Assigning the same driver letter every time a USB drive is connected

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mruane

420 posts

Ultimate Geek

#32880 26-Apr-2009 12:24

Hi,

I have a backup strategy which I have just implemented, that uses a removable USB disk device i.e. the iTANK system. The iTANK is a fixed USB and/or eSATA enclosure that enables removable 3.5" hard disks to be swapped in and out. So, whilst the disk is swapped in and out, the enclosure is always mounted. I have been using the USB option rather than the eSATA port.

My strategy is to use a backup system like Nova Backup to execute a daily bakup to the removable disk and then, on a regular basis, I will swap out the removable hard disk and replace it with a second disk until the next cycle period.

The problem I have is that everytime I switch the enclosure off and then on again (after swapping the disk), the drive gets a assigned a new drive letter by Windows XP, meaning that I have to manually reassign it back to the drive letter I want to use (i.e. K:) to suit the script I have create for the backup program.

Does anyone know of a method to mount a USB drive so that it always gets the same drive letter assigned, or a script that can check perhaps the volume label and manually assign a drive letter using diskpart or something similar.

Cheers Mike

exportgoldman

1202 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#209466 26-Apr-2009 13:21

We have this problem at lot with the RDX cartridges, which are similar to iTalk but 2.5" hard drives.

From memory we fixed it by formatting the drives as NTFS instead of FAT32.

Who distributes iTalk in NZ?

Tyler - Parnell Geek - iPhone 3G - Lenovo X301 - Kaseya - Great Western Steak House, these are some of my favourite things.

hellonearthisman

1819 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#209486 26-Apr-2009 14:35

Can't the drive been addressed by it's drive name and not the name assigned by the windows?

exportgoldman

1202 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#209493 26-Apr-2009 15:34

hellonearthisman: Can't the drive been addressed by it's drive name and not the name assigned by the windows?

If it was unix, for sure. Within windows you would have to make a script to check all the drive labels and then get the drive letter to use for file actions

Tyler - Parnell Geek - iPhone 3G - Lenovo X301 - Kaseya - Great Western Steak House, these are some of my favourite things.

mruane

420 posts

Ultimate Geek

#209497 26-Apr-2009 15:50

exportgoldman:

We have this problem at lot with the RDX cartridges, which are similar to iTalk but 2.5" hard drives.

From memory we fixed it by formatting the drives as NTFS instead of FAT32.

Who distributes iTalk in NZ?

Both of the disks are formatted as NTFS!

The iTalk is distributed through www.ascent.co.nz and presumably others and are a reasonaby good choice to my mind.

I have been very happy with the choice - but for this issue! I suppose one option might be to setup a form of autorun that could mount the device as a share. Then I could configure the bacikup programs to write to the share disregarding any drive letter. I will investigate that some more.

Cheers Mike

mrrosh

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#209503 26-Apr-2009 16:45

Dear Mike;

You can use
"USBDLM V4.2.5 - USB Drive Letter Manager for Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 and Vista "

Site: http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html

Allows you to ensure the same drive letter is assigned to USB devices, this can be controlled by device ID, Volume name, drive type, size, USB port number.

Thanks

mruane

420 posts

Ultimate Geek

#209516 26-Apr-2009 18:13

Thanks mrrosh - well spotted. That looks like the sweet spot. I liked the option this program has to respond to an INI file on the drive and mount to the drive letter identified in that file, or mounting to a specific letter depending on Volume ID - perfect.

I appreciate your including the link. I missed that one during my earlier search for a solution.

Thanks again
Mike...

mruane

420 posts

Ultimate Geek

#211896 3-May-2009 17:20

Just a quick final update to this question, the USBDLM option suggested by mrrosh worked like a charm. I download the pack and installed it onto the XP box being used as a media server and on replacing the iTANK drive today and switching back on, it was assigned the drive letter I needed it to use.

Sweet solution mrrosh - thanks for the tip!!!

Cheers Mike