Multiple removable drives

[Ahad]

The answer to this is probably very simple, but can I find it out by myself?

Lately, each time I plug and unplug a removable usb drive, Windows remembers the last drive letter and assign a new letter to the next device. After "Z" it doesn't want to know and therefore I'm unable to use the drive. How can I stop this happening? I'm using Win XP Pro SP2. Many thanks in advance.

Ahad

[-pops-]

From the Help & Support files in Windows XP:

Open Computer Management (Local).

In the console tree, click Disk Management.

Computer Management (Local)

Storage

Disk Management

Right-click a partition, logical drive, or volume, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Do one of the following:

To assign a drive letter, click Add, click the drive letter you want to use, and then click OK.

To modify a drive letter, click it, click Change, click the drive letter you want to use, and then click OK.

To remove a drive letter, click it, and then click Remove.

Important

Be careful when making drive-letter assignments because many MS-DOS and Windows programs make references to a specific drive letter. For example, the path environment variable shows specific drive letters in conjunction with program names.

Notes

To open Computer Management, click Start, and then click Control Panel. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings might also prevent you from completing this procedure.

A computer can use up to 26 drive letters. Drive letters A and B are reserved for floppy disk drives, but you can assign these letters to removable drives if the computer does not have a floppy disk drive. Hard disk drives in the computer receive letters C through Z, while mapped network drives are assigned drive letters in reverse order (Z through B ).

You cannot change the drive letter of the system volume or boot volume.

An error message may appear when you attempt to assign a letter to a volume, CD-ROM drive, or other removable media device, possibly because it is in use by a program in the system. If this happens, close the program accessing the volume or drive, and then click the Change Drive Letter and Paths command again.

Windows 2000 and Windows XP allow the static assignment of drive letters on volumes, partitions, and CD-ROM drives. This means that you permanently assign a drive letter to a specific partition, volume, or CD-ROM drive. When you add a new hard disk to an existing computer system, it will not affect statically assigned drive letters.

You can also mount a local drive at an empty folder on an NTFS volume using a drive path instead of a drive letter.

[-pops-]

Also here.

This might be of help as well here.

[Ahad]

Interestingly (?), under Computer Management (in Admin Tools), I can see the two removable drives I have connected, with their correct properties (one a 64MB USD drive and the other a 1 GB photo XD card) but no drive letters assigned to either of them, and of course, I'm unable to assign a letter to them. I need to be able to delete those phantoms!

[Ahad]

Interestingly (?), under Computer Management (in Admin Tools), I can see the two removable drives I have connected, with their correct properties (one a 64MB USD drive and the other a 1 GB photo XD card) but no drive letters assigned to either of them, and of course, I'm unable to assign a letter to them. I need to be able to delete those phantoms!

Oops, I didn't realise I was editing my previous post and have deleted that message - sorry. :(

I said something like : "Thanks for the above, but they don't really apply in my situation. I started off with the Drives A to G, plus my DVD and CD Rom as H and I. If plug in a USB drive, it becomes J; I unplug it and plug it again, it becomes K, and so on until now I have phantom drives J to Z. Now although the computer recognises the USB drive, I cannot access them. I need to be able to delete those phantoms and restore my computer to normal again". Help!!!

[dadyassa]

Did you go into disc management as instructions ?

"Computer Management (Local)

Storage

Disk Management

Right-click a partition, logical drive, or volume, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Do one of the following:

To assign a drive letter, click Add, click the drive letter you want to use, and then click OK.

To modify a drive letter, click it, click Change, click the drive letter you want to use, and then click OK.

To remove a drive letter, click it, and then click Remove."

[Ahad]

Did you go into disc management as instructions ?

"Computer Management (Local)

Storage

Disk Management

Right-click a partition, logical drive, or volume, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Do one of the following:

To assign a drive letter, click Add, click the drive letter you want to use, and then click OK.

To modify a drive letter, click it, click Change, click the drive letter you want to use, and then click OK.

To remove a drive letter, click it, and then click Remove."

Hi!

Yes, I did. The problem is that Disk Management does not show the phantom drives, so I can't delete them !!!

Now even wierder, this morning the phantom drives have disappeared, while the removable disk, although visible in DM, had no drive letter assigned. So I added one, J, and this was fine. I unplugged and plugged it in again, and it became K! Trying to change it back to J does not work as this letter is not offered as an option.

[dadyassa]

Did you go into disc management as instructions ?

"Computer Management (Local)

Storage

Disk Management

Right-click a partition, logical drive, or volume, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Do one of the following:

To assign a drive letter, click Add, click the drive letter you want to use, and then click OK.

To modify a drive letter, click it, click Change, click the drive letter you want to use, and then click OK.

To remove a drive letter, click it, and then click Remove."

Hi!

Yes, I did. The problem is that Disk Management does not show the phantom drives, so I can't delete them !!!

Now even wierder, this morning the phantom drives have disappeared, while the removable disk, although visible in DM, had no drive letter assigned. So I added one, J, and this was fine. I unplugged and plugged it in again, and it became K! Trying to change it back to J does not work as this letter is not offered as an option.

:lol: :lol: Perhaps they carry on till Z then delete themselves and start again.