Ok... So this seems pretty great. But what if I have three drives and I want them X:\ Y:\ Z:\ This solution would give them all the same drive letter. The biggest problem I see is when software particularly backup software needs to know how much free space is on the drive its trying to backup to. The reported available space when multi-drive is enabled is always weird.
How To Assign A Fixed Drive Letter to Pogoplug in Windows
Categories: Remote Access Software (Windows)
NOTE: This information is only applicable to older versions of Pogoplug software, and is not compatible with the new Free or Premium desktop software. It is being left up on the community for reference purposes.
Under Windows you can easily assign a fixed drive letter to your Pogoplug. Here is how.
Install the Pogoplug drive software
You first need the Windows Pogoplug software. You can download it here. This will give you desktop access to your Pogoplug.
Once installed run the program and uncheck "Automatically start Pogoplug Drive on login" and "Enable multi-drive mode".
Close the Pogoplug drive
You then will need to exit out of the Pogoplug drive program to make the needed changes.
Right click on the Pogoplug icon in your quick launch toolbar and click on "exit"
Create new startup Icon
We will now create a new icon to start your Pogoplug drive software. Right click on your desktop and select "New" and "Create shortcut"
Click on Browse and browse to Program Files\Pogoplug\ppfs.exe file.
Select this file and click on "OK"
Add your Dive Letter
Now manually type in switch "-l" (the -l is a lower case L) and the desired drive letter, for example "H". It should now look like "C:\Program Files\Pogoplug\ppfs.exe" -l H
Click on Next and name the Icon something easy remembered.
In this case we called it "PogoPlug H"
Click on "Finish" and you will have a new icon on your desktop.
Now when you run the Pogoplug drive software your drive(s) will show up as an "H" drive in Windows Explorer.
In our case, shown above, we have 3 hard drives attached to the Pogoplug. They all show up under "H" with their drive names.
Use this shortcut every time you want to access your Pogoplug Drive and your drives will always be the same.
August 4, 2010 12:57 PM
August 20, 2010 11:10 AM
I just tried this and it seems to work as advertised. Moreover, it resolved the multiple instances of ppfs.exe I was experiencing (now only 1 instance appears in Task Manager). Also, when I reload from the Pogoplug tray icon, the drive letter doesn't change.
I can see how this wouldn't be a fix for people who need individual drives to have their own stable letters, so I hope the Pogoplug folks keep working on it. But for me it's just fine.
Many thanks.
September 4, 2010 2:42 PM
This seems to work well for me. Would be good to have different drives, but until that exists, this looks to be a suitable work around.
But is there a way to change the drive name from Pogoplug to something else? I want it called "My Documents" or something similar.
Thanks
September 25, 2010 6:27 PM
I need a static drive letter map for PogoPlug to be useful as NAS drive.
I want to be able to use Microsoft Desktop Search to index the contents of my USB drive over my LAN, and MDS requires a search target that stays put instead of jumping around like a madman on a pogo stick.
Note that MDS could use a UNC share name as well as a drive letter, but PogoPlug isn't a drive, it's a service. So unless PogoPlug makes that possible in their driver, the drive can't be shared on the LAN without jumping through hoops every time the drive letter changes.
I can only wish PogoPlug would PogoStick.
It doesn't stick at all where drive letters are concerned.
Needless to say, I feel PogoStuck.
Appending -l X to the executable did not work for me.
Reloading simply made the drive letters jump around.
My drives did not consolidate under a single drive letter as mentioned either.
While trying to get it to work, I did not restart the computer, and at one point I totally lost connectivity with my Pogo drive. Maybe due to all that Pogoing around with the drive letter. Power cycling the PogoPlug did not help. Power Cycing the drive did not help. Reconnecting the drive did not help. Logging in online showed no drives attached. Rescanning on line did not help. Clearing Internet cache, cookies, and temp files did not help. It took a reboot of my computer to see the drive again, with still no resolution for the fixed drive letter issue.
A search for how to stop the PogoPlug drive letter from jumping around turned up the notion of filling up all the available drive letters with drive letter assignments, to force PogoPlug to use the drive letter you want to assign.
