Jump to content

Drive Order


NATO

Recommended Posts

Just a little niggle.

When I run Windows defrag or TuneUP Utilities defrag the drive partitions appear in the right order, C: D: E: F:

But when checkdisk runs at startup the drives are shown as D: E: F: C: (I don't use a bootscreen, using /fastdetect /sos in boot.ini)

The same is true if I use Disk Management.

Clicking on the drive section just jumbles things up into a different order!

Is there any way to get Windows to always put them in the right order.? (Nope!)

I am striving for perfection here!

;-)

I have given up on this since the 'Distributed Link Tracking Service' changed the primary from C to D and the 1st logical from D to C.

jaclaz pointed out that it would be difficult to change back and the MS articles did not help any so I just upped the letters on the other drives.

To: [ D: Primary ]{ [ E: 1st Logical ] [ F: 2nd Logical ] [ G: 3rd Logical ]

And made the DVD drive H:

Just had to change the paths to the folders on the newly lettered drives.

Easiest way out, otherwise I would have to delete all the partitions and re-partition the drive.

Too bad.

Works just fine though and all the other problems have now been resolved. :)

Thanks to all of you and have a nice day.

Ian

Edited by NATO
Link to comment
Share on other sites


I believe that Disk Management, and probably Chkdisk, list the C; D; type drives, they are listed based on which Disc, ie Disc 0, Disc 1, etc, they are located on and on the order that they are added, usually primary partitions first, then logical. The fact that you can reassign drive letters doesn't necessarily change the order they are displayed. It is definitely not straight forward that I've ever figured out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_letter_assignment

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itproinstall/thread/2fd9eb26-d317-4c6c-b06b-2eadc7f66345

Cheers and Regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833721

The /sos switch displays the device driver names while they are being loaded. By default, the Windows Loader screen only echoes progress dots. Use this switch with the /basevideo switch to determine the driver that is triggering a failure.
So... irrelevant.
Clicking on the drive section just jumbles things up into a different order!
"Drive Section"? Do you mean "Volume"? They will be "sorted" by Volume Name and not by Drive Letter. The Lower ("Graphical") will show, as bphlpt suggested, Disk0->Partition1/Partition2/(etc.) also regardless of Drive Letter. Drive Letters "sorting" only occurs in Windows Explorer (afaik) and Defraggers (etc).

Is your OS on the D-driver perchance (second partition)? Could you provide your "BOOT.INI" contents? Just to clarify a couple of things/confusion.

BTW, I don't think you have (based upon your probable partition/drive-letter setup) any "options" to cure your "niggle" (I could be wrong).

Edited by submix8c
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@submix8c, /sos also displays the otherwise invisible chkdsk screen (as triggered by autochk). That is when there is no check is scheduled, but how would chkdsk know if it didn't check the drive's dirty flag? I think the same screen is also shown if you boot in safe mode.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The drive is partitioned [C:][ + EXTENDED + [D:][ E:][ F:] partitions.]

C: Local Drive Win XP SP3 PRO 01

D: Local Drive Win XP SP3 PRO 02 currently nLite (used to copy to a bootable USB drive and handy for comparison purposes.)

E: Documents/Pictures/Music

F: Video

Boot.ini is as shown below...

[boot loader]

timeout=8

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="WIN XP SP3 PRO 01" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /TUTag=NFCXW2 /Kernel=TUKernel.exe

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="WIN XP SP3 PRO 02" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /sos

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="WIN XP SP3 PRO 01 (TuneUp Backup)" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /TUTag=NFCXW2-BAK

If I take the TuneUP Utilities entries out it looks a bit better...

[boot loader]

timeout=8

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="WIN XP SP3 PRO 01" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="WIN XP SP3 PRO 02" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /sos

Is that any help?

Edited by NATO
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The same is true if I use Disk Management.

I guess this and Submix8c answer your question.

Disk Management shows drive in alphabetic "Volume" order simply because it is the 1st column in the window, regardless of the drive letter that appears after the Volume name.

You could try renaming your drives to have them appear in the new order.

1_System1 (C:)

2_System (D:)

3_Data (E:) :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like that is the possible answer. To re-name them in alphabetical or numerical order.

C: [A Local Drive]

D: [b Local Drive]

E: [Documents]

F:

or...

C: [1 Local Drive]

D: [2 Local Drive]

E: [3 Documents]

F: [4 Video Archive]

I'll give your suggestions a try out tonight.

Thanks all!

Edited by NATO
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like that is the possible answer. To re-name them in alphabetical or numerical order.

C: [A Local Drive]

D: [b Local Drive]

E: [Documents]

F:

or...

