USB Memory Stick Not Visible

[straittmann]

I am unable to recognize my USB memory stick under certain conditions in My Computer window. I am running Win 7 Ultimate on a Dell computer. I have an internal Western 1.5 Tb, a Western external 1Tb hard drive and a Blue Ray DVD/CD burner.
My internal HD has 7 partitions and my external HD also 7 partitions. My Computer window displays the 2 HD and all the partitions. Under the Devises with Removable Storage the Blue Ray Burner is displayed along with 6 removable disks labled E, F, G, H, J, and N.
I also have a Home Network with 1 other computer. It has a single HD with 5 partitions, A, B, Q, Y and Z.
My Dell Monitor has 2 Card Reader Ports and 2 USB Ports. If I plug in my Camera HD memory card it appears as drive N under the Devices with Removable Storage. If I plug in my USB Memory Device it appears as drive Q in the Network locations when the other network computer is not turned on. If the network computer is turned on the USB card is not visable at all and the contents of network drive Q are visable.
When I go into the Device Manager the USB device is visable.
I wish to delete the surplus Removable Disk locations and be able to display the USB Device as a Removable Disk when the network computer is turned on.
All help appreciated.
Thanks, Sam

 

[not so gray matter]

As far as I know, Windows has a maximum drive count of 26 (the # of letters in the alphabet). I believe this is why your USB Device isn't showing up when you connect it. If my count is correct, when connecting this device you already have 26 devices connected. As a workaround, you could simply make sure that you never connect all 27 devices at the same time, but I'd suggest that you merge a few of your partitions instead.

First, cut down your number of devices by a few so that you're not using all of the letters in the alphabet.

Next, I suggest that you manually assign drive letters to those devices so that they will connect properly at the same time. Here's how to do so:

Open the Computer Management program:
Start > Search for "Computer Management" > Enter

Click on the Disk Management option under Storage

Right click on the device(s) that are using the same drive letters and assign them to a new drive letter that isn't in use.

 

[straittmann]

Thanks notsograymatter, my problems are solved, at least for now.
Thanks, Sam