatsfan, you are a genius ! - yes that works great. Never knew of that
"diskmgmt.msc" trick !!

Many Thanks
Andrew

 

[Nepatsfan]

You're welcome, but I'll have to pass on that genius label. I'm
simply sharing knowledge I've gained from others. Good memory,
yes. Genius, no!

Nepatsfan

 

[Andy100]

Nevertheless, you sorted out this problem ! - Cheers for removing the big
headache !!

Regards
Andrew

 

[squire]

If you want drives to retain certain letters, your best option
is to start at the end of the alphabet. Go into Disk
Management, (Start -> Run -> diskmgmt.msc), and right click
your USB drives and select "Change Drive Letters and Paths...".
Make one Y and the other Z. Windows should reassign the
appropriate letter whenever you plug in your USB drives. Make
sure to adjust your backup program accordingly.

I have a variation on the OP's setup and I have been considering
re-allocating drive letters as follows -

Current setup

C and F -Internal HDD partitioned
D DVDRW
E CDRW
G HDD in external USB enclosure *
H,I,J and K - 7-in-1 Card Reader

* there are actually 2 external USB enclosures but as these are never in
use simultaneously I change the power lead and USB cable as necessary.
Each HDD therein is partitioned differently and used primarily for
backups including imaging.
----------------------------------------------------------
Proposed setup

C and D - Internal HDD partitioned
X DVDRW **
Y CDRW **
T,U,V and W - 7-in-one Card Reader **
leaving WinXP to allocate E onwards whenever the appropriate external
USB enclosure is plugged in.

** these drive letters would be allocated using diskmgmt.msc

 

[Nepatsfan]

I have a variation on the OP's setup and I have been
considering re-allocating drive letters as follows -

Current setup

C and F -Internal HDD partitioned
D DVDRW
E CDRW
G HDD in external USB enclosure *
H,I,J and K - 7-in-1 Card Reader

* there are actually 2 external USB enclosures but as these
are never in use simultaneously I change the power lead and
USB cable as necessary. Each HDD therein is partitioned
differently and used primarily for backups including imaging.
----------------------------------------------------------
Proposed setup

C and D - Internal HDD partitioned
X DVDRW **
Y CDRW **
T,U,V and W - 7-in-one Card Reader **
leaving WinXP to allocate E onwards whenever the appropriate
external USB enclosure is plugged in.

** these drive letters would be allocated using diskmgmt.msc

A few comments:

If your current F drive contains anything other than data,
leave it be.

Others may disagree but I'm not a big fan of changing the
letters on optical drives (currently D and E). Quite a few of
your applications, as well as Windows, will look for a CD in
the old location and you'll find yourself having to browse to
the new location.

The same can be said, to some degree, of your card reader. Any
application that interacts with the reader would have to be
pointed to the new location. I've never changed the drive
letters on a card reader so I can't speak from personal
experience. You're on your own with this.

My personal preference is to leave anything within the computer
(internal HD's and optical drives) the letters at the begining
of the alphabet. I'll assign external items (USB drives, flash
drives, zip drives, etc.) letters at the end.

That said, why not test your proposed setup in stages? Start
with recording your current drive arrangement and save it just
in case you need to restore that setup. Next, change the card
reader lettters. Work with that for a week or so and see what
happens. If all goes well, change the letters on the optical
drives and your F partition. If any problems arise, you can
always restore the original drive letters.

Good luck

Nepatsfan