Pls Help! My computer re-assigned names so the USB port is now called

[HopeHoops]

9. It's still the OS that determines the drive letter. D is already taken.

It would be like it assigning B for the drive - that's reserved for floppy disk 2 (meaning A and B will probably never be used again - ever). The restore partition is pretty much universally D now. The rule is that internal devices are assigned their letters first and externals take whatever follows (unless you've mapped a network drive). You can force available letters on them but transient devices will just take whatever is available next. That's why I suggested trying another memory stick. If the other stick assigns a correct letter, then the one you've got is screwed. Formatting it on a machine that can access it might help, but probably not. They aren't that expensive now so it might be time to toss it and just get a new one (look for the sales!!!)

On Edit: wait - I missed the part about the factory restore drive being something else. That's weird. When you replaced the disk, did you use factory restore CDs to get back to normal, install a new version from fresh CDs, or did a shop do it for you? If D isn't used, then the stick is behaving correctly as far as letter assignment (well, the OS is behaving correctly WITH that stick). Also, a "backup drive" isn't at all the same as a "restore partition". The latter is a factory image (like the CDs if you got any). The former is where your scheduled backups end up.

On SECOND Edit: The "trident symbol" is a USB port. That's the only place it will fit. I'm not sure what you mean about "carefully avoiding" it.