EWF problem when booting from second IDE channel

[SteveO]

I'm using an AAeon 8152 PC which has a CF adapter connected to the secondary
IDE channel mounted on the motherboard. My system also has a CF adapter
mounted on the primary IDE channel connected via ribbon cable. Both are
configured as fixed drives.
For user access reasons I must use the CF mounted on the primary channel as
a backup drive which the end user can remove (with power off). This means my
system must boot from the secondary master. The system must work with and
without the backup CF fitted.
I have successfully setup EWF(RAM) without the backup CF fitted, and also
with the backup CF fitted, but when the backup CF is then removed EWF is
unable to find the EWF partition.
My guess is that EWF is using DOS style disk numbering based on what is
currently in the system, so Protected Volume #1 is allocated on Disk 1, but
this becomes Disk 0 when the backup is removed. Is this correct? Is there a
fix?

any suggestions gratefully received
Steve

 

[Chris Young]

Have you looked in the FBALOG ?

It might help you to see how EWF has been configured....

C:\Windows\FBA\FBALOG.txt


-Chris.

 

[SteveO]

Hi Chris,
thanks for the hint. I had already checked the FBA log for 'failed' errors,
but it appeared OK. I've looked at it again in detail and found the EWF
hidden partition had been created on the backup CF, so removing the backup
CF also removed the hidden EWF partition.
I ran a full FBA using a backup CF without any unpartitioned space and a
Boot Cf with available unformatted partition. This forced the EWF hidden
partition onto the boot CF. It now appears to work ok with and without the
backup CF.
thanks again for the hint
Steve