USB Drive Mapping
In a network environment, it is common practice to assign network
resources to mapped drives. These mapped drives usually begin with F:
and proceed through the alphabet for as many letters as necessary to
provide the network resources users need.
Removable USB storage devices also utilize drive letters when plugged
into a computer. Commonly, the USB device looks for the first available
drive letter after the C:; D:; and E: drives. The C: drive is commonly the
local hard drive of the computer. The D: and E: drives are commonly CD
and/or DVD drives or other logical drives associated with the local
computer.
Issues with USB drives being “invisible” arise when the USB device is
competing with a network mapped drive.
To resolve this issue, users may change the drive letter associated with
a removable USB storage device. For Windows 2000 Pro, follow the
steps below (Windows XP steps are quite similar). Following this drive
letter assignment, each time that device is plugged into the local
computer, it will receive the newly assigned drive letter.
1. Insert the removable USB device.
2. Right click My Computer.
3. Choose Manage from the menu.
4. Choose Disk Management.
5. The removable USB device will be listed in the Volumes
column on the right side of the screen.
6. Right click the removable USB device.
7. Chose Change Drive Letter and Path.
8. Click the Add button
9. Bullet the Assign a drive letter option.
10. From the drop down menu, choose an available drive letter.
11. Click OK.
12. Click Close.
13. Close Computer Management.
14. Open My Computer (double-click the My Computer icon).
15. The removable USB device should appear in the list of
drives available to the local computer.