Pin+a+Removable+Drive+to+your+Win+7+Taskbar+for+Fast+Access


 * Pin a Removable Drive to your Win 7 Taskbar for Fast Access **

Windows 7’s ability to ‘pin’ icons to the taskbar allows you to quickly access a program by clicking on its taskbar icon, even if it is not running.

This quick access feature should also allow you to rapidly access an external hard drive, but unfortunately the process is not as simple as dragging the drive’s icon to the taskbar, as you would an application – doing this actually adds a shortcut to Windows Explorer.

In fact the process is much more complicated, but it is possible to add a quick shortcut to the taskbar as follows:


 * 1) Right-click on a blank area of your desktop and choose **New** > **Text Document**.
 * 2) Name the new file **DRIVE-SHORTCUT.EXE**, taking care to change the .TXT ending to .EXE.
 * 3) Press [**Enter**] and click **Yes** to confirm the suffix change.
 * 4) Right-click on **DRIVE-SHORTCUT.EXE** and choose **Pin to Taskbar**.
 * 5) Right-click on the new icon on the taskbar, right-click on **DRIVE-SHORTCUT.EXE** from the pop-up menu and choose **Properties**.
 * 6) Click on the **Shortcut** tab and change the **Target** and **Start in** fields to the drive letter of your removable drive followed by a colon (e.g. **E:\​**).
 * 7) Click **OK**. When you now click on your taskbar shortcut you will be taken directly to the removable drive.

If you don’t see the .TXT ending in step 2, go to **Start** > **Computer** > **Organize** > **Folder and Search Options**. Click the **View** tab and un-tick/check **Hide Extensions For Known File Types** then click **OK**.