Assigning a Drive letter to External USB connected Hard Drive

How can I assign the Drive letter M to a newly connected (USB) external
hard drive? The external hard drive is presently showing up in the
Device Manager as:

- Acronis Devices
Acronis True Image Backup Archive Explorer

I tried to follow the following instructions:

1. In the System option in Control Panel, click the Device Manager tab.
--This I was able to do.
2. In the hardware list, double-click the item that represents the
removable device. Removable devices are typically found under CD-ROM or
Disk Drives.
--My device is reflected as depicted above. I was able to click the
Acronis True Image Backup Archive Explorer entry.
3. In the Properties dialog box, click the Settings tab.
--The Properties dialog box is not present...thus, this is where I am
stopped.
4. In the Reserved Drive Letters list, select the last drive to be
assigned to this device. Click OK.
--The last letter assigned to this device was M.
In the End Drive Letter, list, select the last drive to be assigned to
this device. Click OK.
--All of this I can't do.
5. To close the System Properties dialog box, click OK.
--Can't do this one either.
6. When prompted, restart the computer.

-----

I'm stuck again. I am now attempting to recover lost files from my
earlier computer disaster. Here is where I am in this process:

I have a formatted 120GB hard drive installed in my system.

I have an external 120GB hard drive connected to my system via USB plug
(peviously in my system as Drive M).
On this hard drive is a backup copy of my system prior to my computer
melt-down.

I have a 30GB hard drive that is not presently in my system. This hard
drive is the one created after my recent melt-down. Be assured that
this hard drive is off in a safe place during this backup-restore process.

I have a backup of my earlier system on an external USB connected 120GB
hard drive. This backup was made with Acronis software. I also made
several sets of backup restore disks (CD and floppies) for use when it
became necessary to restore my system. I attempted to use the floppy
disks, and both sets were faulty. I then attempted to use the CD. (By
the way, for all who helped me with my recovery problems, the CD was
found during the startup process.) The CD disk did work, but it did not
find my external USB connected hard disk where the backup is stored.

I next loaded a Image for DOS backup copy of my 30 GB - C Drive on to
the 120GB internal drive. That worked without any problems.

I then was notified during startup that a new device was found...the USB
connected external hard drive.

That is where I am at the moment. My plan, once a letter is assigned to
the external hard drive, is to cut a new CD boot disk...hopefully, one
that shows the USB connected external hard drive.

I hope that all of this makes some sense, and I am again able to access
my lost data.


Thanks for any help sent my way.

Frog

"Frog" <frog@pond.com> wrote in message
news:OxU6cIt$HHA.4752@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> How can I assign the Drive letter M to a newly connected (USB) external
> hard drive?

If all else fails, use TweakUI to disable drive letters
(say) H I J K L N O P Q R S T
leaving M as (next after all your other drives) the
only vacant and available logical drive after reboot.
(We assume your ext USB drive should be
connected only after boot.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Don Phillipson wrote:
> "Frog" <frog@pond.com> wrote in message
> news:OxU6cIt$HHA.4752@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
>> How can I assign the Drive letter M to a newly connected (USB) external
>> hard drive?
>
> If all else fails, use TweakUI to disable drive letters
> (say) H I J K L N O P Q R S T
> leaving M as (next after all your other drives) the
> only vacant and available logical drive after reboot.
> (We assume your ext USB drive should be
> connected only after boot.)
>
Thanks for your help.

Subsequent to receiving your message I did the following:

1. I removed:
- Acronis Devices
Acronis TrueImage Backup Archive Explorer
from the device manager. I initially, while the system was off, plugged
the external hard drive into the USB port. I then started my computer.
On start-up, the computer quickly flashed a small screen that said
something to the effect that a new USB device was found. Next, another
window appeared wanting to install a driver for this device. I clicked
cancel on this window. I then made a visit to Device Manager and found
the following:
- Acronis Devices
Acronis TrueImage Backup Archive Explorer
In no way am I able to find a way to identify this external drive as
drive M.

2. I unplugged the external hard drive from the system--restarted the
system--and then plugged the external hard drive into the system. The
same two windows were observed during start-up (i.e., new hardware found
and the one about finding a driver for the new hardware). I next made
another visit to the device manager--the external hard drive could not
be found.

I did not do the TweakUI bit as I am not able to get close to
assigning a drive letter to this external hard drive. Did I miss
something in your instructions?

Frog

"Frog" <frog@pond.com> wrote in message
news:e0%23seyu$HHA.1168@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Don Phillipson wrote:
> > "Frog" <frog@pond.com> wrote in message
> > news:OxU6cIt$HHA.4752@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> >
> >> How can I assign the Drive letter M to a newly connected (USB) external
> >> hard drive?
> >
> > If all else fails, use TweakUI to disable drive letters
> > (say) H I J K L N O P Q R S T
> > leaving M as (next after all your other drives) the
> > only vacant and available logical drive after reboot.
>
> Subsequent to receiving your message I did the following:
> [ snip ]
>
> I did not do the TweakUI bit as I am not able to get close to
> assigning a drive letter to this external hard drive. Did I miss
> something in your instructions?

My advice concerned only TweakUI so you missed
nothing because you did not use this tool. You may
be making the task unnecessarily complicated.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Oops sorry Glen, should have waited for your response..

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
________

"MEB" <meb@not here@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:uX0wESx$HHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

> I have been noticing an issue which I have apparently
> localized to installation of TweakUI regarding newer CDROM/DVD drives. On
> several computers in which the customer had installed Tweak, the drives
> eventually failed.
> The setting [NoDriveTypeAutoRun] modified in the registry {or some other}
> is apparently causing some type of conflict with the chip code, drive
> requirement, or something similar. I have no idea why it would, just that
> the same make and model drives are failing faster in systems in which
> TweakUI has been installed.

It seems surprising that a Registry setting could cause
either ROM coded chips to malfunction or IDE to fail.
Can you be more specific?

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)