I am using 3 different USB HDDs of the same model for regular backups with Acronis. This software wants me to set up a target path for the backup files, so I depend on my external HDDs to always have the same drive letter (E:), otherwise it will fail.
Now, I usually only have one HDD at a time plugged in and I set up the drive letters for each device to E: in the Device Manager. Every HDD gets automatically assigned the letter E: when I plug it in.
This works, but only if I strictly take care that never more than one of those three devices is connected at the same time. If I e.g. connect all three devices to check and compare the backups and delete old ones, the first device I plug in gets assigned to E:, the second to F: and the third to G:. This would be ok and can't be different, of course, but afterwards, when I disconnect all of them and plug in a single device to run my backup, it keeps its reassigned letter (E: F: or G:) instead of switching back to E:.
My question is: How can I tell Windows to assign a device a specific letter whenever possible (if the letter is currently not occupied by another device, but again if the letter is free the next time I connect it)?
Note that for the backup, I need exactly the same drive letter and directory structure (--> same backup target directory address) on all three devices!
From OPs comment:
This is not a duplicate of the question as it has been closed. It's just the opposite. The other questions asks is like "How can I make my red USB key always be drive D: and my blue USB key always be drive E:?" This question is like "How can I make sure that no matter which of red, blue, or green external USB backup drives I connect that it will always be drive D: when possible?"