C: [1 Local Drive]

D: [2 Local Drive]

E: [3 Documents]

F: [4 Video Archive]

I'll give your suggestions a try out tonight.

Thanks all!

If I may, this looks more like logical:

C: [C_XP_PRO_1]

D: [D_XP_PRO_2]

E: [E_Documents]

F: [F_Videos]

and, actually for NO apparent reason :w00t:, a nice related thingy:

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/trench/11597.html

and some variations of the idea (both cool and uncool):

http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/17838-show-drive-letter-drive-icon.html

http://rubenerd.com/scrabble-drive-icons/

http://www.pauahtun.org/DesktopIcons/DriveLetter.html

and (should it be needed) remember that Explorer can use somethig different from actual Label of the drive:

http://www.tweaklibrary.com/Display/Files-and-Folders/40/Changing-Drive-Labels-in-Explorer/11102/

I guess that disk management (and the chkdsk) use the Label value and not the Explorer Registry one, so you can have a Label of C_drive, D_drive, etc. BUT an Explorer name XP PRO, Documents, etc. :unsure:

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like that is the possible answer. To re-name them in alphabetical or numerical order.

C: [A Local Drive]

D: [b Local Drive]

E: [Documents]

F:

or...

C: [1 Local Drive]

D: [2 Local Drive]

E: [3 Documents]

F: [4 Video Archive]

I'll give your suggestions a try out tonight.

Thanks all!

If I may, this looks more like logical:

C: [C_XP_PRO_1]

D: [D_XP_PRO_2]

E: [E_Documents]

F: [F_Videos]

and, actually for NO apparent reason :w00t:, a nice related thingy:

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/trench/11597.html

and some variations of the idea (both cool and uncool):

http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/17838-show-drive-letter-drive-icon.html

http://rubenerd.com/scrabble-drive-icons/

http://www.pauahtun.org/DesktopIcons/DriveLetter.html

and (should it be needed) remember that Explorer can use somethig different from actual Label of the drive:

http://www.tweaklibrary.com/Display/Files-and-Folders/40/Changing-Drive-Labels-in-Explorer/11102/

I guess that disk management (and the chkdsk) use the Label value and not the Explorer Registry one, so you can have a Label of C_drive, D_drive, etc. BUT an Explorer name XP PRO, Documents, etc. :unsure:

jaclaz

Thanks Jaclaz,

The TweakLibrary looks good to me.

I will post back ASAP.

Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I may, this looks more like logical:

C: [C_XP_PRO_1]

D: [D_XP_PRO_2]

E: [E_Documents]

F: [F_Videos]

There is a problem here: multiboot ("they never learn"). Obviously he can't get it right in both systems but you'd leave him with this in his alternative system:

C: [D_XP_PRO_2] :huh:

D: [C_XP_PRO_1] :blink:

E: [E_Documents]

F: [F_Videos]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a problem here: multiboot ("they never learn"). Obviously he can't get it right in both systems but you'd leave him with this in his alternative system:

C: [D_XP_PRO_2] :huh:

D: [C_XP_PRO_1] :blink:

E: [E_Documents]

F: [F_Videos]

Not really.

We don't know HOW exactly NATO has setup his system :unsure:.

He may have done the RIGHT thing (or at least the one I do ;)) which is to have ALWAYS, on *any* OS booted the SAME lettering scheme (any given dirve ALWAYS gets SAME given drive letter).

(i.e. when he boots his second instance of XP the drive is D:\ or if you prefer D:\ is the Boot drive - along the WRONG MS terminology - see http://www.multibooters.co.uk/system.html )

OR he may have done what kids multi-booting usually do :w00t:, install the second instance after having hidden the first one, and have a same drive getting a different drive letter according to the currently booted OS.

Compare with (among others):

http://reboot.pro/8052/

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you look at the Logon-Logoff thread and the problem of legacy Teefer for NT and wpsdrvnt driver issues you will see that I have cured all the evils which were plaguing this 10 year old installation by making a new nLite install CDR from the old C: drive installation.

I even have the correct logoff panel instead of the older cream colored one.

Even the root kit has disappeared with a good formatting.

I have now reverted to single boot as it was only a temporary situation.

Problem is that Windows, in its inanimate (?) infinite wisdom, has reassigned drive letters so now the Primary is D: and the 1st logical drive is C:

Maybe it is coming to life like C5...

Many thanks for all your friendly help.

\Ö/

Grrrr!!!

Edited by NATO
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@NATO

don't take this as an offence (as it is NOT meant to be one :)) but you haven't cured *anything*.

You simply re-installed.

Medical comparison :w00t: :

I cured the gangrene by amputating the affected limb.

:ph34r:

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...