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The inconsistency of USB hard disks
One of the biggest frustrations with USB is that a device is not recognised as the same thing when plugged into a different USB socket on the same computer. Actually this happened to me today when I used a different cable. Most of the time this isn't a massive problem but today it was.
I have a USB hard disk plugged into my computer that is used for storing my music, pictures and other stuff that is probably best left off the work hard disk. I had to move my computer so I unplugged the hard disk so it didn't get damaged.
When I plugged it back in again, Windows thought it was a new hard disk and gave it a new drive letter. As a result I had problems with Outlook, Windows Media Player and Firefox because they were all looking for files in a different place.
Now I'm lucky, because I have had the experience to know that it is possible to override this setting and tell Windows what drive letter to use. Once done the software all worked again. But it still seems such a pointless problem. Surely there must be a way to identify a device and keep a record of it in case the USB socket is changed.
Read on for the instructions on how to change the drive letter.
Changing the drive letter is not something that should be done without justification as it can cause all sorts of problems if software expects to find files in one place and they are in another.
Warning out of the way. Left-click on the Start button and then right click on My Computer. Select Manage from the menu that appears and then left-click on Disk Management in the menu on the left. Rightl click on the drive you want to change (in either the top or bottom sections of the windows) and select Change Drive letter and paths... . There should be just one drive letter listed. Click on this and then on Change. Select a new letter from the list and click on OK. Click on Yes when the warning message appears.
Both the old and new drive letters are available until the computer is restarted, when the old letter no longer works. Click on Yes in the warning dialogue to complete the change.
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