Being a motivated moron, I tried it, but for my situation I have drive letters that a BASED ON THE USB drive, which where totally lost every time PogoPlug jumped. So that proved a bit rediculous. By the time I was getting into writing a batch file to handle all these drive substitution I was ready to bounce PogoPlug into the trash can.
Anybody know a way to get the drive letter to stick?
Time for a poll:
Please post if you were able to get your drive letter to stick yes or no, and using what method. Also, If you use multiple drives were the drives consolidated under a single drive letter?
October 11, 2010 1:12 PM
This shortcut worked for me. However, I have some comments and questions:
1) After executing the shortcut, the PogoPlug settings screen pops up and the PogoPlug drive autoruns a Windows file explorer window. Are there any command line parameters to add to the shortcut to prevent these two screens from popping up? An article on all the command line parameters would be nice as well.
2) The shortcut described in this article has to be run manually each time the computer is started. This article should mention that if you want the shortcut to start on Windows login, so that the permanent drive letter is assigned all the time after the computer is booted, then place the shortcut in the Startup folder for the administrator or user of the computer. This folder is inside the Documents and Settings folder. This works. Assigning Z will ensure a permanent drive letter since they are assigned sequentially, unless of course Z or all the letters in the alphabet have already been assigned.
3) For the next version of PogoPlug software, a setting should be added to allow you to assign a specific drive letter to the PogoPlug. There should also be a notice that when you do this, you may not get the drive letter you want if other drives get assigned to it first, unless there is some way to prioritize the PogoPlug assignement.
October 11, 2010 1:54 PM
updated: October 11, 2010 5:01 PM
For those of you that are struggling with assigning a permanent drive letter to your PogoPlug, it isn't necessary to assign a fixed drive letter if you are syncing your PogoPlug with the latest version of GoodSync.
When you set up a sync job in GoodSync, it recognizes your PogoPlug drive as being a removable/portable drive -- one whose path may change. It then gives you the option of setting up PogoPlug using a portable path. In other words, it takes the unique description of the hard drive and uses that info in the future to locate that drive regardless of what drive letter is assigned to it. This of course makes it unnecessary to assign a fixed drive letter to PogoPlug. GoodSync finds it wherever it is in your file path. This also works if multiple hard drives are assigned to a single PogoPlug, although I'm not sure which drive it decides to store the file on (I did not try this).
I tested this portable path feature in GoodSync and it works. I initially assigned PogoPlug to Z and changed it to P, and GoodSync still found the drive and executed the sync job flawlessly.
Another note: I did a bunch of research on sync programs and concluded that GoodSync was the best sync program for me using PogoPlug. It's easy to use, especially if you are using it just for backup, but also highly configurable if you have special circumstances or complex sync requirements (ie. 2 way syncs). It's also designed to sync with FTP and other online protocols. Reviews from others indicate it has one of the highest transfer rates for sync software. The company has been around a long time (they make RoboForm) and seem to do a good job adding new features and updating the software. And it's reasonably priced at $29.95, but you can get it for $19.95 through this link:
http://www.goodsync.com/php/pums/rfprepay.php?lic=ttrv_gs&affid=ttrev
There is a trial version you can download and use. The trial version will continue to operate as a free version after the trial period, but will be limited to 3 sync jobs, and a max of 100 files and folders to sync in each job. Since I only backup Ghost backup images, I will always be under the limit for the free version.
The above comments are with respect to using PogoPlug and GoodSync with Windows XP.
October 11, 2010 4:12 PM
GoodSync on the Mac does not recognise my Pogoplug at all. I use GoodSync and love it, and want to stick with it. So Pogoplug is not a good solution for syncing between two remote locations, so i am going to sell mine and just setup a sftp server to sync to using goodsync. If the pogoplug drive was recognised in goodsync on the Mac i would use pogoplug.
December 19, 2010 1:42 PM
I found this really helpful as I had already made a static mapping of P for my external hard drive of pictures. Is there any word on when the choice of a drive letter will be built into the official client?
January 3, 2011 7:47 AM
updated: January 3, 2011 7:48 AM
Having trouble with the shortcut...
