Windows 7 : Drive Name

i have a Seagate external drive used as backup; assigned to Drive I:; when I would boot up, that drive was always correct; yesterday, I replaced my printer (USB connection); now, the Seagate shows is as Drive K: and when I go to Disk Management to Change, Drive I: does not show as an option; if I reboot and immediately go to Change Drive, I: will be there.

What's the problem; how can I assure that the Seagate is always identified as I: ??

Thank you, appreciated!

The problem here is that Windows picks and chooses what drive letter to use and alternates them at will regardless of its human owner's wishes. I currently don't know of anyway to keep a drive letter. So every time you plug in a USB thumb drive or another external drive, the drive letters will all change.

What backup software are you using? Perhaps there's a clever way of getting backups to work regardless of drive letter changes.

Edit-

FWIW, I found this, but I think you tried this. But you might need to use K from now on since the printer took over I. https://www.howtogeek.com/96298/assi...-in-windows-7/

Once persistently set to K, reflect that change in your backup software.

Immediately, I would unplug the Printer from the computer and just try re-connect the External HDD - does the External HDD now show as drive I: ?

Then I would unplug the External HDD and plug back in the Printer, and check which device (if any) gets assigned to I:, on the computer.

Maybe your Printer has an on-board memory card reader, and this is somehow forcing the allocation of drive I:. Tell us what printer you are using, and we can maybe find out, if this is true or not.

Bingo @iko22
The printer probably has a SD drive slot. When on, Windows will assign a letter to it (I:)
When the USB HDD is inserted, as I: is already assigned, Windows will assign another letter (k:)

Thank you for the info; yes, the Epson printer has a slot, so that's probably what's muscling-in on the Windows processes.


I've decided the printer is going to be returned (for various reasons) and am getting something different; so, that means I'll be starting over on this drive-assignment business.


Appreciate your help!