External WD Elements doesn't get drive letter automatically when plugged in

[contrax]

Hey guys, I recently brought a WD Elements of 1 Tb and when I connect it to my computer, the system recognize it, it install drivers for it but doesn't assign a drive letter automatically, so it's not visible in My computer. I tried on two computers and the same thing's happen. When I go to Disk Management I can assign a letter and it works well, but every time I plug it back, I have to do this all over again. To save some of your time, I tried: - Scanning with Hard Disk Sentinel (100% health); - Diskpart - automount enable; - Repartition it; - Format it.
Is there something I missed, or it's just a hardware issue and I need to send it back?
Thanks.

 

[Ralston18]

USB connection - correct?

What drive letter are you establishing for the WD Elements?

You may be able to permanently set the drive letter via Powershell.

Example:

Set-Partition –DriveLetter <Old Drive Letter> -NewDriveLetter <New Drive Letter>

Google "Set-Partition" for more information and details.

Here is one such link:

http://protechgurus.com/disk-management-simple-volume-using-powershell/

That may help retain the intended drive letter setting.

If not, then keep an eye on your/this thread. There are some WD folks who monitor Tom's Hardware and often reply to WD related posts.

 

[ArtPog]

You haven't missed a thing.

It's a miserable Windows glitch going back I-don't-know-how-many-years. What you've run into has plagued perhaps millions of PC users over the years.

What's a bit unusual in your case is that you indicate the OS ALWAYS fails to assign a drive letter to the USB external drive. In the usual scenario it's more of a crapshoot - sometimes DM will reflect a drive letter; other times it won't. And for no apparent reason one way or the other. So in the latter case the user has no alternative but to use DM to assign a drive letter.

Yes, I'm aware of third-party "solutions" to this problem but I'm loathe to use or recommend them since they invariably modify the system's registry. And to make matters worse more than one has been found to employ malware of one sort or another.

One thing you can try presuming you'll be using that USBEHD on a more-or-less routine basis. The next time no drive letter has been assigned, assign a drive letter (using DM, of course) way down in the alphabet, say R or T or some such. We've found there's a good chance that that drive letter will be "permanently" assigned to your present USB device.

 

[contrax]

Hello guys. I'm sorry for answering you so late, I was away for a wile. I don't know what was exactly the problem but I managed to make it work like that. Since no matter what I did to this HDD in Windows 7(on two different computers) I had no result, I switch to Windows XP and erase the partition and create it again. The HDD works like a charm and the auto letter assignment works even on those two computers with Windows 7. My question is why creating partition and formatting in XP works where Windows 7 failed? Thanks guys for your prompt answers.