Windows re-assinging Drive letters at DVinfo.net

John Wiley · March 4th, 2015, 09:46 AM

Hi All,

I'm having a problem with some of my external USB drives in Windows 7. I've been working on a project on a 3TB external HDD (WD MyBook) and needed to hand the work in progress off to a second editor. I thought the best way would be to grab another identical drive and copy everything over. Trouble is, when I plug in the new drive, the old one is no longer recognised due to a drive letter conflict. No problem - I can just change the drive letter, right? Well, I try to change the drive letter on the new drive, and it also somehow changes the original drive as well. Doesn't matter if both drives are plugged in, or just one, but if I change the drive letter on either one of the drives, then plug in the other drive, it also re-assigns the drive letter for that disk to the same thing as soon I plug it in. I've tried all sorts of combinations of plugged/unplugged when changing the drive letter but I just cannot possibly get Windows to recognise these two drives at the same time. It is almost as though Windows thinks these are actually the same disk, and any changes made to one get applied to the other as soon as it is plugged back in.

Either one of these disks is mountable at the same time as any of my other 1/2 dozen current working disks, but when I try to plug these two in at the same time - nada. It's also worth mentioning that these are the only 2 disks I have that are completely identical - same brand, model, year, size, etc.

Any one ever had this problem before or know a way to fix it?

John Wiley · March 4th, 2015, 10:00 AM

Also I'll add that I just tried to re-assign the drive letters on my laptop and the same thing happens.

The original drive is exFAT, I've tried formatting the new blank drive to both exFAT and NTFS and I get the same result with both.

Matt Sharp · March 10th, 2015, 11:23 PM

I've had that issue with the portable WD My Passport drives, but as I don't usually plug multiples in at once I never looked for a fix.

FWIW I have a stack of MyBook drives that I assigned letters to on Windows 7 and they are working perfectly with no problems while 10 are connected. The ones I'm using are all the same model: WDBACW0030HBK-NESN.

Dave Baker · March 11th, 2015, 02:42 AM

As a work around, why not copy the project to another drive, then cut-and-paste to the drive you want it on?

Just a thought.

Dave

Vince Pachiano · March 11th, 2015, 06:33 AM

I had a similar problem, and I had to use:

Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management
Storage -> Disk Management
Right Click on the External Drive -> Change Drive Letter and Paths

HTH

March 4th, 2015, 09:46 AM	#1
John Wiley Trustee Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Byron Bay, Australia Posts: 1,155	Windows re-assinging Drive letters Hi All, I'm having a problem with some of my external USB drives in Windows 7. I've been working on a project on a 3TB external HDD (WD MyBook) and needed to hand the work in progress off to a second editor. I thought the best way would be to grab another identical drive and copy everything over. Trouble is, when I plug in the new drive, the old one is no longer recognised due to a drive letter conflict. No problem - I can just change the drive letter, right? Well, I try to change the drive letter on the new drive, and it also somehow changes the original drive as well. Doesn't matter if both drives are plugged in, or just one, but if I change the drive letter on either one of the drives, then plug in the other drive, it also re-assigns the drive letter for that disk to the same thing as soon I plug it in. I've tried all sorts of combinations of plugged/unplugged when changing the drive letter but I just cannot possibly get Windows to recognise these two drives at the same time. It is almost as though Windows thinks these are actually the same disk, and any changes made to one get applied to the other as soon as it is plugged back in. Either one of these disks is mountable at the same time as any of my other 1/2 dozen current working disks, but when I try to plug these two in at the same time - nada. It's also worth mentioning that these are the only 2 disks I have that are completely identical - same brand, model, year, size, etc. Any one ever had this problem before or know a way to fix it?

March 4th, 2015, 10:00 AM	#2
John Wiley Trustee Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Byron Bay, Australia Posts: 1,155	Re: Windows re-assinging Drive letters Also I'll add that I just tried to re-assign the drive letters on my laptop and the same thing happens. The original drive is exFAT, I've tried formatting the new blank drive to both exFAT and NTFS and I get the same result with both.

March 10th, 2015, 11:23 PM	#3
Matt Sharp Major Player Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Northridge, CA Posts: 280	Re: Windows re-assinging Drive letters I've had that issue with the portable WD My Passport drives, but as I don't usually plug multiples in at once I never looked for a fix. FWIW I have a stack of MyBook drives that I assigned letters to on Windows 7 and they are working perfectly with no problems while 10 are connected. The ones I'm using are all the same model: WDBACW0030HBK-NESN.

March 11th, 2015, 02:42 AM	#4
Dave Baker Major Player Join Date: May 2014 Location: Brandon, England Posts: 457	Re: Windows re-assinging Drive letters As a work around, why not copy the project to another drive, then cut-and-paste to the drive you want it on? Just a thought. Dave

March 11th, 2015, 06:33 AM	#5
Vince Pachiano Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Dayton, OH Posts: 307	Re: Windows re-assinging Drive letters I had a similar problem, and I had to use: Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management Storage -> Disk Management Right Click on the External Drive -> Change Drive Letter and Paths HTH