Duplicate drive letters found in the tree. How to remove them?

[Raindrops]

I have multiple drives with duplicate drive letters, which creates a lot of confusion.

Duplicate drives.png (12.59 KiB) Viewed 2787 times

Many of these volumes are removable external HDDs (USB).

Now I have changed my laptop, and transferred the Everything settings using Everything.ini.

How do I clean up the suplicated drive letters?

I hope I will not have to connect all drives and re-configure their drive letters one by one!

[void]

To remove these offline volumes from your Everything index:

• In Everything, from the Tools menu, click Options.
• Click the NTFS tab on the left.
• For each Offline volume:
  • Click Remove.
• Click the FAT tab on the left.
• For each Offline volume:
  • Click Remove.
• Click OK.

[Raindrops]

That worked.

But I am still not clear how this works: All the HDDs are "offline" most of the time.
That is to say, they are normally not connected to the laptop.
But I never had this problem before!

So why do I have to remove these "offl;ine" volumes?

Secondly, somehow my storage system assigns a different drive letter to some of my disks.
This ruins my bookmarks in FreeCommander, where all bookmarks are stored by drive letter, not volume ID.
For example, I am used to seeing drive my "knowledge base" collection in drive E:.
But if that disk suddenly becomes F: drive, my bookmark in FreeCommander fails to reach there.
So why does this happen?

[therube]

my storage system assigns a different drive letter to some of my disks.
This ruins my bookmarks in FreeCommander, where all bookmarks are stored by drive letter, not volume ID.
For example, I am used to seeing drive my "knowledge base" collection in drive E:.
But if that disk suddenly becomes F: drive, my bookmark in FreeCommander fails to reach there.

search.php?keywords=assign+high+enough& ... mit=Search

[Raindrops]

I went through those posts, but could not find the answers.

I have 5 HDDs.
I must assign them with drive letters because that's how FreeCommander bookmarks work.
I have put stickers on all HDDs with their drive letters, so that when Everything finds the file I want, I can plug in the right HDD.

But if Windows randomly changes the drive letters assigned to these HDDs, it breaks the bookmarks.

How do I prevent that?

(I guess this issue is not related to Everything, but still I need the solution.)

[horst.epp]

But if Windows randomly changes the drive letters assigned to these HDDs, it breaks the bookmarks.

How do I prevent that?

Use the tool USBDLM.
It forces certain drive letters dependent on conditions.
Works fine here.
https://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html

[void]

By default, Everything will automatically remove offline volumes.

This setting can be changed under Tools -> Options -> NTFS -> Automatically remove offline volumes.

[Raindrops]

@void
I want Everything to remember all offline HDDs, not remove the contents the moment they are disconnected.
In fact, there is a direct benefit of this: I can search for all files/folders without connecting the HDDs each time.
That means I have to plug in a HDD only if I want to read that file.
Thus, I can reduce the power up cycles of all my HDDs and increase their life tremendously!

But if the drive letters for all disks keep changing randomly, it creates a problem.
So I want to keep the drive letters unchanged throughout.

@Horst

Will the USBDLM tool ensure that each HDD retains the drive letter assigned to it even when it is offline?
Also, can I force the drive letter in USBDLM?

(For example, I have already created bookmarks in FreeCommander, and also stuck paper stickers on my HDDs with drive letters.
So, I would like to install USBDLM, and then connect each HDD one by one, and force its drive letter to match its sticker.
After that, USBDLM should keep iyt unchanged, even if the HDD is disconnected.

Is this possible with USBDLM?

[Paulge]

I answered this earlier today but my post was rejected as it linked to the actual solution found on Google.
Just search for 'Assign Permanent Letters to Removable Drives'.
Using 'Computer Management' found through the Windows Search feature will enable you to do what you want.
I find it usually works well but I do occasionally have problems (but then I have more drives than there are letters in the alphabet!).
Hope you get to see this post.

[Raindrops]

@paulge

Thanks for the reply.

I searched with those keywords, but could not find a significant answer.

I can change the drive letters, but they are not assigned persistently/permanently.
They change randomly.

Can you please paste the URL by replacing the / with another character (say # or @)?
That way your post won't be rejected because the platform won;t sense a URL at all.

Thanks in advance!

[Raindrops]

Use the tool USBDLM.

I checked out the app.
From this Youtube video, it appears that the process is quite laborious.
I have to insert each disk, find out its ID, and copy it in the ini file of USBDLM.
Then I have to assign a unique letter to it.

I have to repeat this for each disk one by one.

This is certainly too complex for many users!
But I guess I can do it.

Thanks a lot for this tip!

[horst.epp]

@Horst

Will the USBDLM tool ensure that each HDD retains the drive letter assigned to it even when it is offline?
Also, can I force the drive letter in USBDLM?

(For example, I have already created bookmarks in FreeCommander, and also stuck paper stickers on my HDDs with drive letters.
So, I would like to install USBDLM, and then connect each HDD one by one, and force its drive letter to match its sticker.
After that, USBDLM should keep iyt unchanged, even if the HDD is disconnected.

Is this possible with USBDLM?

Yes.
You can for example match the Id of a drive or its volume label to assign a drive letter.
The configured drive letter is forced by USBDLM every time this drive comes online.
Just try it.
It's free and has a good help file with examples.

