No Drive Letter for USB Drive?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

I have a new Dell Inspirion notebook computer that does
not assign a drive letter to USB drives when they are
inserted. I get popup messages that the device was found
and a disk drive but there it doesn't open up an explorer
like when I insert the drive on my desktop.

I can look in the device manager and see a generic
storage device under Disk Drives but there's no way to
access it?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Are these flash drives or hard drives or optical ?

If flash drives do you have a card in the drive (reader).
Do you have the flash or hard drives formatted.

See what disk management (right click My Computer icon,
select manage) show?


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


"Bob Boyd" <bob@planetboyd.com> wrote in message
news:6d1f01c42f0d$e922d170$a501280a@phx.gbl...
| I have a new Dell Inspirion notebook computer that does
| not assign a drive letter to USB drives when they are
| inserted. I get popup messages that the device was found
| and a disk drive but there it doesn't open up an explorer
| like when I insert the drive on my desktop.
|
| I can look in the device manager and see a generic
| storage device under Disk Drives but there's no way to
| access it?
|

 

[Bob]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

>Are these flash drives or hard drives or optical ?
Flash

>If flash drives do you have a card in the drive (reader).
Yes
>Do you have the flash or hard drives formatted.
Yes, I can read the card on another workstation

>See what disk management (right click My Computer icon,
>select manage) show?

It doesn't list the drive anywhere... very strange, I see
it go through all the steps like my other machine except
after it pops up the disk drive message, it doesn't open
up explorer or give me a list of options.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

I not sure about this. I have no idea how flash drivers are
formated. I could be totally wrong about this.

If you flash drive is formated with 2000 ntfs, xp may not be able to
read it correctly and visa versa. I would back up the data on the
flash drive. Then reformat it as fat32 drive.

Brian C






>On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 18:24:55 -0700, "bob" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>>Are these flash drives or hard drives or optical ?
>Flash
>
>>If flash drives do you have a card in the drive (reader).
>Yes
>>Do you have the flash or hard drives formatted.
>Yes, I can read the card on another workstation
>
>>See what disk management (right click My Computer icon,
>>select manage) show?
>
>It doesn't list the drive anywhere... very strange, I see
>it go through all the steps like my other machine except
>after it pops up the disk drive message, it doesn't open
>up explorer or give me a list of options.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

you need to assign a letter to it.

right click on "My computer"/click on "Manage"
click "+" next storage/click on "Disk Management"
locate the drive in the bottom right pane
right click in the "White" area
click "Change drive letter and..."





>-----Original Message-----
>I not sure about this. I have no idea how flash
drivers are
>formated. I could be totally wrong about this.
>
>If you flash drive is formated with 2000 ntfs, xp may
not be able to
>read it correctly and visa versa. I would back up the
data on the
>flash drive. Then reformat it as fat32 drive.
>
>Brian C
>
>
>
>
>
>
>>On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 18:24:55 -0700, "bob"
<anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
>>>Are these flash drives or hard drives or optical ?
>>Flash
>>
>>>If flash drives do you have a card in the drive
(reader).
>>Yes
>>>Do you have the flash or hard drives formatted.
>>Yes, I can read the card on another workstation
>>
>>>See what disk management (right click My Computer icon,
>>>select manage) show?
>>
>>It doesn't list the drive anywhere... very strange, I
see
>>it go through all the steps like my other machine
except
>>after it pops up the disk drive message, it doesn't
open
>>up explorer or give me a list of options.
>
>.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Windows XP will automatically read and convert Windows 2000 NTFS drives.

BTW: Most removable media can not be formatted NTFS. Only able to use FAT
or FAT32.


"Brian C" <noemail@noemailhere.com> wrote in message
news:2e3690huev13ngagd51rvhi8hmbn2nl9ac@4ax.com...
> I not sure about this. I have no idea how flash drivers are
> formated. I could be totally wrong about this.
>
> If you flash drive is formated with 2000 ntfs, xp may not be able to
> read it correctly and visa versa. I would back up the data on the
> flash drive. Then reformat it as fat32 drive.
>
> Brian C
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 18:24:55 -0700, "bob"
<anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >>Are these flash drives or hard drives or optical ?
> >Flash
> >
> >>If flash drives do you have a card in the drive (reader).
> >Yes
> >>Do you have the flash or hard drives formatted.
> >Yes, I can read the card on another workstation
> >
> >>See what disk management (right click My Computer icon,
> >>select manage) show?
> >
> >It doesn't list the drive anywhere... very strange, I see
> >it go through all the steps like my other machine except
> >after it pops up the disk drive message, it doesn't open
> >up explorer or give me a list of options.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 16:50:26 -0700, "Bob Boyd" <bob@planetboyd.com>
wrote:

>I have a new Dell Inspirion notebook computer that does
>not assign a drive letter to USB drives when they are
>inserted. I get popup messages that the device was found
>and a disk drive but there it doesn't open up an explorer
>like when I insert the drive on my desktop.
>
>I can look in the device manager and see a generic
>storage device under Disk Drives but there's no way to
>access it?

Make sure any spare drive letters are not disabled and thus not
allowing windows to allocate one. Check with Tweakui to see if
extra drive letters are free (look in My Computer, Drives section).

Peter Hutchison
Windows FAQ
http://www.pcguru.plus.com/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

"Bob Boyd" <bob@planetboyd.com> wrote in message
news:6d1f01c42f0d$e922d170$a501280a@phx.gbl...
> I have a new Dell Inspirion notebook computer that does
> not assign a drive letter to USB drives when they are
> inserted. I get popup messages that the device was found
> and a disk drive but there it doesn't open up an explorer
> like when I insert the drive on my desktop.
>
> I can look in the device manager and see a generic
> storage device under Disk Drives but there's no way to
> access it?

With the device connected, right click on My Computer and select Manage. On
the following screen, click on Disk Management. It should now show up on the
right hand side of the screen..... assign it a drive letter.

Marcus