Vista - Set Drive letter on External Drive?

Any way to set at my choosing the drive letter of an external drive on a USB
port and have it always stay with the assigned letter? Thanks for any
suggestions.

Background
Problem: the changing assignment of drive letter to my "backup drive" makes
invalid references in any backup schemes I've set with a variety of
programs.

Setup: I'm using Vista Business, sony laptop with a Seagate 750 pro for a
backup drive and a Western Digital passport 160 for traveling and "alternate
backup. Both are using USB 2.0 ports. I used the input for this group and
settled on Acronis Home 10 for backup and also ran VCB since I had the
space. (Acronis was a GREAT choice.) The Seagate comes with Mimeo automatic
backup that runs all the time backing up any changes, etc.

Scenario. When computer booted this morning I had already plugged in my WD
Passport to copy info and it was assigned the drive letter F which
previously had been assigned to the SeaGate which was now named G. After 2
hours of unplugging, rebooting, shutting off, etc in every conceivable
combination, going so far as to Format the WD drive to lose its volume
reference or icons, I cannot get the drive letter back to G for the Seagate
so that all the corresponding programs will reference correctly. (Actually
the letters are now G and H, since the card reader in the printer got
recognized.

If a specific drive letter cannot be set and STAY PUT then the above musical
chairs and lack of correspondence between drives and programs will most
certainly recur. Thanks for any suggestions

"mikeS" <logintwo@desktoptwo.com> wrote in message
news:%23NhnI4ZuHHA.3476@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Any way to set at my choosing the drive letter of an external drive on a
> USB port and have it always stay with the assigned letter? Thanks for any
> suggestions.

Use Disk Manager. You can assign letters to any drive, including USB
drives.

Mike

Not automatically - but you could just open up a command prompt and type net
use

The syntax of this command is:

NET USE
[devicename | *] [\\computername\sharename[\volume] [password | *]]
[/USER:[domainname\]username]
[/USER:[dotted domain name\]username]
[/USER:[username@dotted domain name]
[/SMARTCARD]
[/SAVECRED]
[[/DELETE] | [/PERSISTENT:{YES | NO}]]

NET USE {devicename | *} [password | *] /HOME

NET USE [/PERSISTENT:{YES | NO}]

"mikeS" <logintwo@desktoptwo.com> wrote in message
news:#NhnI4ZuHHA.3476@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Any way to set at my choosing the drive letter of an external drive on a
> USB port and have it always stay with the assigned letter? Thanks for any
> suggestions.
>
> Background
> Problem: the changing assignment of drive letter to my "backup drive"
> makes invalid references in any backup schemes I've set with a variety of
> programs.
>
> Setup: I'm using Vista Business, sony laptop with a Seagate 750 pro for a
> backup drive and a Western Digital passport 160 for traveling and
> "alternate backup. Both are using USB 2.0 ports. I used the input for
> this group and settled on Acronis Home 10 for backup and also ran VCB
> since I had the space. (Acronis was a GREAT choice.) The Seagate comes
> with Mimeo automatic backup that runs all the time backing up any changes,
> etc.
>
> Scenario. When computer booted this morning I had already plugged in my WD
> Passport to copy info and it was assigned the drive letter F which
> previously had been assigned to the SeaGate which was now named G. After
> 2 hours of unplugging, rebooting, shutting off, etc in every conceivable
> combination, going so far as to Format the WD drive to lose its volume
> reference or icons, I cannot get the drive letter back to G for the
> Seagate so that all the corresponding programs will reference correctly.
> (Actually the letters are now G and H, since the card reader in the
> printer got recognized.
>
> If a specific drive letter cannot be set and STAY PUT then the above
> musical chairs and lack of correspondence between drives and programs will
> most certainly recur. Thanks for any suggestions
>
>

