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Drive letter assigned to flash drive

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Post #1
I have a couple of 8Gb flash drives which I use primarily for document backups. The other day I bought myself a 16Gb flash drive to combine the files backed up to the 2 separate flash drives and also to provided another level of redundancy for my backups.

I placed both flash drives into the PC so I could copy the existing content of the 8Gb drive onto the 16Gb drive. Windows assigned drive e: to the 16Gb drive and f: to the older 8Gb one. However, whenever I place the 8Gb drive into the PC it retains the f: drive letter previously used despite there being no other external drives in use.

What I need to do is release the drive letter (f:) currently assigned to the drive and re-assign e: to it as I use batch files to copy files to the drive like they used to. Any idea how I can do this?

TIA
Post #2 last edited

Any idea how I can do this?

needed to do this a couple of days ago on an xp system,
so yes. ;)

anything else you want to know?? :D










just having a bit of fun here's the info you need. :thumbup:

you'll need to go into computer management..

this is how you do it in xp.:- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844
same procedure but with pictures :- http://www.wikihow.com/Change-a-Drive-Letter-in-Windows-XP

in vista/win7 :- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows…-a-drive-letter

same way in all os i think, but included vista/win7 link just in case.

:popcorn:
Post #3
"Normally", all you have to do is plug the USB device into a different port and XP/Vista/Win 7 will not assign the same drive letter automatically, but will start with the first open letter.

If not, and the links Terry provided don't help, then try this:
  • Unplug all USB flash drives.
  • Create a new Environment variable called devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices and set it's value to 1 as follows:
    • Right click on My Computer and select Properties
    • Click on the Advanced tab
    • Click on the Environmental Variables button
    • Click the New button under the User variables for xxxxx" area.
    • Set the Variable name as: devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices
    • Set the Variable value to: 1
    • Click OK as needed to close all the windows you opened.
  • Open Device Manager (Control Panel, System, Hardware tab, Device Manager)
  • Click on View then Show hidden devices.
  • Scroll down to USB and click on the plus to expand it.
  • Uninstall the faded out (means not currently connected) entries.
  • Shutdown and reboot, let XP rediscover and load necessary drivers. This can take a few minutes, be patient.
Once stable, plug in the flash drive and see what happens.
Post #4
Thanks terry1966 - that was exactly what I needed :)

Had a look at your suggestion too Ztruker, but when I got to the usb section of the device manager, there were no greyed out areas, so it appears that Terry's method fixed it.

Thanks very much for you help fellers - appreciated :thumbup:

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