HELP! Drive Assignments out of whack!!

[Guest]

Don't ask me how or why, but after performing an XP repair install my "C:"
drive (boot) is now "D:" and "C:" drive no longer exists! I have two 320GB
SATA II drives in a RAID 0 array, with 2 partitions, and prior to the repair
install both partitions were correctly identified as C: and D:, with C: being
the boot partition. Now they come up as D: and E:, with D: being the boot
partition. As a result, most of my programs won't function because the
target is no longer valid. I installed a new, blank drive and formatted it
as NTFS, and when I rebooted the system THAT drive came up as C:, even though
it's empty. As D: is now the boot partition, I am not able to change the
drive letter or path via Disk Management-----how do I fix this and get my
drives back to their proper assignments?!?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Don't ask me how or why, but after performing an XP repair install my "C:"
drive (boot) is now "D:" and "C:" drive no longer exists! I have two 320GB
SATA II drives in a RAID 0 array, with 2 partitions, and prior to the repair
install both partitions were correctly identified as C: and D:, with C: being
the boot partition. Now they come up as D: and E:, with D: being the boot
partition. As a result, most of my programs won't function because the
target is no longer valid. I installed a new, blank drive and formatted it
as NTFS, and when I rebooted the system THAT drive came up as C:, even though
it's empty. As D: is now the boot partition, I am not able to change the
drive letter or path via Disk Management-----how do I fix this and get my
drives back to their proper assignments?!?
--

Here is how to fix this condition:
- Run regedit.exe.
- Navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
- Rename \DosDevices\D: to DosDevices\X:

- Rename \DosDevices\C: to DosDevices\D:

- Rename \DosDevices\X: to DosDevices\C:
- Reboot the machine

 

[Guest]

Pegasus---Hope you're still following this post> I'm at
HKLM\SYSTEM\MountedDevices, but wouldn't you know it---there is NO
\DosDevices\C: listed at all. (which would kinda explain a few things, huh?)
Given this, can I simply rename \DosDevices\D: to C: and then DosDevices\E:
to D:?? (E: to D: being my 2nd, non-boot partition) Thanks for your
input---this is the second time tonight you've saved my ass.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I assumed that you would have \DosDevices\C: because
you reported that your new disk shows up as drive C:.
However, this is irrelevant, as long as you rename \DosDevices\D:
to \DosDevices\C: and reboot.

 

[Guest]

Pegasus--AAAAAAUGH! Well, THAT sure didn't work! I renamed my current boot
partition D: to C: and current 2nd partition from E: to D: and the result was
not pretty: Windows finally loaded after about 10 full minutes (I'm not
exagerating) but when it came up nothing was familiar at all. The logon was
off from the get-go, and I got run.dll and other assorted errors all over the
place. I reset the HKLM settings as they were and then rebooted again.
System booted up O.K. this time (just as before the DosService switch), but
my settings were all out of whack and all the programs in the Start/All
Programs menu were AWOL. I did a system restore (at least I remembered to do
that before messing with the registry) and now I'm back to square one. Any
other ideas?? That other drive I installed before--the one that booted to
C:? I had changed the drive letter on that drive (thru Disk Management) to
M: before starting the HKLM switch, but it was still attached. Would that
have made any difference? Should I have disconnected all other drives before
attempting the HKLM switch? As you may have guessed, I'm still totally lost
on this, but there HAS to be some way to get the boot drive reassigned back
to C:. It's closing on 4 a.m. here now and I'm brain fried at this point, so
I'll look for your reply tomorrow. Thanks for your help thus far, and I hope
you can help me further.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

It's probably not a good idea to move in unfamiliar territory
at 4am. One tends to overlook things, make mistakes and
step into traps that are clearly visible on broad daylight.

The recipe I gave you will set the boot drive letter to C:.
It assumes that you originally loaded your system on drive
C: and that it suffered a change of drive letters for some reason.
If the system was not originally on drive C: then you cannot
expect that it will work properly after the change.

If I had been in your situation I would have had a good
look at the system while the system drive letter was C:.
In particular I would have checked this:
- What does the command set system report when
executed from a Command Prompt?
- Are there any references to drive D: in the registry?
- What exactly do the error messages say?
- What does the event viewer report?

I would also disconnect unnecessary disk drives until
things are back to normal in order to reduce the confusion.

I suspect that you selected drive D: during the repair installation
instead of drive C:. This might explain your current problems.

