External drives

Hi,

When connecting a USB drive XP always scans the drive (which I cancel) and then asks me what I want to do, for example copy music/pictures etc. I don't want it to do anything. There is an option at the bottom that says Take No Action which is ALWAYS what I want it to do but there is no way of saying "Always take this action". Any ideas how to get XP to stop trying to be helpful every time I connect a USB drive?

Cheers,

Lee

The next time you plug your external drive in, open Windows Explorer. Right-click on the device's drive and select Properties. In the Properties window, you should see an AutoPlay tab. Click that and you'll have an option there which says "Take no action." OK out of the window and that should take care of it.

Also install the TweakUI powertoy and turn off AutoRun.

If using Vista then you can disable AutoRun in the Control Panel.

I agree to Myke.

Seems to work except when I connect the drive to a different USB port or it is assigned a different drive letter.

On my laptop I have 6 USB ports. Weird thing is that they are all USB2 and sometimes when connecting the drive it tells me I would get better performance if I connected it to a USB2 port. The other weird thing, and this is just Windows being stupid, is that if I connect the drive to a USB port that it hasn't been connected to before it tells me that it has found new hardware and sets it up for me. If I ever use that port again with the drive it is fine.

Cheers,

Lee

To be honest, you're right about "Windows being stupid" with the last part. I occasionally get that on machines. My workaround has been to leave the USB cable plugged into the same port all the time. It's not a permanent solution, but it may be less frustrating for you.