Assign fixed drive letter to card readers/USB ports?

[Calab]

Running Windows 7 64Bit Pro here...

When I put an SD card, or USB stick into my PC, the drive letter that is assigned is totally random. For example, I put the SD card from my camera into the PC yesterday and it appears as drive F:. Today I put a USB stick into my PC and now IT is using drive F:.

I would like each reader port on my PC to have a specific letter. My SD card should always be F:, CF reader G:, XD card reader H:, USB ports I: up to whatever.

If necessary I can install extra software on the Windows PC, but I don't want to have to put specific files on the memory cards themselves.

Is this at all possible in Windows 7?

 

[mjf]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82994-drive-letter-add-change-remove-windows.html

 

[Calab]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82994-drive-letter-add-change-remove-windows.html

Thanks, but that only works for mounted drives... Not for readers/interfaces.

Unfortunately, my card reader doesn't show a drive until a card is put into it. USB ports also don't get drive letters until a stick is installed.

 

[Ranger4]

I use various USB sticks from time to time & I just never worry about what drive letter gets allocated to it & I have never had any probelems. However, I do know what programs I have backed up on what particular stick so I don't have to spend a lot of time opening each USB to see what is on there.

I would suggest that you just don't worry about as the USB stick does not carry any record of what drive it is.

 

[mjf]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82994-drive-letter-add-change-remove-windows.html

Thanks, but that only works for mounted drives... Not for readers/interfaces.

Unfortunately, my card reader doesn't show a drive until a card is put into it. USB ports also don't get drive letters until a stick is installed.

I'm not sure this is correct. I have 2 main backup USB HDDs (I've assigned P & Q). These letters are assigned to these drives until I unassign them. This is useful because they are backup drives. Maybe flash drives and SD cards are different but then my preference is to have them assigned variable drive letters anyway.

 

[Calab]

The actual issue is that I have specific icons assigned to specific drive letters. F: always shows as an SD card. G: always shows as a USB stick, etc. Since the drive letters change, the icons never match the device.

I want my readers to have icons based on what they can read, just like A: is a floppy icon and C: is a HDD icon.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The actual issue is that I have specific icons assigned to specific drive letters. F: always shows as an SD card. G: always shows as a USB stick, etc. Since the drive letters change, the icons never match the device.

I want my readers to have icons based on what they can read, just like A: is a floppy icon and C: is a HDD icon.

You can't always get what you want. How about just giving each card, stick, etc. a unique name. That's how I identify external HDDs since those drive letters are also subject to change.

 

[rvcjew]

you could try this awesome tool It might just do the same thing as the registry tweaks but in a GUI though. DriveLetterView - View/Change/Remove drive letters assignment in your system

 

[Calab]

you could try this awesome tool It might just do the same thing as the registry tweaks but in a GUI though. DriveLetterView - View/Change/Remove drive letters assignment in your system

Interesting app, even if it doesn't do what I want. I'll check it out.

Thanks!

 

[rvcjew]

I don't think your can set a certain usb port/reader to be like that. as 2 ports for instance are on one hub ect. It is seen in the system as say like a sata port. you can i think put a file in each drive's root that says to mount it as X letter that you define.

 

[mjf]

In diskpart under an elevated command prompt it is the "assign" command.
For boot USB flash drives I deliberately leave the letter floating by typing
>assign
with no letter nominated.