Problem permanently assigning drive letters to flash disks

Fortitude · 20 Aug 2020

I have two flash disks of the exact same brand and size (128GB each, formatted as exFAT). I have a problem in that when I insert either of them in a USB port, it's assigned a drive letter which may not be what I would like. Ideally I want each flash disk to be always assigned its own drive letter. One difference between the flash disks is that I have given them a different volume name.

I tried Disk Manager to assign them the drive letters that I want, but the settings are not permanent and change again after the next reboot.

Paul Black · 20 Aug 2020

Hello @Fortitude.

Fortitude said:

I have two flash disks of the exact same brand and size (128GB each, formatted as exFAT). I have a problem in that when I insert either of them in a USB port, it's assigned a drive letter which may not be what I would like. Ideally I want each flash disk to be always assigned its own drive letter. One difference between the flash disks is that I have given them a different volume name.

I tried Disk Manager to assign them the drive letters that I want, but the settings are not permanent and change again after the next reboot.

Does this help? => How to assign permanent letters to drives on Windows 10.

dalchina · 20 Aug 2020

And please note, a given drive letter- late in the alphabet so it is always available- should only be assigned to one drive.

Fortitude · 20 Aug 2020

Paul Black said:

Hello @Fortitude.
Does this help? => How to assign permanent letters to drives on Windows 10.

The first method is what I already tried. Is there a difference with the other methods?

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dalchina said:

And please note, a given drive letter- late in the alphabet so it is always available- should only be assigned to one drive.

I'm trying to assign letters I and J, but I'm not particular about it as long as the letters stick.

dalchina · 20 Aug 2020

You have 5 external drives in your spec, so if you were to connect all simultaneously, that would suggest you use 'permanent' drive letters at leastfrom J onwards, preferably later to avoid conflict.

This is what I use for my Macrium backup drives so the backup job, which expects a drive at R, sees a drive at R, for example.

Fortitude · 20 Aug 2020

dalchina said:

You have 5 external drives in your spec, so if you were to connect all simultaneously, that would suggest you use 'permanent' drive letters at leastfrom J onwards, preferably later to avoid conflict.

The other drives which are all different external disks, not flash drives, behave normally. I'm wondering if Windows becomes confused because the two USB sticks happen to be identical and are the only ones that I frequently connect and disconnect.

MeAndMyComputer · 20 Aug 2020

Fortitude said:

The other drives which are all different external disks, not flash drives, behave normally. I'm wondering if Windows becomes confused because the two USB sticks happen to be identical and are the only ones that I frequently connect and disconnect.

I have 2 identical USB flash drives with permanently assigned drive letters. On each one of them, I have attached a sticky label) identifying their drive letters so I'll know which one I am using before connecting: haven't had any problems with either one of them.

Forgot to include my external HDD I use for my Macrium Reflect backups also has a permanently assigned drive letter also.