XP and portable hard drives

I have two system (PCs) that are, in almost every respect, identical. Win XP Pro O/S.

I have two Lacie portable hard drives attached (via USB 2.0 ports) to each system.

Naturally, when they are powered up, XP assigns them the next available letter (either E: or F. I can live with that, up to a point.

Where it becomes confusing is when I attach one of the portable drives from the other system. I now have three on one system and one on the other system. XP assigns G: to the third drive.

Is there a way that I can tell XP to assign G: and H: (permanently) to the two portable drives on PC #2, so no matter to which system they are attached, they will always have the same letter designation?

System #1 normally would have E: and F: attached, but if either of these drives is attached to system #2 they would have the same letter designation.

 

Yes, you can assign a specific letter to a drive. See How to change drive letter assignments in Windows XP

 

I'm not sure about assigning drive letters permanently but why you want to do that could be relevant to the answers you get as to the easiest way to solve your problem.

I have a similar situation where it depends whether the card reader is plugged in before the flash drive and the flash drive becomes drive E:\ or drive I:\ and for me, the only issue was making it easy to send files to the flash drive so I just added another entry to the "SendTo" for drive I:\.

I have tried assigning drive letters permanently to two CD drives in the past on 95 or 98 and it was very hit and miss. Sometimes it worked properly and sometimes it didn't and I never did figure out why. I got round it by adding extra shortcuts.

 

The link I provided is specifically for Windows XP; I believe it's a valid solution for a Windows XP user. XP beats 95 or 98.

 

SecretCodeBreaker,

I have more or less the same situation as you have and usafveteran is right with the link and the way to change them, but this is what I had to do. You have 4 drives right, Dirve 1, 2, 3, 4. You have 2 systems, 1 & 2. This will take a little time, but will work.

1. Take drive 1 to System 1 and do what the link usafveteran showed you to assign the drive letter you want, let's say G. Take the same drive 1 to System 2 and assign the drive letter, making sure to use the same drive letter that you used on system 1, in this case G.

2. Do the same for each drive 2, 3, 4 until each drive has been assigned the same drive letter on each system, for example H,I,J. You will then have the 4 drives on the 2 systems that should retain the same drive letters.

This is what I did and it should work. I do select drive letters far up the alphabet so that if I plug in a flash drive it does not mess things up. I have even done the same thing for 4 flash drives. So I have 2 external hard disks & 4 flash drives and on the 2 systems they retain always the same letter.

Hope this helps,
BeenThereDoneThat

 

Except for being more targeted for viruses by the virus writers!

Thanks usafveteran. I had to wander while I was writing my post and I missed yours until checking back tonight. I was wondering if there had been an improvement in drive letter assignment.