Unrecognised drive

[Dave Davison]

Using a laptop with limited drive space I use two Seagate external drives [which I will refer to as "A" & "B"] for videos, photos etc. and despite not having changed any settings, all of a sudden, when I plugged in "A" the screenshot shows the response. So I sought the help of my local computer shop owner who obviously altered some settings and disc "A" was instantly recognised. Returning home I discovered to my amazement that disc "B" is now not recognised in either of the two USB sockets. Any suggestions as to how to rectify this as I don't like pestering the shop owner.

Thanks Dave

[stuck]

Your quickest fix will be to return to your local PC shop with both external drives and get him to look at the problem.

Meanwhile, all I can suggest is that you recreate the shortcut that produces the error message.

Ken

[Dave Davison]

[Meanwhile, all I can suggest is that you recreate the shortcut that produces the error message.]
Thanks Ken but please explain what you mean by this quote and for what purpose?

Dave

[Jay Freedman]

I've occasionally seen the external drive that I use for backups change to a different drive letter without warning. Usually it's assigned to G: but it sometimes is assigned to F: when I plug it into the same USB port. When this happens, the backup fails because the target drive "isn't connected". Then I use the Disk Management console (diskmgmt.msc) to change the drive's letter assignment back to what it should be. (Right-click the drive in the console and choose "Change drive letter and paths".)

I don't know what triggers the change, but I know that Windows has both a way of storing the assigned letter (in the registry? surely not on the drive itself?) and an algorithm for assigning a letter to an unassigned drive, and these could conflict.

FWIW, I have a USB memory stick that I use daily, and it has never been reassigned from its name of T: .

[Dave Davison]

Thanks for the comment Jay, I'll bear that in mind should such an anomally happen with my laptop. Regards Dave

[stuck]

...I'll bear that in mind should such an anomally happen with my laptop...

Umm, I think Jay made his comment because the error message you are asking about suggests this anomaly has happened on your laptop.

My suggestion of re-creating the shortcut should have the same outcome as Jay's method, the shortcut will point to the correct location.

If this is still not clear then as I have already suggested, return to your local PC shop with both external drives and get him to look at the problem.

Ken

[Dave Davison]

Well, thanks a bunch guys for your advice, the niggly issue is solved, so simple when one knows what setting to change. Cheers Dave