Backing up to a removable drive

I've got a client I've set up with an external 500 GB FreeAgent drive using a weekly backup schedule and daily differentials. All works ok, as long as the drive letter doesn't CHANGE!!! Regardless of hot plugging the drive, any time a camera or memory card is plugged in, the drive letter shifts on me. So I've been scouring the internet trying to find a way to statically fix the drive letter. I found a script that looked promising:

Code:

Dim objShell, objFs, objDriveCollection, wshSysEnv, strTemp, strSystemRoot, intDriveLetter
Dim objDrive, objFile, strDriveType, strCMD, strVolume, strDrivesDone

Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objfs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objDriveCollection = objfs.Drives

Set WshSysEnv = objShell.Environment("PROCESS")
strTemp = WshSysEnv("Temp")
strSystemRoot = WshSysEnv("SystemRoot")

intDriveLetter=74 ' ascii for J
strDrivesDone="" ' Drives that have been remapped. Prevents CDs being changed again after being moved higher up the alphabet

For Each objDrive in objDriveCollection

Select Case objDrive.DriveType
 Case 0: strDriveType = "Unknown"
 Case 1: strDriveType = "Removable"
 Case 2: strDriveType = "Fixed"
 Case 3: strDriveType = "Network"
 Case 4: strDriveType = "CD-ROM"
 Case 5: strDriveType = "RAM Disk"
End Select

if strDriveType = "Removable" AND instr(strDrivesDone,objDrive.DriveLetter)=0 then

 ' discover volume ID
 strCMD = strSystemroot & "\system32\cmd /c mountvol.exe " & objDrive.DriveLetter & ": /L > " & strTemp & "\volume.txt" 
 objshell.run strCMD,0,true
 Set objFile = objfs.OpenTextFile(strTemp & "\volume.txt", 1)
 strVolume = ltrim(objFile.ReadLine)
 objFile.close

 ' unmount
 strCMD = "mountvol.exe " & objDrive.DriveLetter & ": /d"
 objShell.Run strCMD,0,true

 ' Remount
 strCMD = "mountvol.exe " & chr(intDriveLetter) & ": " & strVolume
 objShell.Run strCMD,0,true
 strDrivesDone=strDrivesDone & chr(intDriveLetter)
 intDriveLetter=intDriveLetter+1

end if

wscript.sleep 500

objshell.sendkeys "%f"

objshell.sendkeys "c"


Next

After running the script, it changed my floppy drive (removable) to J:, but not the drive I intended to work with. The system is connected to a multi-function printer and has a total of about 6 or 7 drives, confusing the matter. I noticed that the FreeAgent drive did NOT show up as a removable drive, but as a fixed drive, like the C: drive and backup partition D:. I edited the script to work against fixed drives like:

Code:

Dim objShell, objFs, objDriveCollection, wshSysEnv, strTemp, strSystemRoot, intDriveLetter
Dim objDrive, objFile, strDriveType, strCMD, strVolume, strDrivesDone

Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objfs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objDriveCollection = objfs.Drives

Set WshSysEnv = objShell.Environment("PROCESS")
strTemp = WshSysEnv("Temp")
strSystemRoot = WshSysEnv("SystemRoot")

intDriveLetter=74 ' ascii for J
strDrivesDone="" ' Drives that have been remapped. Prevents CDs being changed again after being moved higher up the alphabet

For Each objDrive in objDriveCollection

Select Case objDrive.DriveType
 Case 0: strDriveType = "Unknown"
 Case 1: strDriveType = "Removable"
 Case 2: strDriveType = "Fixed"
 Case 3: strDriveType = "Network"
 Case 4: strDriveType = "CD-ROM"
 Case 5: strDriveType = "RAM Disk"
End Select

if strDriveType = [GLOW=""Fixed""]"Fixed"[/GLOW] AND instr(strDrivesDone,objDrive.DriveLetter)=0 then