Or just map the drive to whatever you want in Windows Explorer

"mikeS" <logintwo@desktoptwo.com> wrote in message
news:#NhnI4ZuHHA.3476@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Any way to set at my choosing the drive letter of an external drive on a
> USB port and have it always stay with the assigned letter? Thanks for any
> suggestions.
>
> Background
> Problem: the changing assignment of drive letter to my "backup drive"
> makes invalid references in any backup schemes I've set with a variety of
> programs.
>
> Setup: I'm using Vista Business, sony laptop with a Seagate 750 pro for a
> backup drive and a Western Digital passport 160 for traveling and
> "alternate backup. Both are using USB 2.0 ports. I used the input for
> this group and settled on Acronis Home 10 for backup and also ran VCB
> since I had the space. (Acronis was a GREAT choice.) The Seagate comes
> with Mimeo automatic backup that runs all the time backing up any changes,
> etc.
>
> Scenario. When computer booted this morning I had already plugged in my WD
> Passport to copy info and it was assigned the drive letter F which
> previously had been assigned to the SeaGate which was now named G. After
> 2 hours of unplugging, rebooting, shutting off, etc in every conceivable
> combination, going so far as to Format the WD drive to lose its volume
> reference or icons, I cannot get the drive letter back to G for the
> Seagate so that all the corresponding programs will reference correctly.
> (Actually the letters are now G and H, since the card reader in the
> printer got recognized.
>
> If a specific drive letter cannot be set and STAY PUT then the above
> musical chairs and lack of correspondence between drives and programs will
> most certainly recur. Thanks for any suggestions
>
>

Hi, Mike.

How about if you use Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) and assign the Seagate
to Drive S:?

You can assign any letter that is not already in use, so pick one far out in
the alphabet so that it doesn't have to contend with other devices that may
want to crowd into line.

I don't have an external HDD, but my SanDisk card reader has been on Drive
S: for a long time; a removable USB "thumb" drive is Drive R: - when it's
plugged in. Disk Management reserves those letters when the drives are
unplugged, unless I specifically assign them differently.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)

"mikeS" <logintwo@desktoptwo.com> wrote in message
news:#NhnI4ZuHHA.3476@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Any way to set at my choosing the drive letter of an external drive on a
> USB port and have it always stay with the assigned letter? Thanks for any
> suggestions.
>
> Background
> Problem: the changing assignment of drive letter to my "backup drive"
> makes invalid references in any backup schemes I've set with a variety of
> programs.
>
> Setup: I'm using Vista Business, sony laptop with a Seagate 750 pro for a
> backup drive and a Western Digital passport 160 for traveling and
> "alternate backup. Both are using USB 2.0 ports. I used the input for
> this group and settled on Acronis Home 10 for backup and also ran VCB
> since I had the space. (Acronis was a GREAT choice.) The Seagate comes
> with Mimeo automatic backup that runs all the time backing up any changes,
> etc.
>
> Scenario. When computer booted this morning I had already plugged in my WD
> Passport to copy info and it was assigned the drive letter F which
> previously had been assigned to the SeaGate which was now named G. After
> 2 hours of unplugging, rebooting, shutting off, etc in every conceivable
> combination, going so far as to Format the WD drive to lose its volume
> reference or icons, I cannot get the drive letter back to G for the
> Seagate so that all the corresponding programs will reference correctly.
> (Actually the letters are now G and H, since the card reader in the
> printer got recognized.
>
> If a specific drive letter cannot be set and STAY PUT then the above
> musical chairs and lack of correspondence between drives and programs will
> most certainly recur. Thanks for any suggestions

After using Drive Manager to change the external USB drive designation, make
sure you plug the drive into the same port each time you connect it. If you
don't, the drive letter may change.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)



"mikeS" <logintwo@desktoptwo.com> wrote in message
news:%23NhnI4ZuHHA.3476@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Any way to set at my choosing the drive letter of an external drive on a
> USB port and have it always stay with the assigned letter? Thanks for any
> suggestions.
>
> Background
> Problem: the changing assignment of drive letter to my "backup drive"
> makes invalid references in any backup schemes I've set with a variety of
> programs.
>
> Setup: I'm using Vista Business, sony laptop with a Seagate 750 pro for a
> backup drive and a Western Digital passport 160 for traveling and
> "alternate backup. Both are using USB 2.0 ports. I used the input for
> this group and settled on Acronis Home 10 for backup and also ran VCB
> since I had the space. (Acronis was a GREAT choice.) The Seagate comes
> with Mimeo automatic backup that runs all the time backing up any changes,
> etc.
>
> Scenario. When computer booted this morning I had already plugged in my WD
> Passport to copy info and it was assigned the drive letter F which
> previously had been assigned to the SeaGate which was now named G. After
> 2 hours of unplugging, rebooting, shutting off, etc in every conceivable
> combination, going so far as to Format the WD drive to lose its volume
> reference or icons, I cannot get the drive letter back to G for the
> Seagate so that all the corresponding programs will reference correctly.
> (Actually the letters are now G and H, since the card reader in the
> printer got recognized.
>
> If a specific drive letter cannot be set and STAY PUT then the above
> musical chairs and lack of correspondence between drives and programs will
> most certainly recur. Thanks for any suggestions
>
>