   External HDD w/share "forgets" share on reconnect
  I have an external HDD that has my movies on it. I turn the drive off when I don't need it. I have a shared folder present on the drive, however each time I turn the drive back on, the share is gone - that is, the folder longer knows it is being shared. I'm using Vista. Any ideas on how to keep the share active, even when I power cycle the drive? And yes, I understand I won't be able to access the share when the drive is off :)   
  Thats a difficult problem because i believe each time you turn it on, it will receive new and unique identification, keeping it from being able to hold static settings.Only thing i can think of is a proxy drive, which is persistent, sort of like a mapped network drive. It won't be accessible when the drive is off, but it would hold unique settings.Now the question is, can you map an external drive like it is a network drive or something similar?   ;  Make a NTFS folder mount point on a permanent drive, then share the mount point folder.  Drives that I've used will remember which mount point they were assigned to.  Also, always remember to 'Safely Remove' the drive.(Skip the following if you already know how to assign a drive to an NTFS mount point.)For instance, make an empty folder called "C:\MountPoint" (any name will do as long as the folder stays empty under normal conditions).Then right click on any "Computer" shortcut and go to Manage.On the left, there is a "Disk Management" item.  Click that.Make sure your external HDD is plugged in and turned on, then find the partition in the list (the ones with blue bars above them) and right click on it, then choose "Change Drive Letter And Paths"Click "Add", choose "Mount in the following empty NTFS folder:" and browse to that empty folder you created.Share that folder instead of the drive letter.  If you remove the HDD, that path will still exist, but will become empty.  The share SHOULD stay alive as long as the folder exists.   ;  Thanks! I'll give this a shot and see if it works.   ;  Thanks Nypyren,thats quite useful.   