setting a drive letter

I am new to Windows 7, about one month now. I have a USB drive connected
and use it for backups daily. Today it went from being one drive letter to
another. That messes up the backups. Is there a way of forcing the
computer to use one letter only for a USB port????

On 4/4/2011 3:02 PM, Stephen Larivee wrote:
> I am new to Windows 7, about one month now. I have a USB drive connected
> and use it for backups daily. Today it went from being one drive letter
> to another. That messes up the backups. Is there a way of forcing the
> computer to use one letter only for a USB port????

I guess you can try this. I never saw the issue on Vista, once the USB
HD was assigned a letter, it was always the same drive letter when ever
I used it. I use the USB HD on Win 7, and so far, it has not changed
letters.

<http://mintywhite.com/vista/assign-a-permanent-letter-to-a-usb-thumb-drive-2/>

Stephen Larivee wrote:
> I am new to Windows 7, about one month now. I have a USB drive
> connected and use it for backups daily. Today it went from being one
> drive letter to another. That messes up the backups. Is there a
> way of forcing the computer to use one letter only for a USB port????
>
>
Drive letters are assigned to devices, not USB ports. If you assign a
particular drive letter to a plug in device, like a flash drive, it
should remain the same each time you plug it in. If you have not
assigned a drive letter, it will take the next logical drive available,
which may change if other devices have been enabled. You can assign the
same drive letter to more than one device as long as they are not all
active at the same time. Can you be more specific? What kind of USB
drive is changing from what drive letter to what drive letter?
--
Crash

One man's weed is another man's wildflower.

"Big Steel" <> wrote in message
news:hdOdnVO-...
> On 4/4/2011 3:02 PM, Stephen Larivee wrote:
>> I am new to Windows 7, about one month now. I have a USB drive connected
>> and use it for backups daily. Today it went from being one drive letter
>> to another. That messes up the backups. Is there a way of forcing the
>> computer to use one letter only for a USB port????
>
> I guess you can try this. I never saw the issue on Vista, once the USB HD
> was assigned a letter, it was always the same drive letter when ever I
> used it. I use the USB HD on Win 7, and so far, it has not changed
> letters.
>
> <http://mintywhite.com/vista/assign-a-permanent-letter-to-a-usb-thumb-drive-2/>

A) That does still work on Win7 like in previous Windows versions with the
caveat as long as something else doesn't snag that letter before the device
is plugged in

B) Why the hell the author took that long convoluted way to get to Disk
Management is boggling. There are at least 2 easier\quicker ways that
immediately come to mind (right click "Computer" and choose "Manage" or
START-->diskmgmt.msc).

Seth wrote:
>
> "Big Steel" <> wrote in message
> news:hdOdnVO-...
>> On 4/4/2011 3:02 PM, Stephen Larivee wrote:
>>> I am new to Windows 7, about one month now. I have a USB drive
>>> connected and use it for backups daily. Today it went from being
>>> one drive letter to another. That messes up the backups. Is there
>>> a way of forcing the computer to use one letter only for a USB
>>> port????
>>
>> I guess you can try this. I never saw the issue on Vista, once the
>> USB HD was assigned a letter, it was always the same drive letter
>> when ever I used it. I use the USB HD on Win 7, and so far, it has
>> not changed letters.
>>
>> <http://mintywhite.com/vista/assign-a-permanent-letter-to-a-usb-thumb-drive-2/>
>>
>>
>
> A) That does still work on Win7 like in previous Windows versions
> with the caveat as long as something else doesn't snag that letter
> before the device is plugged in
>
> B) Why the hell the author took that long convoluted way to get to
> Disk Management is boggling. There are at least 2 easier\quicker ways
> that immediately come to mind (right click "Computer" and choose
> "Manage" or START-->diskmgmt.msc).

Or "Start>Programs>Administrative Tools>Computer Management," although
using the Computer context menu is my usual method, too.

--
Crash

Money may not buy happiness, but it can sure defray a lot of unhappiness.

"Dave "Crash" Dummy" <> wrote in message
news:71pmp.12642$...
> Stephen Larivee wrote:
>> I am new to Windows 7, about one month now. I have a USB drive connected
>> and use it for backups daily. Today it went from being one
>> drive letter to another. That messes up the backups. Is there a way of
>> forcing the computer to use one letter only for a USB port????
>>
>>
> Drive letters are assigned to devices, not USB ports. If you assign a
> particular drive letter to a plug in device, like a flash drive, it
> should remain the same each time you plug it in. If you have not
> assigned a drive letter, it will take the next logical drive available,
> which may change if other devices have been enabled. You can assign the
> same drive letter to more than one device as long as they are not all
> active at the same time. Can you be more specific? What kind of USB
> drive is changing from what drive letter to what drive letter?
> --
> Crash

I keep a 16 gig USB drive in the "J" drive all the time. Today when I
turned the computer on, it became the "F" drive. Those drives are USB
drives on my computer. The 16 gig drive is always in the same USB port.

On Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:32:19 -0400, "Dave \"Crash\" Dummy"
<> wrote:

>Stephen Larivee wrote:
>> I am new to Windows 7, about one month now. I have a USB drive
>> connected and use it for backups daily. Today it went from being one
>> drive letter to another. That messes up the backups. Is there a
>> way of forcing the computer to use one letter only for a USB port????
>>
>>
>Drive letters are assigned to devices, not USB ports. If you assign a
>particular drive letter to a plug in device, like a flash drive, it
>should remain the same each time you plug it in. If you have not
>assigned a drive letter, it will take the next logical drive available,

I use the same USB flash drive for updating software on a few PCs
where the owners either are not confident of installing updates or do
not have an internet connection. For these PCs (and my own), I assign
drive letter "B" to the flash drive. This drive letter does not
change if additional drives are installed in any PC.

>which may change if other devices have been enabled. You can assign the
>same drive letter to more than one device as long as they are not all
>active at the same time. Can you be more specific? What kind of USB
>drive is changing from what drive letter to what drive letter?

Monty

Hi, Steve.

> I keep a 16 gig USB drive in the "J" drive all the time.

No. As Crash said:

> Drive letters are assigned to devices, not USB ports.

When you plug in a new device, Disk Management doesn't know what to call it,
so it assigns the next available letter. But if you right-click that device
(in Disk Management) and click Change Drive Letter and Path, you'll get a
menu of available letters that you can use. Once you've assigned a specific
letter this way, Disk Management will TRY to always use the same letter for
it, EVEN if it is moved to a different USB port. Of course, if that device
is removed and reconnected, the previous letter might not be available at
that moment, so DM must once again search for the next available letter and
assign that - at least, for the current session.

Many different types of devices can be assigned "drive" letters. "Drive"
letters are never assigned to physical devices, but to partitions or
"volumes" on those devices. So a single HDD can be divided into multiple
volumes and each volume is assigned a separate "drive" letter. While CD/DVD
disks and USB flash drives are seldom partitioned into multiple volumes,
they certainly can be, and each volume gets a separate letter. And when we
plug in a camera, it gets a "drive" letter. (I don't know about network
drives, but I understand they are treated similarly.) My new multi-card
reader has 4 slots (SD, CF, etc.), and a card inserted into each of them
will get a separate letter (actually, each partition on each card will get a
letter) until we run out of alphabet.

A volume's letter is mostly for the benefit of us humans, anyhow. The OS
doesn't really need to see letters. Win7 Setup often creates a small
"reserved" partition (typically before the traditional Drive C to use as
the System Partition, and does not assign a letter to it. You can see this
unlettered partition - if it exists - in Disk Management.

I don't know how your flash drive became Drive F:, but I suspect some
easily-overlooked change in your hardware configuration triggered that. My
guess is that if you now tell Disk Management specifically to change that
flash drive's letter to "J", it will stick, even if other devices come and
go.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3508.1109) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1


"Stephen Larivee" wrote in message news:indbvq$4pk$...

"Dave "Crash" Dummy" <> wrote in message
news:71pmp.12642$...
> Stephen Larivee wrote:
>> I am new to Windows 7, about one month now. I have a USB drive connected
>> and use it for backups daily. Today it went from being one
>> drive letter to another. That messes up the backups. Is there a way of
>> forcing the computer to use one letter only for a USB port????
>>
>>
> Drive letters are assigned to devices, not USB ports. If you assign a
> particular drive letter to a plug in device, like a flash drive, it
> should remain the same each time you plug it in. If you have not
> assigned a drive letter, it will take the next logical drive available,
> which may change if other devices have been enabled. You can assign the
> same drive letter to more than one device as long as they are not all
> active at the same time. Can you be more specific? What kind of USB
> drive is changing from what drive letter to what drive letter?
> --
> Crash

I keep a 16 gig USB drive in the "J" drive all the time. Today when I
turned the computer on, it became the "F" drive. Those drives are USB
drives on my computer. The 16 gig drive is always in the same USB port.