Now manually type in switch "-l" (the -l is a lower case L) and the desired drive letter, for example "H". It should now look like "C:\Program Files\Pogoplug\ppfs.exe" -l H
Is there a space, then dash, then lowercase, l then space, then capitol drive letter. Because Im having trouble with Vista-32 is says File program could not be found. Any help would be great.
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January 3, 2011 8:11 AM
If you are entering the shortcut text instead of using the 'browse' function to find ppfs.exe you must enter it in quotes.
Like
"C:\Program Files\Pogoplug\ppfs.exe" -l H
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January 3, 2011 9:19 AM
Thanks for the help. I think the problem im having is with the Vista. I tried this on one of my XP's and it worked great. But on the Vista it still gives me the "program could not be found". Anybody tried this on Vista and if so did you have to change anything. Happy new year.....
January 13, 2011 4:56 PM
My children have laptop computers assigned to them by their high school. Unfortunately, the school has locked them down to the point that no executables may be added to the machine or even run from a USB drive. This makes the ppfs.exe option fail for me in a big way.
Is there any way to use Windows' built-in "map network drive" work with my (brand new for Christmas) Pogoplug Pro?
Thanks!
February 3, 2011 1:27 AM
hello..
i tried this, and it worked. however, i there a way to rename each drive individually?
they appear in appear under explorer, with random letters anyway with the "enable multi-drive mode" check on.
any ideas?
_________
Vista 32-bit
February 4, 2011 11:21 AM
Works fine for me to assign all the drives as a single letter. It says to uncheck "enable multi-drive" probably for the exact reason you highlight. Don't know if there is a way to make each drive show up as it's own letter that you assign (ie I have 3 drives and want them to be X, Y, Z) however you can map all 3 as X.
February 12, 2011 10:18 PM
I followed the steps and the WD Drive I have attached to the P.P. shows up with it's own Drive Letter. "My Passport (Q)". I don't see the P.P. listed anywhere.
March 10, 2011 4:13 AM
Not working :-(
I wanted to assign it to Y, but for now it seems to stick to P...
This is a major hindrance, since I need the drive letter to stay fixed. both for backup & media library access. I tried reasigning & restarting but to no awail :-(
Could there be an update as to allow to fix the drive letters directly ?
Purdy Please...
Or anybody got a solution to reroute with some software to the changing drive letters with a fixed route...
Win 7 64bit & mac os 10.5.8
April 22, 2011 6:45 PM
This method has definitely worked out for me, with one slight snag.
Whenever I SSH into the Pogoplug software, I am unable to find the drive mounted.
Does anyone either know the path or how to mount the drive when configured in this manner?
I want to delete files and folders without the slow web interface or having to remain at the computer while it empties large amounts of data from my Drobo.
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April 22, 2011 7:52 PM
You should be able to find the drive(s) under /tmp/.cemnt/mnt_sda1
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April 24, 2011 11:22 AM
Well I updated to the new windows software yesterday and now I can't get it to map the drives at all. After installing v3.02 (or whatever the newest is, they don't really make it obvious) I cannot find my Pogoplug drives. In fact I even tried it on another computer that I hadn't done a custom drive letter and the drives don't show up. Is anyone else having a similar problem with the new software?
May 5, 2011 8:36 AM
Bump
Is anyone else consistently able to get the pogoplug to map to a different drive level (as this thread discusses) with the new software? After re-installing I was able to get it back to showing as the P drive but I need it to be something other than P. Before you could uncheck the "start automatically" and the put a shortcut with, say, a Q drive map in the startup menu but that no longer works for me. Anyone else struggling with this?
May 14, 2011 9:52 AM
Bump again, has anyone found a method to consistently map the pogoplug as a drive letter OTHER than P? I'm getting fed up with this software. I think the device is great but not being able to get to it over a LAN with a drive letter other than P is a serious flaw.
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May 28, 2011 9:55 AM
The new PC pogoplug software now has a drive selection option. It is version 3.0.3.45.
Give that a try and see if it solves your issue.
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June 20, 2011 11:15 AM
I have several movies on my hard drive and I would like to share them but, there are some home movies I don't everyone to see. Even though I deleted the video on my computer, the title of the movie is still there. Under the title it does say empty. Why can't I delete the name of a video as well as the video.
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