 ' discover volume ID
 strCMD = strSystemroot & "\system32\cmd /c mountvol.exe " & objDrive.DriveLetter & ": /L > " & strTemp & "\volume.txt" 
 objshell.run strCMD,0,true
 Set objFile = objfs.OpenTextFile(strTemp & "\volume.txt", 1)
 strVolume = ltrim(objFile.ReadLine)
 objFile.close

 ' unmount
 strCMD = "mountvol.exe " & objDrive.DriveLetter & ": /d"
 objShell.Run strCMD,0,true

 ' Remount
 strCMD = "mountvol.exe " & chr(intDriveLetter) & ": " & strVolume
 objShell.Run strCMD,0,true
 strDrivesDone=strDrivesDone & chr(intDriveLetter)
 intDriveLetter=intDriveLetter+1

end if

wscript.sleep 500

objshell.sendkeys "%f"

objshell.sendkeys "c"


Next

Do NOT do this!!! It reassigned the C: drive to NOTHING, and now nothing works, I have to attempt a system recovery of some sort. I'd restore from Acronis, except the backups haven't been working because my J: drive changed to N:!!! The most recent backup I have is the 31st of August!!! Any words of wisdom? Consolation?

 

You do not need a script to do this. Simply assign a letter far enough from any letter that may be used when you plug in any other devices. You can even use X for instance, for the external, and when you plug in other devices letters after C or D will be used.

This explains how to do it:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844

 

This may be too late to help you, but I would try assigning a late drive letter (like X:, Y: or Z to the external drive using Windows Disk Management. That way it shouldn't be affected by USB flashdrives and other devices being plugged in and using the "next available" drive letter.

 

X: is the first drive letter I tried, however, when plugging in any removable device, such as a camera, etc, the drive letter shifts regardless. I need a way to lock the X: drive in, or reserve it somehow so that it doesn't shift.

I came onsite and after a reboot the C: drive came back fortunately (phew).

I will try the X: drive tactic once again and keep an eye on it, but it would be nice to be able to make a drive letter reservation.

 

In XP,
go to START/ RUN/
type in diskmgmt.msc
at top click"action"
at drop down menu click "all tasks"
then click "change drive letter"

highlight the drive you are having problems with and assign a letter closer to z..
you can assign X if u want.
[I use V for video since I had the same "shifting problem" when I installed my Western digital 500 gig external drive.
it kept changing every time I plugged a usb device in..

this should cement the letter.....

 

I'm thoroughly familiar with how to change the drive letter in that fashion, and it is the first thing I did when implementing the solution, however it shifted from X: on me as well. I don't have the details about what I was seeing back then (5 months ago), but will report here if/when it happens again. I've gone back to trying X:, and so far it hasn't shifted yet.

I DO appreciate all the posts, thanks for the input everyone!

 

It continues to shift. Drive has not been moved, unplugged or anything (according to the end user), and it has shifted away from X: to H:, resulting in backup failures once again. How to lock this drive in? I may have to scrap the whole external drive idea and just mount another hard drive internally if it continues.

 

Xaneth,

This link illustrates a somewhat similar problem but from the Ghost recovery environment rather than from Windows.

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1144131251

I'd try this. Remove all flash drives and plug in the USB HD. Delete all entries from [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices]. Reboot and WinXP will reassign drive letters. If you leave the USB HD plugged in it should keep the new drive letter even when you add flash drives.

Let us know.

 

Thanks a lot Brian, I also use Ghost exclusively at the office, though most of our images are factory based images that I pull across the network using a Bart network boot disk. This clears up a lot, and may solve the issues I'm looking at, if the end user wants to go this far with it. In fact, I think I've talked them into getting a 500 GB internal drive, to maintain a static mapping, and I'll be taking the 500 GB external off their hands, as I can use that kind of mobile space. Still it is good information to know for any future reference, as I'd like to be able to provide scheduled backup solutions for customers, and don't want to rule out the use of external capabilities.

 

Xaneth,

Thanks for the feedback. I like internal HD backup too.