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Locking Drive Letters

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by GaryFelts, 2007/12/30.

  1. 2007/12/30
    GaryFelts

    GaryFelts Inactive Thread Starter

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    I've read most of the messages about locking a drive letter so that it doesn't change when adding a new drive. I'm familiar with Disk Management and have TweakUI installed. However I still have a problem with my external hard drive changing its letter when I plug in another device. I have a Compaq laptop with a hard drive C, a DVD/CD with letter D and a virtual CD drive with letter E. I would like for my external hard drive to keep the letter F. When I plugged in my iPod it became Drive G, which was fine. Then I disconnected the iPod. Later I connected my ZIP drive; this time the ZIP drive became Drive F and the external hard drive became Drive G. That is not so good since many of my programs look for data on Drive F.
    Is there any way to force a drive to always stay a certain letter, regardless of what other devices are added to the computer? I'm running Windows XP.
     
    GaryFelts,
    #1
  2. 2007/12/31
    r.leale Lifetime Subscription

    r.leale Well-Known Member

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    Hi Gary,

    I used to get this problem with XP, in the end I used diskmgmt to label the Zip 'Z', CD deck 'W', and the DVD deck 'V'. Your external HD at 'F' is pretty low down the XP pecking order but if it is already plugged in when you plug in another device it will stay as 'F'.

    Roger
     
    r.leale,
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  4. 2007/12/31
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    As far as I know, there is no way to make Windows remember drives that are not connected. Drive letters will be reused but Windows will remember a drive that has been manually allocated a drive letter, when it is reconnected.

    I have a fixed hard disk with three partitions, C:, D: and E: (automatic allocation). The opticals have been manually allocated X: and Y: respectively (to get them out of the way, they were F: and G: by automatic allocation). I have a mobile rack in which I use two hard disks. The first has two partitions, F: and G: (automatic allocation after the opticals were out of the way). When the second hard disk was put in the mobile rack, its partitions also became F: and G: but I manually allocated them to H: and I: respectively. When I connected my USB memory stick, with no hard disk in the mobile rack, it too became F: but I manually allocated it to U:. All my drives appear with the desired drive letter when reconnected.

    I have no card readers but assume that the same procedure can be used to allocate drive letters.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  5. 2008/01/02
    GaryFelts

    GaryFelts Inactive Thread Starter

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    Thanks for the info. I reassigned my DVD drive to Letter V and my virtual CD drive to Letter W. I then connected my Zip drive to the computer; Windows assigned it Letter D, which I manually changed to Z. My external hard drive remained Letter F. I then disconnected the Zip drive and connected my iPod. Windows assigned it Letter D and I manually changed that to Letter X. It is interesting to note that when I used Disk Management to change to drive letter for the iPod, one of the possible drive letters offered was Z which I had previously assigned to the Zip drive. I'm not sure what will happen when I reconnect the Zip drive in the future.
    I would like to point out that I was not seeking a way to make Windows remember a drive that is not connected, as implied in the following quote from Christer: "As far as I know, there is no way to make Windows remember drives that are not connected. Drive letters will be reused but Windows will remember a drive that has been manually allocated a drive letter, when it is reconnected." All I was trying to do was to make Windows remember (and not change) the drive letter of a drive that IS connected. The procedure discussed in the two replies to my post seem to do that. Thanks again.
     
    GaryFelts,
    #4
  6. 2008/01/03
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    That's what I mean by "Windows doesn't remember drives that aren't connected ".

    It will be Z: once again, unless you have allocated the drive letter Z: to another device in the meantime ... :eek: ... which means that you have to keep track of what you connect and which drive letters you allocate manually.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #5
  7. 2008/01/03
    Dennis L Lifetime Subscription

    Dennis L Inactive Alumni

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    Dennis L,
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  8. 2008/01/04
    GaryFelts

    GaryFelts Inactive Thread Starter

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    This makes me wonder how Windows, which doesn't remember drives that aren't connected, remembers that my ZIP drive had the letter Z when I reconnect it. Perhaps it stores this info in Unconscious Memory (UM). :D
     
    GaryFelts,
    #7

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