I have 4 USB ports on the front of my PERSONAL PC.

There are 2 external HD plugged into 2 of the USB ports.

They are showing up as Drive H and Drive I.

I have a separate network computer that links to my stores POS and Inventory system and on that computer, there is a 500 GB HD which I added on the network thru the wireless router as Drive J - 192.168.0.X

So when you open MY Computer on my PERSONAL PC, it's showing

Drive H - External HD

Drive I - External HD

Drive J - Network Internal HD

it's been the same for months UNTIL TODAY!!

Drive H is still there

Drive I is GONE

Drive J is NOT the Network 500 GB HD but it's the External HD that used to be Drive I

So if I want to access the Network HD, I have to turn the External HD that's showing up on Drive J OFF

I have tried unplugging the External HD and plugging it into any of the other 2 front USB ports and it still won't show up as Drive I.

What happened to Drive I?

I looked under Device Managers and there are no YELLOW EXCLAMATION MARKS under the USB root directories!!

Furthermore, I haven't shut down the PC in weeks!!

Have you rebooted your computer at all....try that and see what happens....

yeah I did and I noticed 2 things:

if I leave both external HD plugged into the USB ports during the reboot/restart process, once the PC logs on to Windows, it's showing

Drive H - External HD

Drive I - External HD

Drive J - Network Internal HD

but if I turn Drive I OFF and turn it back on without rebooting/shutting down the PC itself, guess what happens?

Drive I is gone and we are back to Drive H and Drive J only with Drive J being the External HD and NOT the Network 500 GB HD

If I turn off both External HD First and shut down/reboot the computer and then turn both External HD on, same thing:

Drive H - External HD

Drive J - External HD that should be on I

no Drive I

but once I turn Drive J off, it becomes the Drive J - Network Internal HD

What The?

Edited May 3, 200719 yr by j7wild

well I think the old external HD that should be on Drive I is the culprit...

because I plugged in a new external HD on the Drive I USB port and now it's showing all Drive H (external), Drive I (external) and Drive J (network)