Solved Renaming external drive

Retiredbill

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I recently upgraded to Win 7, home premium, 64 bit from my old XP. I have the old C: drive in an external box. Somehow, it got the title of my thumb drive. I tried renaming my external box to backup and it won't change. I am the administrator and the only one to use the computer. I can download and install apps with no problem. I can also delete apps when needed. Any suggestions on hope I can do this?
 

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Win7, home premium, 64 bit2.9 GHZ6 Gbytes
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Gateway SX 2841
OS
Win7, home premium, 64 bit
CPU
2.9 GHZ
Memory
6 Gbytes
Hard Drives
1 terra byte
Welcome to the Seven Forums
Try Best FREE Partition Manager Freeware for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 32 bit & 64 bit. EASEUS free Partition Manager Software Home Edition. or
BEST FREE Partition Manager Software for Windows supports all 32-bit & 64 bit Windows No-server OS.

1 of them should be able to change the name.
Jerry

Edit: for just the drive letter open Disk Management (click start button put Disk Management in search box & click on Create and Format hard disk partiton) right click on drive & click on Change Drive Letter
To change drive name use Partition Manager Software right click drive than click Label & change it and click on apply (I just tried it)
 
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Thank you very much Bongo and Shawn. I downloaded the partitioning app and it seems to work great. When I opened it, my external drive carries the name "backup" which is what I have tried to rename it. However Windows Explorer still calls it by the old name and doesn't allow me to change it. What can I do?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win7, home premium, 64 bit2.9 GHZ6 Gbytes
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Gateway SX 2841
OS
Win7, home premium, 64 bit
CPU
2.9 GHZ
Memory
6 Gbytes
Hard Drives
1 terra byte
Thank you very much Bongo and Shawn. I downloaded the partitioning app and it seems to work great. When I opened it, my external drive carries the name "backup" which is what I have tried to rename it. However Windows Explorer still calls it by the old name and doesn't allow me to change it. What can I do?

Try renaming it something different with the partition manager make sure to click on apply
I just renamed mine & explorer changed right away maybe logoff or restart?
Jerry
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win 7 Pro x64 / Win 10 ProIntel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz12 GB(1) Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (2) NVIDIA GeFo...
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sager NP9170
OS
Win 7 Pro x64 / Win 10 Pro
CPU
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz
Motherboard
CLEVO P170EM
Memory
12 GB
Graphics Card(s)
(1) Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M
Sound Card
(1) Realtek High Definition Audio (2) Intel(R) Display Aud
Monitor(s) Displays
17.3
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
(1) Samsung 860 EVO 500GB(OS) (1) Samsung 860 EVO 500GB(Data)
Keyboard
Backlite
Antivirus
MSE, Malwarebytes Pro
Browser
Firefox
Other Info
DESKTOP: Custom-built.
OS: Win 10 Pro x64.
CASE: Rosewill R5.
CPU: Intel I5 4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz.
CPU COOLER: Cool Master Hyper 212 EVO.
MOTHERBOARD: Asus Z87-A.
MEMORY: Kingston HyperX 2x4 GB.
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 650 TI.
PSU: Corsair TX750.
DRIVES: (1) Samsung 840 120 GB SSD (2) Western Digital blue 500 GB 7200 RPM.
I tried what you suggested and used the partition software to change the name to silver. I then restarted the computer and Windows Explorer still calls it the old original name. Such a simple task and such a difficult problem.

Bill
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win7, home premium, 64 bit2.9 GHZ6 Gbytes
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Gateway SX 2841
OS
Win7, home premium, 64 bit
CPU
2.9 GHZ
Memory
6 Gbytes
Hard Drives
1 terra byte
Do you have anything on that drive you need? If not format it and see if that will do it. After that I am out of ideas maybe someone else will step in.
Jerry
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win 7 Pro x64 / Win 10 ProIntel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz12 GB(1) Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (2) NVIDIA GeFo...
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sager NP9170
OS
Win 7 Pro x64 / Win 10 Pro
CPU
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz
Motherboard
CLEVO P170EM
Memory
12 GB
Graphics Card(s)
(1) Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M
Sound Card
(1) Realtek High Definition Audio (2) Intel(R) Display Aud
Monitor(s) Displays
17.3
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
(1) Samsung 860 EVO 500GB(OS) (1) Samsung 860 EVO 500GB(Data)
Keyboard
Backlite
Antivirus
MSE, Malwarebytes Pro
Browser
Firefox
Other Info
DESKTOP: Custom-built.
OS: Win 10 Pro x64.
CASE: Rosewill R5.
CPU: Intel I5 4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz.
CPU COOLER: Cool Master Hyper 212 EVO.
MOTHERBOARD: Asus Z87-A.
MEMORY: Kingston HyperX 2x4 GB.
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 650 TI.
PSU: Corsair TX750.
DRIVES: (1) Samsung 840 120 GB SSD (2) Western Digital blue 500 GB 7200 RPM.
Bill,

