EricCartman
asked on
Hard Drive letter reallocation after mirroring
Recently I gave up trying to get a problematic IBM drive working and, because it was still under warranty, I sent it back to IBM for a replacement.
Before doing so I got a new cheap Maxtor drive of the same capacity and, using the Maxblast drive software, did a 'mirror' of the IBM to the Maxtor. This meant I could send the drive away while using all my software on the Maxtor.
When the IBM replacement arrived I intially formatted it and left it as a slave in my system, to ensure that it was working properly.
After a couple of weeks I finally got around to repeating the Maxblast 'mirror' process, this time the other way - from the Maxtor to the new IBM.
When I'd done, I swapped the jumpers around to make the IBM the master and removed the Maxtor from the system to make sure the IBM was recognised and worked OK.
The problem started when the IBM booted, but stopped just before presenting me with the login screen for XP.
I figured this was something to do with XP and decided the best thing to do was to reinstall it over the top of the installation already on the drive. I changed BIOS to boot from CD and accepted the 'repair existing installation' option when it was offered.
This went OK, and eventually the drive reset and booted.
But I got some error messages, and on inspection I discovered that the main boot partition was still being called 'E:', which was the name it was allocated when the drive was installed as a slave after it first arrived.
XP's disk management won't let me rename the partition to C: so I effectively can't use this drive!
So I'm now back on the Maxtor, which is OK but it's not as fast as the IBM and I'd like to use the IBM as master if possible.
I was hoping the 'Maxblast' software would have simply mirrored everything on my system across to the IBM, but clearly drive letter allocation isn't something it handles.
So how do I get this IBM drive working again without having to reinstall everything manually? Is threre a way to rename the drive?
Before doing so I got a new cheap Maxtor drive of the same capacity and, using the Maxblast drive software, did a 'mirror' of the IBM to the Maxtor. This meant I could send the drive away while using all my software on the Maxtor.
When the IBM replacement arrived I intially formatted it and left it as a slave in my system, to ensure that it was working properly.
After a couple of weeks I finally got around to repeating the Maxblast 'mirror' process, this time the other way - from the Maxtor to the new IBM.
When I'd done, I swapped the jumpers around to make the IBM the master and removed the Maxtor from the system to make sure the IBM was recognised and worked OK.
The problem started when the IBM booted, but stopped just before presenting me with the login screen for XP.
I figured this was something to do with XP and decided the best thing to do was to reinstall it over the top of the installation already on the drive. I changed BIOS to boot from CD and accepted the 'repair existing installation' option when it was offered.
This went OK, and eventually the drive reset and booted.
But I got some error messages, and on inspection I discovered that the main boot partition was still being called 'E:', which was the name it was allocated when the drive was installed as a slave after it first arrived.
XP's disk management won't let me rename the partition to C: so I effectively can't use this drive!
So I'm now back on the Maxtor, which is OK but it's not as fast as the IBM and I'd like to use the IBM as master if possible.
I was hoping the 'Maxblast' software would have simply mirrored everything on my system across to the IBM, but clearly drive letter allocation isn't something it handles.
So how do I get this IBM drive working again without having to reinstall everything manually? Is threre a way to rename the drive?
This is a scheme that started with WinNT. The OS puts some sort of signature file in the master boot record (MBR) with the drive letter. It really screws up a Linux installation, BTW. Anyway, since it boots according to the first active primary partition, you should be able to remove the Maxtor, boot a DOS or Win98 boot floppy and type fdisk /mbr with only the IBM drive installed. This wipes the MBR. The use fdisk the normal way to make sure the IBM's primart partition is set to 'active'. If you don't know how to do this, please write back before proceeding.
if magarity's suggestion doesn't help you can also try starting the computer in safe mode and remove everything under disk drives in the device manager. Restart, and let windows detect the drive.
ASKER
No luck with either answer, I'm afraid :-(
The only boot disk I had around was an old Win Me one, but that had FDisk on it so I used it - did as suggested and reset the MBR. But when I then ran FDISK.exe I saw that the main drive partition was being seen as the 'PRI DOS' partition anyway, and it was already set to 'A' status.
Its entry made it clear that, at this stage at least, it was being seen as drive C: with the second partition correctly recorded as D:
Saved the settings anyway and rebooted, but things stopped at the 'Windows XP' logo again.
Tried booting in safe mode, but still got stuck at the XP logo...
Any more thoughts?
The only boot disk I had around was an old Win Me one, but that had FDisk on it so I used it - did as suggested and reset the MBR. But when I then ran FDISK.exe I saw that the main drive partition was being seen as the 'PRI DOS' partition anyway, and it was already set to 'A' status.
Its entry made it clear that, at this stage at least, it was being seen as drive C: with the second partition correctly recorded as D:
Saved the settings anyway and rebooted, but things stopped at the 'Windows XP' logo again.
Tried booting in safe mode, but still got stuck at the XP logo...
Any more thoughts?
You need a diskwipe program like ZAP or similar that wipes out the first set of sectors.
Also How to wipe a drive clean
http://www.accessdata.com/Product07_HowToWipeADrive.htm
Or use the IBM software to do a full read/write test that wipes the drive.
http://www.storage.ibm.com/hdd/support/download.htm
I hope this helps !
Also How to wipe a drive clean
http://www.accessdata.com/Product07_HowToWipeADrive.htm
Or use the IBM software to do a full read/write test that wipes the drive.
http://www.storage.ibm.com/hdd/support/download.htm
I hope this helps !
ASKER
So in other words there's no way I can get this drive useable without reformatting and reinstalling all 15-20Gb of software on it?
I was rather hoping to avoid having to do that by using the mirror of the drive I already have running...
So even if I reformat the drive, isn't there a way of restoring the data to the drive WITHOUT having to do each file/program manually??
I was rather hoping to avoid having to do that by using the mirror of the drive I already have running...
So even if I reformat the drive, isn't there a way of restoring the data to the drive WITHOUT having to do each file/program manually??
The best thing to do would be just to reload everything and take a image of the drive once you have it back the way you want it, using a program like Norton Ghost.
Partition magic will allow you to change the drive letter, but since that partition contains windows, that may cause serious problems.
Partition magic will allow you to change the drive letter, but since that partition contains windows, that may cause serious problems.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
windows NT or XP put a file in the root directory of each partition named ~DRVLTR~ or something (its hidden)
its has the ASCII letter of the drive which is assigned. say smily face for C: (0th drive )
you can delete such files if any and then restart. i assume the copy went right and data is accessible.
its has the ASCII letter of the drive which is assigned. say smily face for C: (0th drive )
you can delete such files if any and then restart. i assume the copy went right and data is accessible.
Don't see a file like that on my 2k system, but there is a folder called 'System Volume Information'. Inside that is a file called 'tracking.log'. It contains the Windows Networking name of my PC and some high ascii. Hmmmm, wonder what its tracking. I hate spyware.
try changing the ascii code and see if any reorder happens to the names
ASKER
Thanks Magarity - bit of a long way around but like you said it seemed to be the only answer! It certainly did the trick.
I guess the problem was my lack of trust of the new/replacement drive and concern that there might have been something on the old drive - configuration information, registry data, or whatever - that had caused the problem in the first place.
I'll be keeping the Maxtor safe for a month or so before erasing it to make sure that the new drive is fully operational!
Thanks again
EC
I guess the problem was my lack of trust of the new/replacement drive and concern that there might have been something on the old drive - configuration information, registry data, or whatever - that had caused the problem in the first place.
I'll be keeping the Maxtor safe for a month or so before erasing it to make sure that the new drive is fully operational!
Thanks again
EC