How to use smart drive recognition

Whenever you are working with removable drives paths can become unpredictable. Say for example that you want to backup your files to a removable drive, and set up a backup operation accordingly. This creates a potential problem since the removable drive changes drive letter from one connection to another depending on how many other drives are connected simultaneously. To counter this you can have NH Backup recognize drives by their serial number or volume label - and not by their drive letter. More info in the page on smart drive recognition.

Follow these steps to set up smart drive recognition:

1. Create a backup set, go to the properties window, and click the 'Add folder to backup...' button to display the add folder window:

 

2. Enter the path to the destination folder (or zip file) in the appropriate text boxes. Use any drive letter - it does not matter - it will be changed on backup startup to match the current system configuration.

3. Now, click the 'Change...' button in the drive recognition frame. This will display a wizard guiding you through the necessary steps. Towards the end, the wizard will ask you weather you want NH Backup to recognize the drive by its serial number or volume label.

Serial number recognition is to be preferred in most cases, since it is unique for any device. The downside is that not all thumb sized flash drives or MP3 player have serial numbers. If the drive you attempt to configure doesn't have a valid serial number the wizard will warn you and recommend label recognition. If the drive doesn't have a label you can add one using the Windows Explorer: start the Windows Explorer, browse to My Computer, right click on the removable drive and select 'Rename' (or press F2).

4. The same procedure can be repeated for the source folder.