Windows XP USB Drive Letter Assignments

I'm posting this in Softward since it's more a Windows XP issue than the related hardware.

I'm using Windows XP with SP2. With no USB devices attached, the default drive letter designations are:

c:\ for the primary internal IDE drive
f:\ for the secondary internal IDE drive
g:\ for the CD-RW drive
h:\ for the DVD drive

I use an external USB hard disk drive for backup and several USB flash drives to sync files between this computer, a notebook, and a second desktop. I would like to have the USB hard disk drive always be assigned drive d:\ and have the USB flash drives always assigned as drive e:\ to match the drive designations set in the backup software and the sync software.

The Windows XP default is to assign the first available drive letter (d:\ or e:\ in my case) to the USB device. For example, if the USB hard disk drive is active as d:\, the flash drive is assigned e:\. If the the USB hard disk drive (typically stored in a secure area) is not present, the flash drive is assigned d:\ .

I can use the Windows XP 'Disk Management' process to change the letter but it's a one shot deal and does not stick. Anyone aware of a procedure to make a USB drive designation stick? What I would like to do is permanently assign d:\ to the USB hard disk drive and leave e:\ available for the USB flash drives.

Thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

I'm not really sure that you can do what you are wanting to do without another USB hard drive. As you have noted, Windows will assign the next available letter to any mass storage device that is connected!

 

Novice, thanks for the quick response. Yep, I've played with this for a while and have not been able to make a drive letter stick to the USB hard drive and automatically bump the flash drives to the next letter. Hopefully, someone has run across a solution.

 

Here is how you could set it all up:
1. Plug your USB drive into your computer.
2. Click on the Start menu, then right-click on My Computer and select Manage.
3. When the Computer Management window opens, expand the entry labeled Storage and choose Disk Management.
4. Find the entry for your USB drive, right-click it, and select Change drive letters and paths.
5. Now click on the Add button, and select Mount in the following empty NTFS folder. You will now browse to the directory to which you want to mount the drive. If you haven’t created a directory, you may do so now.
6. When done, you can now remove the drive letter which is automatically assigned to the drive and click OK. Your USB drive now has a permanent home inside your hard drive ( C: ).

The really nice thing about this tip is that if you ever unplug your USB drive, the folder will still appear inside your hard drive directory, but you will not be able to open it.

Please Note : As you stated Normally, XP assigns the next available drive letter when you plug in a USB drive.

Alternative solution (the better solution) would be to mount it as a folder in a partition on your hard disk. You could also use your little USB drive to share files across a network.

 

Hardmarkerin ... thanks for the detailed procedure. I'll give it a try. Concerning your alternate solution for the small USB flash drive (the part I quoted). I actually use three different flash drives to sync various files. Do you think this mount technique would work for multiple USB devices alternately using the same drive letter? I'll have to do a little testing.

I appreciate your help.

 

I think it should work , you can use the same procedure to assign a drive letter to all of them