Assign a drive letter to USB external hard drive

I want to use a USB external hard drive for backup. However, I like backing up with XCOPY because I can easily write a script to quickly copy only those files that have changed. But the problem is, plugging in a USB drive cannot guarantee the drive letter, right? Wouldn't it assign whatever drive letter it feels like at the time of plug in? Is it somehow possible to force it to always assign a particular drive letter?

I know many external drives come with software that can do this kind of backup - only backing up the files that have changed. However, I didn't want to buy an external drive. I was planning to save money by buying only an external enclosure and using one of my old drives. Thus, I won't get any software.

You may be able to assign a disk letter from the Disk Management console (Control Panel|Admin Tools|Computer Management|Storage|Disk Management) Right click the drive in the list at the bottom and select "change drive letter and paths" and then "change" and select the letter from the dropdown.


Liam

Hi :)

How about this

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.c...id=1676&page=9

Elaine

Elaine: Interesting article!

To add to that, I read somewhere that in XP, if you assign the USB drive a drive letter M through Z, that will stick too. Can't hurt to try!

Nick: There is a great free software that you can use for syncronization. SyncBack http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html (Free SyncBack is down the page a bit.) It is a very well thought out program with many handy features. IMO, one of the better freewares out!

Just for kicks, I tried out using folders in XP for a couple of my flash drives. And then tested the arrangement with SyncBack. It worked great!

I think this is the way I'll do this from now on with XP (as long as the C drive is NTFS.)

Thanks Elaine!!! :D

HAN

Happy to have been of some help :)

I never had the need to try it myself so it`s nice to know it works.

I wonder if it will help NickC too.


Elaine

Hey NickC

Usually when you plug any external USB drive , it gets the next free drive
letter.
If you don't plug any other external USB drives on regular basis, i don't think
that you should have any problem with your idea of writing a script to backup
your files.

_____________
Simple John :rolleyes:
Sunday Is Church Day
Monday Is Online Casino Day

For WinMe and Win2000 upwards, see Assigning a Custom Icon and Label to a Drive Letter on this page http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...nding/icon.asp

eg for me using WinMe I have the following in my registry

Code:

---

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\DriveIcons]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\DriveIcons\T]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\DriveIcons\T\DefaultLabel]
@="Sony CyberShot"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\DriveIcons\T\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\My Documents\\Icons\\Icons1.icl,21"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\DriveIcons\S]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\DriveIcons\S\DefaultLabel]
@="Sony DV Camcorder"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\DriveIcons\S\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\My Documents\\Icons\\Icons1.icl,21"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\DriveIcons\N]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\DriveIcons\N\DefaultLabel]
@="Nomad MuVo²"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\DriveIcons\N\DefaultIcon]
@="D:\\Program Files\\Creative\\MediaSource\\Theme\\Icons\\CTRun.ico"

---

and whenever I plug in my Sony Cybershot, Sony DV Camcorder or Creative Muvo² it respectively has the letter T, S or N as specified.

I have even create a shortcut in SendTo to N: drive so I can select a whole group of MP3s, right click and choose Send To N: and the MP3s are copied to my MP3 player.

Also here are some article relating to problems with USB devices showing the wrong icon \ letter

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;823293
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;134608
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;830638

Thanks all for the suggestions! :) Elaine, I will try out that link. Simple John, yes, I've noticed that. However, as you said, it's likely but not guaranteed to be the same drive letter each time. I think reading that link that Elaine provided may just be the ticket!

Nix, so you did that registry assignment by hand?

Han, I will look into SyncBack too!

Okay dokey :)

Let us know what does the trick for you.

Elaine

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NickC

Nix, so you did that registry assignment by hand?

---

Yes.

I'm ordering a hard drive enclosure. When I try out these suggestions, I will post back. Thanks everyone! :)

liam858's suggestion in post #2 works for me, but I also did start with Z and worked up.

I havent had an oppertunity to try any of this but when you assign a drive letter to a USB/external harddrive, will it only work on that computer (where the settings were changed) or will the USB/external harddrive have the same letter when plugged into other computers on the same network?

if not, would it be possible to force a USB to take a drive letter every time it is plugged into a different computer?

My problem is i have information stored on a USB which is drive spsific and i have to change it every time i plug it into a different computer, and the computers available (besides my home computer) all have restrictions which stop me from managing the drive letters manually.

any help would be most appriceated :)

create a new thread next time.

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

Welcome to VirtualDr saberwolf :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saberwolf

... would it be possible to force a USB to take a drive letter every time it is plugged into a different computer?

---

Bad idea.

Let's say for example that:

• A Corporation has all of their user's PCs setup to use drive "U:" (User drive) for all of their personal files, (My Documents, email, Favorites, etc.), as well as all of their \Program Files.
  
  
• You have also decided that you want your USB key to always be drive "U:" (USB drive).

If you were to plug your drive U: into one of the above Corporations PCs, and your USB key forced the fact that it had to remain drive U:, you would render the PC you just plugged it into utterly useless. (You'd have to remove the USB key and reboot the PC). :(

I would be irate if you forced a move on my DVD devices.

It should be possible to modify your script to accept a drive letter parameter. Then it wouldn't matter what letter Windows assigns to it.