If you haven't already, you might try OPTION TWO in the link I posted above to see if you could change it in the registry.

If it doesn't, then I would recommend to format it as well.
 

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64-bit Windows 11 Pro for WorkstationsIntel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600...ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Self built custom
OS
64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
CPU
Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
Motherboard
ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
Memory
64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz
Graphics Card(s)
ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
Sound Card
Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
Screen Resolution
2560x1440
Hard Drives
1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus NAS
PSU
Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
Case
Thermaltake Core P3
Cooling
Corsair Hydro H115i
Keyboard
Logitech wireless K800
Mouse
Logitech MX Master 4
Internet Speed
2 Gb/s Download and 100 Mb/s Upload
Antivirus
Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
Browser
Google Chrome
Other Info
Logitech Z625 speaker system,
Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
Galaxy S23 Plus phone
The external drive houses my old C: drive and I won't reformat it until I'm sure I have everything I need. For some reason, the external drive has the same name as a thumb drive I use. I don't know how this happened. I went thru the links suggested by Brink but couldn't find anything to help, I hope someone else has a suggestion.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win7, home premium, 64 bit2.9 GHZ6 Gbytes
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Gateway SX 2841
OS
Win7, home premium, 64 bit
CPU
2.9 GHZ
Memory
6 Gbytes
Hard Drives
1 terra byte
Have you tried connecting it to a different computer, to see if it can be renamed that way?
 

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Good suggestion, I'll try that later today.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win7, home premium, 64 bit2.9 GHZ6 Gbytes
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Gateway SX 2841
OS
Win7, home premium, 64 bit
CPU
2.9 GHZ
Memory
6 Gbytes
Hard Drives
1 terra byte
I tried connecting it to another computer (my laptop) that uses XP. It had the same name as it did on Win 7. I tried disk management and the it had was the name I tried changing it to. The interesting thin is that The drive has not only the name of the thumb drive but the icon as well. My thumb drive is "Roboform 2 Go". Any ideas?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win7, home premium, 64 bit2.9 GHZ6 Gbytes
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Gateway SX 2841
OS
Win7, home premium, 64 bit
CPU
2.9 GHZ
Memory
6 Gbytes
Hard Drives
1 terra byte
This is just a crazy hunch, but try deleting the autorun.inf file in the root of the C: drive (you'll have to enable the showing of hidden files to see it). This file can be used to specify the name of the drive and might be your problem. Or, it could not, but it's worth a try.

Here's a link just for FYI on autorun.inf info:

USB Drive AutoRun.inf Tweaking
 

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Asus P5-E
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2x2GB GSkill DDR2
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Monitor(s) Displays
Dell 2408WFP
Screen Resolution
1920x1200
Good Idea!!!! When I opened the autorun file it had the same listing as my thumb drive. I merely renamed it autorunold and turned off my external drive. When I turned it back on it came up on Windows Explorer as "external drive". Actually a simple solution to a perplexing problem. Thank You very much.

Bill
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win7, home premium, 64 bit2.9 GHZ6 Gbytes
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Gateway SX 2841
OS
Win7, home premium, 64 bit
CPU
2.9 GHZ
Memory
6 Gbytes
Hard Drives
1 terra byte
No problem. Glad it's fixed! :)
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

XP / Win7 x64 ProIntel Quad-Core Q9450 @ 3.2GHz2x2GB GSkill DDR2NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS (EVGA)
OS
XP / Win7 x64 Pro
CPU
Intel Quad-Core Q9450 @ 3.2GHz
Motherboard
Asus P5-E
Memory
2x2GB GSkill DDR2
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS (EVGA)
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell 2408WFP
Screen Resolution
1920x1200
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