Self-renaming external HDD upon boot. How to stop it?

dc2000

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69
Location
Portland, OR
I have the following layout of internal and external drives in my desktop:

HDDs.png

C: thru G: are internal drives, while I:, J:, N: and O: are external HDDs used for onsite backups.

Each drive also has BitLocker full disk encryption on.

The key to unlock each drive is stored on a USB stick that I plug into this computer upon boot.

So this setup works in 90% of the times. But once in awhile when I boot up, disk I: self-renames itself into some other letter. This doesn't happen to any other disk, but just that one:

1.PNG

So every time this happens I go to Computer -> right-click ->Manage, then in Computer Management -> System Tools -> Storage -> Disk Management, Then right-click that disk and pick "Change drive letter" and rename it back to I:

2.png

only for it to rename itself on its own upon some further reboot.

I would live with whatever letter it renames itself in, but the problem happens then with the backup and imaging software that starts failing nightly backups because of the bad path.

Is there a way to make this drive letter stick?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700 (customized)
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
    Motherboard
    Intel Z87
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Haswell on-board, 2 GB VDRAM
    Sound Card
    Haswell on-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer / DVI
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    C: Mushkin Scorpion PCle SSD, 222 GB
    D: Samsung SSD 840-series, 238 GB
    E: Samsung SSD 840 eVo, 500 GB
    F: WD (Red) HDD, 2 TB
    PSU
    Dell standard
    Case
    Dell standard
    Cooling
    Dell standard
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    Infrared wired mouse from Microsoft
    Internet Speed
    Comcast DSL
    Browser
    Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, IE
    Antivirus
    Windows 8 built-in
"...The key to unlock each drive is stored on a USB stick that I plug into this computer upon boot..." What drive letter is this usb stick getting from Windows? I'm wondering if it's getting assigned drive letter I from time to time. Or, have you also assigned a specific usb port and a specific drive letter for this usb stick/the unlock stick?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Pro 64bit [MS blue-disk set]
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2 Acers & 1 Antec[?]
    CPU
    i7 in 2 Acers, i5 in desktop
    Motherboard
    Desktop w/Gigabyte
    Memory
    Two w/16GB, 1 w/8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Laptops GameWorthy; Desktop maybe GameWorthy
    Monitor(s) Displays
    flatscreens; 2 are BluRay worthy
    Screen Resolution
    1368x768; 1600x900
    Hard Drives
    1TB internals; 2 ext usb WD 1TB HDs
    PSU
    what's PSU?
    Cooling
    Regular plus external fans
    Keyboard
    desktio w/PS2
    Mouse
    desktop w/PS2
    Internet Speed
    DSL middle level [160?]
    Browser
    from Netscape 0.9 to FF 36
    Antivirus
    well-balanced, well-configured mult-layered defense is best
    Other Info
    From MS-DOS 3.3, MS-DOS 6.22, from Windows 3.1 to WFW 3.11 to Windows 95-98SE, now to Windows 7 Pro.
    Security for now: Windows 7 Firewall, Emsisoft AM, MSE [scan-only], SpywareBlaster, Ruiware/BillP combine
No, I didn't assign it any drive letters. It's just an external USB stick that comes out as soon as I'm done with it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700 (customized)
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
    Motherboard
    Intel Z87
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Haswell on-board, 2 GB VDRAM
    Sound Card
    Haswell on-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer / DVI
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    C: Mushkin Scorpion PCle SSD, 222 GB
    D: Samsung SSD 840-series, 238 GB
    E: Samsung SSD 840 eVo, 500 GB
    F: WD (Red) HDD, 2 TB
    PSU
    Dell standard
    Case
    Dell standard
    Cooling
    Dell standard
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    Infrared wired mouse from Microsoft
    Internet Speed
    Comcast DSL
    Browser
    Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, IE
    Antivirus
    Windows 8 built-in
No, I didn't assign it any drive letters. It's just an external USB stick that comes out as soon as I'm done with it.
The reason I'm asking what drive letter Windows assigned to it and if you're inserting it in the same usb port every time -- it just might be getting the drive letter I from time to time.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Pro 64bit [MS blue-disk set]
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2 Acers & 1 Antec[?]
    CPU
    i7 in 2 Acers, i5 in desktop
    Motherboard
    Desktop w/Gigabyte
    Memory
    Two w/16GB, 1 w/8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Laptops GameWorthy; Desktop maybe GameWorthy
    Monitor(s) Displays
    flatscreens; 2 are BluRay worthy
    Screen Resolution
    1368x768; 1600x900
    Hard Drives
    1TB internals; 2 ext usb WD 1TB HDs
    PSU
    what's PSU?
    Cooling
    Regular plus external fans
    Keyboard
    desktio w/PS2
    Mouse
    desktop w/PS2
    Internet Speed
    DSL middle level [160?]
    Browser
    from Netscape 0.9 to FF 36
    Antivirus
    well-balanced, well-configured mult-layered defense is best
    Other Info
    From MS-DOS 3.3, MS-DOS 6.22, from Windows 3.1 to WFW 3.11 to Windows 95-98SE, now to Windows 7 Pro.
    Security for now: Windows 7 Firewall, Emsisoft AM, MSE [scan-only], SpywareBlaster, Ruiware/BillP combine
Yes, possibly. I don't remember now. I'll check when this happens again.

But, just approaching it logically, wouldn't Windows see that the drive letter I: is already assigned to an existing drive and not use it? I mean, it's kinda obvious, right?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700 (customized)
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
    Motherboard
    Intel Z87
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Haswell on-board, 2 GB VDRAM
    Sound Card
    Haswell on-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer / DVI
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    C: Mushkin Scorpion PCle SSD, 222 GB
    D: Samsung SSD 840-series, 238 GB
    E: Samsung SSD 840 eVo, 500 GB
    F: WD (Red) HDD, 2 TB
    PSU
    Dell standard
    Case
    Dell standard
    Cooling
    Dell standard
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    Infrared wired mouse from Microsoft
    Internet Speed
    Comcast DSL
    Browser
    Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, IE
    Antivirus
    Windows 8 built-in
**I had to correct this! I left out many key words accidentally!**
Ahhh, ok, you assigned a drive letter which obviously was not the drive letter I already to that usb device --
-- for some reason the hard-drive, which was assigned drive letter I, gets that taken away from it --
-- I have no more ideas for you. I'll await others to come in here and help you with this.
**I had to correct this! I left out many key words accidentally!**
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Pro 64bit [MS blue-disk set]
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2 Acers & 1 Antec[?]
    CPU
    i7 in 2 Acers, i5 in desktop
    Motherboard
    Desktop w/Gigabyte
    Memory
    Two w/16GB, 1 w/8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Laptops GameWorthy; Desktop maybe GameWorthy
    Monitor(s) Displays
    flatscreens; 2 are BluRay worthy
    Screen Resolution
    1368x768; 1600x900
    Hard Drives
    1TB internals; 2 ext usb WD 1TB HDs
    PSU
    what's PSU?
    Cooling
    Regular plus external fans
    Keyboard
    desktio w/PS2
    Mouse
    desktop w/PS2
    Internet Speed
    DSL middle level [160?]
    Browser
    from Netscape 0.9 to FF 36
    Antivirus
    well-balanced, well-configured mult-layered defense is best
    Other Info
    From MS-DOS 3.3, MS-DOS 6.22, from Windows 3.1 to WFW 3.11 to Windows 95-98SE, now to Windows 7 Pro.
    Security for now: Windows 7 Firewall, Emsisoft AM, MSE [scan-only], SpywareBlaster, Ruiware/BillP combine
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