Any way to permanently assign a drive letter...

[jhansman]

...to an external drive? I have a USB connected external that is only used for back up, and hence only turned on once or twice a month. Since Windows likes to assign the next available drive letter to removable devices, on my system it can be F:/ or G:/, depending on whether I have a flash drive also plugged in. Anyone know a way to have Windows call it, say, "X" every time it connects so I can put a shortcut on my desktop for it? TIA.

 

[JackMDS]

Use Disk Management and assign the Drive a letter high in the ABC (like R

 

[jhansman]

I thought of that, but external drives don't show up in Disk Management (at least on my system-Win7 64-bit) even when on and connected. Am I missing something?

 

[sm625]

You can put a file in the root folder of your external drive. Call it test.txt. Write a batch file that scans through all drives starting at D : looking for the file test.txt. When it finds it you know that is your drive letter. Then you just use that drive letter in the path for your backup script.

A simple example would go like this:

IF EXIST D:\test.txt xcopy C:\*.* D:\ /d /e /y /v /c
IF EXIST E:\test.txt xcopy C:\*.* E:\ /d /e /y /v /c
IF EXIST F:\test.txt xcopy C:\*.* F:\ /d /e /y /v /c
IF EXIST G:\test.txt xcopy C:\*.* G:\ /d /e /y /v /c
IF EXIST H:\test.txt xcopy C:\*.* H:\ /d /e /y /v /c

Those 5 lines will find your external drive if it is drive D thru H, and then backup all files that are newer than the ones on your backup drive. You can easily keep adding lines to this script until you get to drive Z. Then you just run the script and you dont need to know or care what drive letter it gets assigned.

You can also throw in a /h switch to copy hidden files and folders. And maybe the /k switch if you are backing up a cloned system disk. (Note you cannot easily use xcopy to clone a disk but it should be able to update a cloned backup with no problems.)

 

[tracerbullet]

... external drives don't show up in Disk Management (at least on my system-Win7 64-bit) even when on and connected. Am I missing something?

That's strange, mine do. Just checked. Win7-64 installed on a PC and a laptop, both have external drives show in Disk management.

 

[Nothinman]

I thought of that, but external drives don't show up in Disk Management (at least on my system-Win7 64-bit) even when on and connected. Am I missing something?

Yes, all connected drives should show up there regardless of the connection type.

 

[jhansman]

Yes, all connected drives should show up there regardless of the connection type.

Hmmm, interesting. I'll have to check this out further when I get home. Thanks.

 

[JackMDS]

When your are un Disk Management click at the top on View choose Top and choose Volume list.

Click on Bottom and choose Graphical View.

Right click on any Drive and choose Change Drive letter.

Do not change Letters of Active Drives (Like C ) that have installed actionable programs on them (unless it is a portable program).

 

[jhansman]

When your are un Disk Management click at the top on View choose Top and choose Volume list.

Click on Bottom and choose Graphical View.

Right click on any Drive and choose Change Drive letter.

Do not change Letters of Active Drives (Like C ) that have installed actionable programs on them (unless it is a portable program).

Thanks. Will give this a try.