USB drive letter changes depending on the type of USB drive in Windows XP

[Spin]

Gurus,

Running Windows XP Pro SP3. I have a number of different size/manufacturer
USB drives that I use in my machine. What confuses me is that the drive
letter changes for each different drive inserted. Sometimes it's E:, or
maybe F:, G: or even X. Is this by design or an aberration?

 

[Tim Meddick]

If you make a habit of only plugging a specific pendrive into it's own
separate USB socket, the same one every time, then you will find that
the drives keep their drive-letters.


==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[WhiteTea77581]

Gurus,

Running Windows XP Pro SP3.  I have a number of different size/manufacturer
USB drives that I use in my machine.  What confuses me is that the drive
letter changes for each different drive inserted.  Sometimes it's E:, or
maybe F:, G: or even X.  Is this by design or an aberration?

Some USB drives have "unerasable files" on them. For example Sandisk
Cruzer
Upon insertion it creates an H: and I: drive. Only the H: drive can be
written to.

My Data Traveler only creates one new drive.

Hope that made sense.

Andy

 

[Tim Meddick]

Nevertheless, if you use the same USB slots for the same pendrives, each
time you use them, then the drive letters should remain the same...


==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

Gurus,

Running Windows XP Pro SP3. I have a number of different
size/manufacturer
USB drives that I use in my machine. What confuses me is that the
drive
letter changes for each different drive inserted. Sometimes it's E:,
or
maybe F:, G: or even X. Is this by design or an aberration?

Some USB drives have "unerasable files" on them. For example Sandisk
Cruzer
Upon insertion it creates an H: and I: drive. Only the H: drive can be
written to.

My Data Traveler only creates one new drive.

Hope that made sense.

Andy

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Friday, June 12, 2009 8:01:49 PM, and on a whim,
Tim Meddick pounded out on the keyboard:

Nevertheless, if you use the same USB slots for the same pendrives, each
time you use them, then the drive letters should remain the same...


==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.






Some USB drives have "unerasable files" on them. For example Sandisk
Cruzer
Upon insertion it creates an H: and I: drive. Only the H: drive can be
written to.

My Data Traveler only creates one new drive.

Hope that made sense.

Andy

"Should" being the key word here. ;-)



Terry R.

 

[M.I.5¾]

Gurus,

Running Windows XP Pro SP3. I have a number of different
size/manufacturer USB drives that I use in my machine. What confuses me
is that the drive letter changes for each different drive inserted.
Sometimes it's E:, or maybe F:, G: or even X. Is this by design or an
aberration?

In general, when you plug any form of removable media into a USB port, by
default XP allocates the first available free drive letter in sequence from
C: onwards. The drive letter can be changed in drive manager to a drive
letter of your own choosing, and should you do this, then the drive will
retain that drive letter provided it is plugged into the *same* USB port
(and hasn't been allocated to another device) because XP has no way of
knowing if it really is the same drive.

There are two wrinkles to this. If the drive is *not* electronically serial
numbered, then an identical type of drive plugged into the same port will
take the allocated drive letter. If the drive *is* electronically serial
numbered then it retains its allocated drive letter (provided it hasn't been
pinched by another drive) when plugged into a different port.

For the completeness of this discussion, there is a subtle problem with
serial numbered drives. The USB specification stated that the serial number
should be unique on like devices, but this turned out to be ambiguous as
some manufacturers 'interpreted' this as allowing like devices to have the
same serial number. This means that you can plug one device into XP and it
behaves as expected. Plugging in a second like device with the same serial
number results in it being ignored.

In general, USB hard drives do not seem to be serial numbered, but FLASH
sticks vary considerably.