"R. C. White" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hi, Steve.
>
>> I keep a 16 gig USB drive in the "J" drive all the time.
>
> No. As Crash said:
>
>> Drive letters are assigned to devices, not USB ports.
>
> When you plug in a new device, Disk Management doesn't know what to call
> it, so it assigns the next available letter. But if you right-click that
> device (in Disk Management) and click Change Drive Letter and Path, you'll
> get a menu of available letters that you can use. Once you've assigned a
> specific letter this way, Disk Management will TRY to always use the same
> letter for it, EVEN if it is moved to a different USB port. Of course, if
> that device is removed and reconnected, the previous letter might not be
> available at that moment, so DM must once again search for the next
> available letter and assign that - at least, for the current session.
>
> Many different types of devices can be assigned "drive" letters. "Drive"
> letters are never assigned to physical devices, but to partitions or
> "volumes" on those devices. So a single HDD can be divided into multiple
> volumes and each volume is assigned a separate "drive" letter. While
> CD/DVD disks and USB flash drives are seldom partitioned into multiple
> volumes, they certainly can be, and each volume gets a separate letter.
> And when we plug in a camera, it gets a "drive" letter. (I don't know
> about network drives, but I understand they are treated similarly.) My
> new multi-card reader has 4 slots (SD, CF, etc.), and a card inserted into
> each of them will get a separate letter (actually, each partition on each
> card will get a letter) until we run out of alphabet.
>
> A volume's letter is mostly for the benefit of us humans, anyhow. The OS
> doesn't really need to see letters. Win7 Setup often creates a small
> "reserved" partition (typically before the traditional Drive C to use as
> the System Partition, and does not assign a letter to it. You can see
> this unlettered partition - if it exists - in Disk Management.
>
> I don't know how your flash drive became Drive F:, but I suspect some
> easily-overlooked change in your hardware configuration triggered that.
> My guess is that if you now tell Disk Management specifically to change
> that flash drive's letter to "J", it will stick, even if other devices
> come and go.
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
>
> Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
> Windows Live Mail 2011 (Build 15.4.3508.1109) in Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1
>
>
> "Stephen Larivee" wrote in message news:indbvq$4pk$...
>
> "Dave "Crash" Dummy" <> wrote in message
> news:71pmp.12642$...
>> Stephen Larivee wrote:
>>> I am new to Windows 7, about one month now. I have a USB drive
>>> connected and use it for backups daily. Today it went from being one
>>> drive letter to another. That messes up the backups. Is there a way
>>> of forcing the computer to use one letter only for a USB port????
>>>
>>>
>> Drive letters are assigned to devices, not USB ports. If you assign a
>> particular drive letter to a plug in device, like a flash drive, it
>> should remain the same each time you plug it in. If you have not
>> assigned a drive letter, it will take the next logical drive available,
>> which may change if other devices have been enabled. You can assign the
>> same drive letter to more than one device as long as they are not all
>> active at the same time. Can you be more specific? What kind of USB
>> drive is changing from what drive letter to what drive letter?
>> --
>> Crash
>
> I keep a 16 gig USB drive in the "J" drive all the time. Today when I
> turned the computer on, it became the "F" drive. Those drives are USB
> drives on my computer. The 16 gig drive is always in the same USB port.

Thank you, and all the other, for all the ideas put forth. I will try
reassinging the drive letter to "J" and see how that works out.

R. C. White wrote:
> Hi, Steve.
>
>> I keep a 16 gig USB drive in the "J" drive all the time.
>
> No. As Crash said:
>
>> Drive letters are assigned to devices, not USB ports.
>
> When you plug in a new device, Disk Management doesn't know what to
> call it, so it assigns the next available letter. But if you
> right-click that device (in Disk Management) and click Change Drive
> Letter and Path, you'll get a menu of available letters that you can
> use. Once you've assigned a specific letter this way, Disk
> Management will TRY to always use the same letter for it, EVEN if it
> is moved to a different USB port. Of course, if that device is
> removed and reconnected, the previous letter might not be available
> at that moment, so DM must once again search for the next available
> letter and assign that - at least, for the current session.
>
> Many different types of devices can be assigned "drive" letters.
> "Drive" letters are never assigned to physical devices, but to
> partitions or "volumes" on those devices. So a single HDD can be
> divided into multiple volumes and each volume is assigned a separate
> "drive" letter. While CD/DVD disks and USB flash drives are seldom
> partitioned into multiple volumes, they certainly can be, and each
> volume gets a separate letter. And when we plug in a camera, it gets
> a "drive" letter. (I don't know about network drives, but I
> understand they are treated similarly.) My new multi-card reader has
> 4 slots (SD, CF, etc.), and a card inserted into each of them will
> get a separate letter (actually, each partition on each card will get
> a letter) until we run out of alphabet.
>
> A volume's letter is mostly for the benefit of us humans, anyhow.
> The OS doesn't really need to see letters. Win7 Setup often creates
> a small "reserved" partition (typically before the traditional Drive
> C to use as the System Partition, and does not assign a letter to
> it. You can see this unlettered partition - if it exists - in Disk
> Management.
>
> I don't know how your flash drive became Drive F:, but I suspect some
> easily-overlooked change in your hardware configuration triggered
> that. My guess is that if you now tell Disk Management specifically
> to change that flash drive's letter to "J", it will stick, even if
> other devices come and go.

Well said. I would just add that if you want to make a drive letter
secure for a particular device, pick one several steps up the list of
available drive letters. Instead of J, use X or something. They don't
have to be contiguous.
--
Crash

Life is short. Eat dessert first.