Windows: possible to lock drive letters to ext. devices?

[sporkles]

Is there any way to lock a drive letter to e.g. an external hard drive, so that you don't risk getting a different letter
every time you plug it in, depending on the order in which you powered up your other USB devices? It's driving me nuts
every time I'm making backups.

I'm on Vista Premium on my laptop and XP on my desktop.

[stutter]

on XP:

Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Storage - Disk Management
... right click the disc, use ermm, "Change Drive Letter & Paths" ... I think.

on Vista: google

[abletoff]

On vista/seven is the same, rclick on my computer, manage, manage disks. rclick on the volumes, change letter. I have the same problem as you and the solution is Usb hubs and the drives connected everytime. If you disconnect and use another port, 100% chances you'll get another letter at next boot.
The letters can't be tied to the drives in any more ways. My windows seven rtm recognizes them (I don't change usb ports at all) and you can make bookmarks and aliases and everything works.

[sporkles]

Thanks, guys.

I knew you could change the drive letter with admin tools, but I was hoping there'd be a more permanent fix, like reserving
a drive letter for a specific device.

Cheers

[Android Bishop]

Thanks, guys.

I knew you could change the drive letter with admin tools, but I was hoping there'd be a more permanent fix, like reserving
a drive letter for a specific device.

Cheers

In my experience, once you set up a drive letter for a usb device under disk management, those changes remain pretty permanent. I use external HDs almost exclusively and once I assign them a drive letter they always default to that letter.

[sporkles]

In my experience, once you set up a drive letter for a usb device under disk management, those changes remain pretty permanent. I use external HDs almost exclusively and once I assign them a drive letter they always default to that letter.

Interesting; I'll look into it.
Cheers

[amcnally336]

Actually, they can still sometimes switch letters...I have experienced this as well.
It happens when you are inconsistent in the way you connect your drives...ie, I don't connect one of my drives today, but I install/use another usb device: this can screw it up.
Try using high letters (v, w, x, etc) for the drives you want to remain consistent...space the letters out as well.
Also, always connect the drives to the same usb port on your computer.
When you add new hardware (or even a jump drive), windows will default to the lowest available letter...therefore, there is less liklihood for error if you use higher letters for the important stuff!
Give it a try!!

[Android Bishop]

Another option is to encrypt your drives with Truecrypt (free) and mount them where you want by hand