 

[Guest]

Pegasus---I'm still stumped. Although I don't think so, it is entirely
possible that when I performed the repair install it was performed on D:
instead of C: If that is in fact the case, is there anything I can do about
it at this point, or am I stuck with D: as my boot drive? New idea: The
blank drive I had installed previously --the one which came up as C: but I
then re-assigned to M:---is actually 2-160GB SATA drives in a RAID 0 array.
My question is this: If I did a backup of my current D: and E: partitions and
restored that backup to the RAID array on M:, then re-formatted the D: and E:
partitions and re-installed that array as C:, (are you still with me?) could
I then recover the original backup back onto the new C: array? Would that
work, or am I just reaching now? My current config (2 X 320GB SATA II in
RAID 0, partitions D: (boot) and E currently has a total of only 63.57GB
combined used space, and the M: array (2 X 160GB SATA) is clean with 298GB
free. Let me know what you think.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

If what you call "the original backup" refers to a system that was
installed on drive C: and ran off drive C: then the answer is yes,
it can be restored.

It is unclear from your description where and in what form this
backup currently resides and how you would restore it. A step-
by-step description would help.

 

[Guest]

Pegasus---Welcome back to my nightmare! The backup I created was via Acronis
True Image 9.0 and is stored on my 250GB External H.D. I created this backup
before the XP repair install, when the drive was correctly configured as C: /
D:. What I had planned was to (1.) recover this backup to my 160GB array,
currently designated as "M:", (2.) boot into that drive and re-format the
current 320GB D: / E: drive, (3.) then reinstall the 320GB drive and
designate it as C:, and then (4.) recover the backup again to the new 320GB
array on C: It would be rather time consuming, but is this a feasible
option? Or should I just leave well enough alone? If I leave things as they
stand right now, I will have major issues trying to reinstall many of the
programs that aren't working now. This is due to the fact that not only can
I not access the programs right now, I'm also unable to uninstall them
because the target for the uninstall files is incorrect. (I've tried this
already) Soooo--Now what?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

See below.

Pegasus---Welcome back to my nightmare! The backup I created was
via Acronis True Image 9.0 and is stored on my 250GB External H.D.

*** Excellent!

I created this backup before the XP repair install, when the drive was
correctly configured as C: / D:. What I had planned was to

(1.) recover this backup to my 160GB array, currently designated as "M:",

*** Why?

(2.) boot into that drive and re-format the current 320GB D: / E: drive,

*** Why?

(3.) then reinstall the 320GB drive and designate it as C:, and then

*** Yes!

(4.) recover the backup again to the new 320GB array on C:

*** Much simpler to boot the machine with your Acronis boot
*** CD, then to retrieve the image from your external disk.
*** If the Acronis image is intact then this will work straight
*** away.

It would be rather time consuming, but is this a feasible option?
Or should I just leave well enough alone? If I leave things as
they stand right now, I will have major issues trying to reinstall
many of the programs that aren't working now. This is due to the
fact that not only can I not access the programs right now, I'm also
unable to uninstall them because the target for the uninstall files
is incorrect. (I've tried this already) Soooo--Now what?

*** If this was my machine then I would use this opportunity
*** to partition the 320 GByte array into two partitions:
*** Drive C: for WinXP and for all programs, drive D: for data.
*** This makes imaging much, much easier.

 

[Guest]

Me again with an update. At this point, with my drives in their current
configuration, I am pretty much screwed. I can't access my PC-cillin
Internet Security, my Acronis True Image is functioning in a limited
capacity, and I'm not able to access Windows Update either---I get to the
update screen, then it just runs forever with "Checking for the latest
updates....." . Ten minutes later and it's still "Checking". The last is
important because when I performed the XP repair install it wiped out ALL of
my updates---I now have NO updates showing up in Add/Remove Programs and fear
vulnerablilities, especially since my PC-Cillin is awol. (yes, the box for
"Show Updates" is checked) HEP ME! HEP ME PLEASE!!

 

[Guest]

Pegasus---I continue to amaze myself at my ability to overcomplicate an
otherwise simple task. I had completely forgotten about running the bootable
Acronis CD to recover my backup image. Thanks!! That should work just fine,
and will be a whole helluva lot easier too!! Thanks again.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I'm a great believer in the KISS princple.

Pegasus---I continue to amaze myself at my ability to overcomplicate an
otherwise simple task. I had completely forgotten about running the bootable
Acronis CD to recover my backup image. Thanks!! That should work just fine,
and will be a whole helluva lot easier too!! Thanks again.