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I upgraded my laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

In Windows 7 my USB hard drive was automatically assigned a drive letter. Since the upgrade, I now need to do this myself.

I have read answers here:

No drive letter assigned to USB drive on windows 8.1

but would rather not risk any data loss if possible.

The hard drive has not changed, only the OS of my laptop.

Any further information required, please ask.

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rhughes
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1 Answers1

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There are multiple ways to achieve what you need. Here is one method that is safe and simple.

  1. Make sure your USB Disk is connected.
  2. Open PowerShell as Administrator.
  3. Type in Get-Disk and look at the list of disks. Note the Number of the Disk your USB Drive is on. You can determine this based on Friendly Name, or by Total Size. If you have trouble choosing which one, find it with diskmgmt.msc (described at the end of this answer) and come back to this step.
  4. Type in Get-Partition -DiskNumber $number where $number is the number you got in step 2. For example, Get-Partition -DiskNumber 2.
  5. Find the Partition that you want. Chances are, there will only be 1 partition. If not, you can choose based on size or by using diskmgmt.msc.
  6. Type in Set-Partition -DiskNumber $number -PartitionNumber $partNumber -NewDriveLetter $letter -NoDefaultDriveLetter $false. Here, $partNumber is the partition number that you want to set the drive letter for. The $letter is whatever letter you want, without the :. For example, if you want it on F:, then type in "F". Below is an example.

Example

Set-Partition -DiskNumber 2 -PartitionNumber 1 -NewDriveLetter "F" -NoDefaultDriveLetter $false

Below are outlines of how to do this graphically. But since you said in your answer that you are already doing "it" manually, chances are below is what you are already doing. But this is included here for two reasons. First, it is in case you are not doing this. Second, this can be used to help you determine which disk is your USB Drive for step 3 above.

By the way, the below method should allow you to automatically assign the drive letter each time you plug the device in. If it doesn't work, then the above method should work.

  1. Open the run interface by pressing WIN + R.
  2. Type in and enter diskmgmt.msc.
  3. Find the Partition of your USB Disk that you want to assign the Drive Letter.
  4. Right Click the Partition and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.
  5. Select Add... and choose a Drive Letter.
nehcsivart
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