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reassigning a portable hard disk as a removeable drive

  • 21-05-2006 1:17pm
    #1
    Our man in Havana
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,473 ✭✭✭✭


    I have a 40 gb usb hard disk for extra storage. When I plug it in it is assigned the drive letter F: and described as a hard disk and is beside C:.

    Is it possible to make it appear as a removable drive like when you use a usb key drive?

    Thanks
    007


Comments

  • #2
    MrVestek
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,258 ✭✭✭MrVestek


    Why would you want to do this? It's not exactly going to change it's functionality.


  • #3
    Alun
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,499 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Well, there is a slight difference assuming you're using XP. By default a "Hard Disk Drive" is assigned a policy that means that you have to use the "Safely Remove Hardware" tray icon before you disconnect it since Write Caching is enabled by default. Devices under "Devices with Removable Storage" are configured by default so that writes aren't cached, and you can just un-plug them whenever you want without clicking on the "Safely Remove Hardware" tray icon.

    You can change this default behaviour though, if you want. Right-click, Properties, Hardware, select the disk (yes, again!), Properties, Policies.


  • #4
    Our man in Havana
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,473 ✭✭✭✭Our man in Havana


    Grand, does that affect the actual disk or just windows on that particular computer?


  • #5
    Alun
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,499 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Bond-007 wrote:
    Grand, does that affect the actual disk or just windows on that particular computer?
    It's on a per-disk basis, but if you take that disk, and plug it into another computer, then the settings on that computer will be used, so you'd have to change the same setting on that computer as well if you wanted the same behaviour.

    Could I ask why you're wanting to do this? Just curious :)


  • #6
    Cal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 926 ✭✭✭Cal


    Windows XP should already have the disk caching disabled as it will have recognised it as being attached via a USB connection.

    Cal.


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  • #7
    Alun
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,499 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Cal wrote:
    Windows XP should already have the disk caching disabled as it will have recognised it as being attached via a USB connection.

    Yep, sorry about that, you're right ... according to the MS website they changed the default behaviour with SP2 apparently. Now it's only IEEE394 (Firewire) external drives that have caching enabled as default. My external hard disk was first added to my system pre-SP2 (well pre-XP, actually) so I never noticed this. Bloody Micro$oft .., a moving target as always.


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