Q:
I have one of those USB “thumb drives” and when I plug it in Windows assigns a drive letter. Is there a way I can give it a name instead?
A:
USB “thumb drives” are becoming more popular (and more affordable). Some are the size of your finger and can hold the same amount of data as a DVD or even more!
Each time you plug it in, your PC assigns a drive letter automatically—but what if you want it to have a name?
If you have Windows XP, just double click “My Computer“, right-click the drive letter and select “Properties“.
If you use Vista, go to Start>Computer, right-click on the drive letter the corresponds to your thumb drive and select “Properties“.
Type in the new name then click OK.
This can also be done with USB card readers. Especially with the kind that read several different types of card. You can label each drive according to card type: SM (Smart Media), CF (Compact Flash), etc. When you put your media card in, the name will come up so you know which drive letter has the card in it.
~ David
Great info on the name change. Thank you!! I just purchased 2 125GB PNY flash drives to back up pictures and documents. I have had so much trouble with mechanical drives breaking for no reason. Have you had good success with flash drives holding up? A lot of the pictures are not replaceable so I want to guard there safety without the expense of cloud storage. Thank again,
Duane