clayton Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Hello,This is my first post here, I'm sorry if I'm duplicating a question, however I have tried everything to solve this one.I am attempting to recover deleted photos from my Canon Powershot A70 digital Camera (Windows XP-64).I have plugged the digital camera into the USB port and Windows recognises the device. When I go to My Computer the display is as follows:A: FloppyC: System Hard DriveD: Data Hard DriveE: DVD/CDROM DriveF: Removable Disk (actually it's an ipod)Scanners & Cameras:Canon Powershot A70I now wish to be able to assign a drive letter to this device.The actual device is not under Disk Management, only A: C: D: E: F: drivesI do not have any network drives mapped out, although it is my understanding that they start from Z: anyway.I have also installed TweakUI and when I look at explorer drives there is a question mark on B: and G: through to and including Z:Any advice would be appreciated.Clayton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 I am not sure that I fully understand the question. If I understand correctly, you want to assign a drive letter to a device which can be plugged in and later unplugged. When I plug my camera in it is assigned the next letter available, and if I plug in my separate hard drive, it in turn is assigned the next letter. If however I plug the hard drive in first, and the camera second, they are assigned letters the opposite way round. To the best of my knowledge, a definite letter cannot be assigned to a plug in device, it will always take the next letter. I will be happy to be corrected on this matter if I am wrong.Have I understood the question properly? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Andsome is correct when you plug a USB device in Windows it should automatically assign the next drive letter available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayton Posted October 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 First of all, many thanks for your reply and I apologise for the misleading post !Hopefully this will help:1) I wish to retrieve deleted photos from the camera using software called SD_Undelete.2) The program looks for "removable drives" so that it can retrieve the files.3) I plugin the camera and XP-64 recognises the camera, I know of this because when I check My Computer it is listed under Scanners and CamerasHowever, the problem is that Windows XP-64 is NOT assigning ANY drive letter to that device.I'm not bothered which letter name is allocated to the device, I just basically want Windows to recognise the device not as a camera, but as a removable drive (any drive letter will do).I have uninstalled the USB drive, however when I scan for hardware changes (to re-install), Windows automatically picks the device up as a camera (which I guess it's suppose to). What I would like to do is to trick windows into thinking it's a removable drive with any drive letter attached to it, so I can run the one-off Undelete program.Once I have done this, I then want to go back and use the device as a camera again.Hopefully this make sense ??Clayton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayton Posted October 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Cheers Alan, unfortunately XP-64 is not assigning a drive letter to this device. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Does the camera show up in disk management, if it does , right click on that drive and you should be able to assign it a drive letter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayton Posted October 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Hi Alan,No, it does not show up in disc management.I have attached a screenshot that might help.Clayton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 This may seem like a daft question , but have you switched the camera on.When you plug your camera in do you get a small box by the clock in the system tray pop up.The only suggestion I can make if it is not recognised in disk management is to buy a usb card reader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayton Posted October 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Good question !There is no icon in the tray, however I can explore the camera's drive and see it's folders, so I guess that would mean yes ??!I've read on the internet that Windows may not allocate anymore drive letters, which is why I'm not getting a drive letter for the device.I have no network drives mapped either, so I'm at a loose end here.EDIT: It seems to be picking up an ipod as a drive which is connected via USB port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 My camera shows a drive number and isn't under scanners and cameras , so the only other thing to try is to uninstall the software and let XP find the camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayton Posted October 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Cheers rong,I've just this second had the same idea.I have uninstalled the USB and the software.Disconnected the device and re-installed the USB.I then plugged in the camera and XP found the device, however still did not allocate a drive letter though !I'm taking a wild guess here, but it's though Windows is saying that F: is my last drive and cannot allocate anymore.I have attached another screenshot.Clayton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Are we on the same lines? it's the Cannon software that you should uninstall, and don't put it back on, you may have to shut down the PC to clear it, then when it starts up again just plug in the camera and switch it on. you may have to do a search to get rid of the cannon software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayton Posted October 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Cheers rong,I have uninstalled the canon driver and software in control panel > add/remove programs and uninstalled the usb root hub in device manager.Then restarted the PC, XP-64 re-installed the USB and I then plugged in the camera.XP-64 then identified the camera, checked in My Computer and it still did not assign a drive letter.I've now disconnected ALL USB devices except the camera - and it still does not work !!What makes this worse, is that this is a one-off problem which (hopefully) I will never need to do again ! But I really need to undelete these photos.Clayton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 If the photos are on a card then all I can suggest is buy a card reader as Alan2273 suggested. I nearly always use one anyhow.Edit: do you know anyone else that would let you use their computer, and try it on that without the Cannon software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 Can you open Windows Explorer, then double-click on that 'Canon Powershot A70' device; what happens? What do you see in the Address Bar?Do you have a manual with detailed instructions how to use that undelete? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 The last time that I reinstalled Windows, I did not bother to install the software for my camera. Now when I plug it in to a USB port it is automatically assigned the next drive letter available. I can click onto the drive letter, and then OLYMPUS opens up and I can drag and drop all the photo's onto my drive D. Have you tried doing this? Perhaps with different USB plug in points? The last time in reinstalled Windows for a friend I also did not install her software, and we get the same result. I hate camera software programs, I have used two, and find them to be useless, and just a repeat of programs that can do the same job, :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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