How to set the drive letter on an external USB HD

[Uncle Ben]

I use an external USB drive for backup purposes. I have scheduled daily
incremental backups that work fine, as long as I don't have any other USB
drives connected.

Here's what happens. My USB HD is assigned Drive Letter I. I have
occasional need to plug in a USB ZIP drive to either retrieve documents from
old archives or import/export files two and from work locations. When I
plug in the zip drive, Windows Xp automatically reassigns my USB drive as
drive K; and of course, when that happens my scheduled back up fails,
because the script calls for the full back up to be located on drive I not
K.

So is there a way under Xp to set the drive letter on my USB drive
permanently to I so that no matter what USB devices and plug and unplug,
that drive letter assignment remains as Drive I.

TIA!

 

[Thomas Wendell]

I use an external USB drive for backup purposes. I have scheduled
daily incremental backups that work fine, as long as I don't have any
other USB drives connected.

Here's what happens. My USB HD is assigned Drive Letter I. I have
occasional need to plug in a USB ZIP drive to either retrieve
documents from old archives or import/export files two and from work
locations. When I plug in the zip drive, Windows Xp automatically
reassigns my USB drive as drive K; and of course, when that happens
my scheduled back up fails, because the script calls for the full
back up to be located on drive I not K.

So is there a way under Xp to set the drive letter on my USB drive
permanently to I so that no matter what USB devices and plug and
unplug, that drive letter assignment remains as Drive I.

TIA!

Yes. In diskmanagement (diskmgmt.msc) Rclick on the drive (when it's
connected) and choose change letter.
Do the same for the Zip-drive (with disk in)

--
Tumppi
=================================
A lot learned from these newsgroups
Helsinki, FINLAND
(translations from/to FI not always accurate
=================================

 

[Uncle Ben]

Yes. In diskmanagement (diskmgmt.msc) Rclick on the drive (when it's
connected) and choose change letter.
Do the same for the Zip-drive (with disk in)

--
Tumppi
=================================
A lot learned from these newsgroups
Helsinki, FINLAND
(translations from/to FI not always accurate
=================================

Thank you Thomas. I guess I'll find out soon enough but let me ask any
way. Once I do that, does the drive letter assigned to my external USB
drive set permanently, such that no matter what other devices and I plug
and unplug between sessions, that USB drive will ALWAYS BE RECOGNIZED AS
DRIVE (?).

 

[Saruman]

Try This:

Make sure the USB HD is connected and powered up
Right click on My Computer and then click on Manage
Expand the Storage option and then click on the Disk Management option
In the lower right hand portion of the screen, right click on the USB HD
drive partition.
Click the Change Drive Letter And Paths menu option
Click the Change Button on the menu that appears
Use the dropdown list to assign the letter Z to your USB HD
Click OK and say yes to the error message
Your USB HD is now assigned the letter Z
This normally will not be overwritten by XP unless you are using 25+
assigned network drives

(this is in XP Pro, dont know if Home has the ability to Manage A Computer)

Saruman

 

[Uncle Ben]

Try This:

Make sure the USB HD is connected and powered up
Right click on My Computer and then click on Manage
Expand the Storage option and then click on the Disk Management option
In the lower right hand portion of the screen, right click on the USB HD
drive partition.
Click the Change Drive Letter And Paths menu option
Click the Change Button on the menu that appears
Use the dropdown list to assign the letter Z to your USB HD
Click OK and say yes to the error message
Your USB HD is now assigned the letter Z
This normally will not be overwritten by XP unless you are using 25+
assigned network drives

(this is in XP Pro, dont know if Home has the ability to Manage A
Computer)

Saruman

Thank you Saruman. Much appreciated.

 

[Saruman]

No problem, nice to get feedback

Saruman

Thank you Saruman. Much appreciated.

 

[Guest]

You might find this link useful:

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html

I had the same exact problem as you, as I'm using Norton 9.0. I have half a
dozen USB devices attached, and if I remove or plug in any of them, the
letters move around on all of them after reboot.