How can I make Windows Explorer identify removable storage devices?

Question

I use a lot of USB mass storage devices. I have 3 USB hard drives, and about a dozen “thumb drives”. When I plug in any drive a new drive letter will appear in Windows Explorer. Ok, that is fine. But when I plug in my USB hard drives a volume label ("MyBig FatDisk", or whatever) will be displayed next to the drive letter. Also the hard drives seem to always get the same drive letter. But my Lexar thumb drives will pop up on different drive letters all the time. The volume label will not appear next to the drive label. The drives work exactly the same, but I have to click on them to see witch one is witch, if I have more than one plugged in. Is this because the hard drives came with driver CD’s, and the thumb drives use the less robust built into Windows driver?

Answer 1

find your computer manager then disk manager and assign a differant letter to each drive

might help

Answer 2

I just tested this and here are my results:



On a 2k machine, Windows Explorer doesn't show the device label. That sucks and there is no good reason for it. XP and OSX both show the device label in their respective browsers. You can change the label on all 3 systems and the label will stay if you plug it into a different machine. However, as I said before, the label isn't visible in Win2k. You can see the label if you right-click the device and view the properties. It's stupid that this doesn't get shown in the browser. Anyway, that at least gives you a way to tell the difference without unplugging the device:



Right-click the device in My Computer and change the Label to whatever you want. From now on you can view this label by going into the properties.

Answer 3

first ingredient to do is to check whether you have used the superb cables and set the jumpers to the superb positions. Jumpers are those little tab issues which you insert into the pins interior the decrease back of the tension. Cable decide on is possibly the superb ingredient to attempt first. If it does not artwork, try changing the jumpers on one tension to understand and the different to SLAVE. If the two drives you had before 'broke' on you, probability is its the laptop itself that has a project. first ingredient i could do is verify BIOS and instruments supervisor, it relatively is what you have achieved, yet i could additionally hotel to reformatting/reinstalling domicile windows to be sure your complicated tension is cleared of any bugs/viruses. I had hardware subject concerns with my Packard Bell laptop, which banished as quickly as I reformatted utilising my own reproduction of XP, fairly than restoration discs with all that ineffective and buggy Packard Bell mods and addons. If reformatting and reinstalling does not artwork, try your previous disc drives on yet another laptop, which you should to attempt the hot ones too merely to be sure they are no longer defected the two. i offered a Pioneer 16x DVD-RW earlier for a pal and it worked on my own laptop and his one. yet i've got observed that yours is a Lightscribe tension, which shouldn't make a good number of a distinction however. pondering the reality that your Sony VAIO VCG-RA820G is a minimum of three years previous, i'm assuming your guarantee is previous form? i've got additionally appeared online for the style you have and curiously fairly complicated - liquid cooling, cluttered interior. besides, once you're waiting to attempt the drives on yet another laptop and discover out all of them nonetheless artwork, your laptop is maximum possibly have been given inner issues. in the event that all of them do no longer artwork, nicely maybe you're unlucky and you will possibly have tell whoever you acquire the DVD writers from that they are defective. If interior the tip, your Sony Vaio is demise, new computers are very low fee and extremely almost each and every twin center laptop is waiting to outperform the previous, warm, potential hungry Pentium 4 HTs.

Answer 4

go into your control panel... then click or remove programs... a pop up will come then choose which to delete