Web User - UK (2019-10-16)

Make surethatall drives use a unique letter. Change them if necessary

Find more solutions atwww.facebook.com/webusermagazine 16 - 29 October 2019^67

Ask the Expert

and you then plugin a differen t device,

such as a USB memory stick, it may also

recent version for Windows 10.

The original dr ivers from the PC

manufacturer may also work and are

worth trying. Go to the manufacturer’s

website and search for your laptop

model. There may be several software

downloads, so look for a general dr ivers

package or Bluetooth, if it ’s listed

separately.

Bluetooth 3 is getting on a bit. The

latest version is 5.1, which may be

required by some new devices. If al l our

suggestions fail, you’ll have tocontinue

using the dongle. If you’re short of USB

sockets, consider buying a USB hub.

HARDWARE

Recover alost hard drive

Q

I set up my Sony Vaio laptop to

dual-boot Windows 7 and 10 but

I have a prob lem with the USB ports. In

Windows 10, I can access a USB memory

stick but not my external hard drive,

which has its own power source. Both

devices appearin the notification area

with the ‘safelyremove’ icon, but I can’t

access the hard drive in Explorer.

Everythingworks fine inWindows 7.

I’ve tried updating drivers, right down

to the Device Manager, buteverything

is reported as upto date. Windows 10

is also upto date and I have tried Driver

Booster, too.

Ian Williamson, via email

A

The hard drive works in Windows 7,

so the prob lem must be with

Windows 10, which may have its drive

letters in a muddle. Windows allocates

letters to internal and external dr ives,

such as C:, D:, E: and so on. When you

plugin an external dr ive, Windows

allocates it a letter – let’s say E:, for

example. When the drive is unplugged

Q

I have a very

old Sony Vaio

PCG-9U1M. It’s in

goodcondition

but it needs an

operating system.

I bought Issue 477

(bit.ly/webuser477)

for the ‘Run anything

from a USB stick’

feat ure, which looked

like the ideal solution to instal ling an

operating system on my old laptop.

I followed your instructions and

loaded the operating system on the

USB memorystick, which seemedto

go well, then set the BIOSto boot from

the USB port.When I go into the BIOS,

however, the USB is not on the list,

despite the laptop having three USB

ports. I have in the list Hard Disk Drive,

Optical Drive, Floppy Disk Drive and

Network. Iwould hate tosee this old

but perfectly serviceable laptop end

up in landfill.

JohnBrown, via email

A

The option to boot from a USB is

standard on almost all PCs, but

it’s possible that your particular

model doesn’ t suppor t it. If it is not on

the boot menuin the BIOS, there’s not

much you can do about it.

One possibility is that this is a

hiddenoption. Try turnin g on the

laptop and pressing Esc, F2 or

whatever key gets you into the BIOS

setup util ity. Find the screen that has

the boot options and look for Fast

Boot, Quick Boot, Secure Boot or

anythingelse that modifies the boot

proc ess. Disable them, then save and

quit th e BIOS setup.

When the PC restarts, enter the

BIOS setup util ity again. Hopefully,

you now have an extra option – to

boot from USB – that can be selected

for the first boot device.

Another option is to run an

operating system from the optical

drive, by writing it to a CD or DVD.

This will be slower but you can instal l

the operating system to your hard

drive, if you want to keep it.

Force a PC

to boot

from USB

HARDWARE

Most PCs shouldboot from USB but, if not, try

installing an operating system from the optical drive

be assigned E:. The next time the

external dr ive is plugged in, Windows

is confused, because now two differen t

drives have been used with the same

drive letter.

The solution is to assign a unique

drive letter that won’t be used by

anythingelse you might plugin. Open

Explorer, right-click This PC and select

Manage. Under Storage, select Disk

Management. All the drives are

displayed on the right.

In the bottom section on the right you

should be able to see the external dr ive

that you’ve connected – the one that

isn’t showing up in Explorer. Right-click

the drive and select ‘ChangeDrive

Letter and Paths’. Click the Addbutton

and choose a drive letter that is never

used, such as L or K. The external dr ive

should then appear in Explorer and

work normally, using the newly assigned

drive letter. Windows will rememberthis

setting, so this particular device will

alwaysuse the sameletter.