[Paulge]

For Raindrops - Rather than take the chance of my post being rejected I thought it best to list the steps to take.
Attach external drive to computer and open 'Computer Management' using Windows Search.
Click on 'Storage - Disk Management' in the menu on the left.
Right click the external drive you attached and then right click 'Change Drive Letter and Paths'.
Select 'Change' from the menu that has opened.
From the next window choose the letter you wish to assign to the external drive.
Click 'OK' and the new letter you've chosen will stick.
Remove the external drive and repeat.
Once you've attached and removed each drive your 'File List' should include all your files with your chosen drive letters.
I have more drives than letters in the alphabet and 6,772,930 items in my 'File List'.
I'd be lost without 'Everything'.
Hope this helps.

[Raindrops]

@paulge
Thatnks for the painstakingly written note.
I had already done the exact thing even in my old laptop (where I had not changed anything).
But somehow all drive letters got messed up.

@Horst
I want to mount my five USB HDDs as removable disks (not fixed).
Further, I want to assign specific drive letters to each drive.

So I created an ini file by running the _edit.ini.cmd file, and then edited the newly created ini file.
I added the following lines just below this section :

; this section is for all other USB drives
[DriveLetters]
Letters=

The new lines are as follows:

DeviceID=USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_WD&PROD_MY_PASSPORT_25E2&REV_4005\<number>
Letters=G

DeviceID=USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_WD&PROD_MY_PASSPORT_25E2&REV_4004\<number>
Letters=F

DeviceID=USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_WD&PROD_MY_PASSPORT_25E2&REV_4005\<number>
Letters=E

DeviceID=USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_WD&PROD_MY_PASSPORT_2626&REV_1031\<number>
Letters=H

DeviceID=USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_WD&PROD_MY_PASSPORT_2627&REV_4010\<number>
Letters=I

(I have replaced the actual number with "<number>")

However, this does not work as expected: When I connect the disks, USBDLM always mounts the disks in the top-down order in the list.
(G -> F -> E -> H -> I).

I tried to read through the help doc, but AFAICT my use case is not described in it.

Please help!

[Paulge]

It may be worth using drive letters in reverse from Z (or at least some way into the alphabet) avoiding say A to G as I only have problems when I've used the same letter twice. The drive I've just attached used to be Z but is currently claiming to be E as do a few others. It only takes a few seconds to relabel and then save as a separate File List of only 54,000 items so a subset of my 6 million.

[horst.epp]

You should have a line with [DriveLetters] before each of your assignments.

[Raindrops]

Yes, I had raised this doubt to Uwe (the developer of USBDLM). He also pointed this out.

I did that, and now the drive letters are assigned consistently.
But each drive gets the wrong letter assigned to it.

For example,

• Instead of F, the drive always gets E assigned.
• Instead of H, the drive always gets G assigned.
• Instead of I, the drive always gets F assigned

I experimented by changing the order in which they are connected.
I also changed the USB port to which the drives are connected.
The letter assigned to any drive remains the same, but it is the wrong letter.

[Raindrops]

Update: Again Uwe guided me.

The problem was due to two lines (line#75 and 76) in the ini file:

DriveID=
Letters=

I thought that they would do nothing because I had not entered any value in them.
Instead, as soon as a drive was connected, these lines accepted its DeviceID and assigned any drive letter to it.
(apparently, leaving a blank is equivalent to "any value"!)

I removed these two lines, and now USBDLM works perfectly.

[Raindrops]

Here is a short summary of what to do:

1. Download USBDLM (USB Drive Letter Manager) from here
2. Unzip the content into an installation folder (or use the msi to install it)

This excellent YouTube video explains how USBDLM works.
That said, there are a major error in it: At 2:06, it states that you double-click on the USGDLM.ini file and configure the seetings.
But the problem is, when you install USBDLM, this file does not exist in the default installation folder!
You have to first create this file by running a command file _edit-ini.cmd (located in USBDLM's installation folder).
Simply double-click on this file to execute the command.

The video does not show you how to assign specific drive letters to each USB drive.
Here is the trick:

1. Open the USBDLM.ini file with a text editor.
   Edit Line#75 and 76 like this:
   

   Code: Select all

   DriveID=<Your device ID copied from the Disk Management> 
   Letters=<desired drive letter>

2. If you want to map multiple drives this way, repeat these three lines for each drive, as shown below:
   

   Code: Select all

   [DriveLetters]
   DriveID=<Your device ID copied from the Disk Management> 
   Letters=<desired drive letter>

3. Finally, add a "catch-all" section at the end:
   

   Code: Select all

   [DriveLetters]
   Letters=T-Z

   (In place of the T-Z range, you can define your own range of drive letters.)
   
   The purpose of this section is to prevent drive letter conflicts between your mapped drives and the other devices.

Notes:
Before editing the USBDLM.ini file, stop the USBDLM service by double-clicking on the _service_stop.cmd file.
After editing the ini file, start the USBDLM service by double-clicking on the _service_start.cmd file.
(Both the cmd files are located in the USMDLM installation folder.)

After installing USBDLM, if you see an error "USBDLM service is not registered", double click on the _service_register.cmd file (located in the USBDLM's installation folder). This will not only register the service, but also start it in Automatic mode. From now on, USBDLM will start automatically when Windows starts.

[horst.epp]

I prefer the portable zip file of USBDLM.
You have all files in one dir, and it contains the batch files to start and stop the service.
Much easier than using the MSI.

[Raindrops]

I also used the zip file.