Why is my USB Stick not accessible?

[george]

Hi All,

My laptop has following setup:
XP Pro SP2
C:\
D: (mapped network drive)
E: (external USB HD)
R: (CD/DVD drive)
Z: (mapped network drive)

If I unplug external USB HD, I would have expected E: to become a free
driveletter and be assigned to the USB memory stick I connect instead of the
external HD.
However, this is not the case and the USB stick does not show up at that
location.
It *does* however show as USB Mass Storage device in.Device Manager and in
Safely Remove Hardware (Location 0, USB Flash Drive).
When I Disconnect D: (the mapped network drive) it appears that the USB
stick was 'hiding' under that same driveletter and shows immediately as
Removable Disk in Explorer.

Can someone please explain what's going on here, or why this is?

TIA

George

 

[Thorsten Matzner]

If I unplug external USB HD, I would have expected E: to become a free
driveletter and be assigned to the USB memory stick I connect instead of the
external HD.
However, this is not the case and the USB stick does not show up at that
location.
It *does* however show as USB Mass Storage device in.Device Manager and in
Safely Remove Hardware (Location 0, USB Flash Drive).
When I Disconnect D: (the mapped network drive) it appears that the USB
stick was 'hiding' under that same driveletter and shows immediately as
Removable Disk in Explorer.

This is by design: external drives get the first free drive letter,
where drive letters for mapped drives are not reserved. Start mapping
network drives from Z downwards to avoid this problem.