Mapping a remote USB thumb-drive

[Bob S.]

Baffled by this one...

I have a script that connects a local system (XP Pro, SP-1) to a remote
system (XP Home, SP-1) using MS VPN. It then maps a drive ( \\server1\c )
and then copies a backup folder to the local machine. Everything works
fine - no problems...

So we added a USB thumb drive to the remote system and I changed the script
to copy files from it back to the local system. It cannot find the thumb
drive.

I have sharing turned on, the share name is ISTIK and I have the script
mapping the local X: drive to \\server1\istik and it can't find it.

I tried changing the share name to a letter so it would be \\server1\g and
still nothing.

The thumb drive is an ISTIK 256Mb and it works fine when connected. Files
can be written and read - no problem.

I'm missing something obvious here but just don't know what it is... I've
been researching the MS KB and other resources but haven't come across any
articles stating any problems like this. It can be shared locally - why not
mapped remotely?

Thanks for any assistance or ideas you may have,

Bob S.

 

[Pavel]

I have the same drive and no problem sharing. Just wander if you are trying
to share the secured portion of the drive....I never used that feature of
this drive. Just asking.

 

[Guest]

The logic in the script is wrong. You are dealing with a removable media.
You are assuming it is inserted and a drive letter was created for it. Then
that share must exist. Since shares are created upon bootup based upon
Registry entries, if the media was inserted AFTER the system was booted, the
share may not exist yet.

Dave

 

[Pavel]

This can be partially overcome by assigning a drive letter other than
default to the removable media using Disk Management. The drive letter
should be high enough as to be not reused during times when the media is not
inserted and other media that does not have a assigned letter is used.
Fortunately, Disk Management seem to remember media by volume name thus you
could have different media of the same type each with it's own drive letter
(providing you assign a label to each).

 

[Bob S.]

Now ya got me... Wasn't even aware this had a secure portion. It's a 256Mb
drive and shows ~239Mb useable. I let XP assign the drive letter (G

No other drives are mapped on this system and it has a (floppy), c (hd), d
(hd), e (DVD), f (CD) and g as the removable.

Can you map to your ISTIK drive across the internet which is what I'm trying
to do via the VPN. I can map the other drives (c and d) that I've tried so
far but can't get to the ISTIK drive as I stated.

Appreciate your quick response,

Bob S.

 

[Bob S.]

Good point but the drive was inserted (actually has been left in-place while
I test) and the system has been rebooted several times with the same result.

Thanks for your comments,

Bob S.

 

[Pavel]

Actually I do have the 1 gigabyte drive so I am not sure if they use the
same format and the secure portion is only available if you use the supplied
software. I will test this drive using the VNP in next few days I and hope
to let you know.

 

[Bob S.]

Whew.... thought maybe I was really missing the boat...;-) Been doing lots
of reading here http://www.chicagotech.net/ as recommended by Robert L.
Helluva site to be sure and I thought maybe I found the answer (persistent
mapping) so off I go to the remote system using UltraVNC. Decided to reboot
the system to be sure everything is back to normal and for some reason
tonight - the remote system hung on me and I'm locked out for the
night...;-(

Got several ideas to try but they'll have to wait until I can get the remote
system kick-started. Sure would be nice if you could try mapping that thumb
drive though. I also have a USB CF reader/writer and a 1Gb card so I may
take that over to the remote system and see what that does as well as a
120Gb USB drive just to really test this out.

When I find the problem (whether it's a Duh... or not) I'll do a follow-up
here in case anyone else chases this kind of problem.

Thanks for the help and just maybe the answer is not as obvious as I
thought...

Bob S.