wrong drive letter

[Bill H.]

I used Ghost to copy the old hard drive to a new, larger hard drive in this
XP computer.

At first, it would not start beyond the startup screen. So, I did a repair
reinstall of the OS. All seemed fine, but...

the disk shows as D: and not as C:. It is the only hard drive in the
system. That is a problem as stuff, like windows update, won't.

How to get it back to being C:?

Thx.

 

[philo]

I used Ghost to copy the old hard drive to a new, larger hard drive in this
XP computer.

At first, it would not start beyond the startup screen. So, I did a repair
reinstall of the OS. All seemed fine, but...

the disk shows as D: and not as C:. It is the only hard drive in the
system. That is a problem as stuff, like windows update, won't.

How to get it back to being C:?

Thx.

You need to be sure you opted to clone the drive,
then be sure NOT to reboot with it attached.

Once the clone operation is complete,
the machine must be shut down and the new drive put in place of the old one.

 

[John John (MVP)]

I used Ghost to copy the old hard drive to a new, larger hard drive in this
XP computer.

At first, it would not start beyond the startup screen. So, I did a repair
reinstall of the OS. All seemed fine, but...

the disk shows as D: and not as C:. It is the only hard drive in the
system. That is a problem as stuff, like windows update, won't.

How to get it back to being C:?

How to restore the system/boot drive letter in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223188/

John

 

[Bill H.]

That is how I did it.

You need to be sure you opted to clone the drive,
then be sure NOT to reboot with it attached.

Once the clone operation is complete,
the machine must be shut down and the new drive put in place of the old
one.

 

[Bill H.]

Tried that.

System just froze at the winxp logo.

 

[Bill H.]

Now, I'm not so sure, so I'll do it again.



--Bill

 

[Anna]

That is how I did it.

Bill H.:
You mention that following the disk-cloning operation (and it was a
"disk-cloning" operation, right?) you immediately had a problem in that the
cloned disk didn't boot. So something was obviously amiss that presumably
resulted as a consequence of the disk-cloning operation. (I'm assuming that
your "source" HDD was non-defective and that it booted & functioned without
any problems).

And, as "philo" indicated and you verified, following the disk-cloning
operation the source HDD was disconnected from the system and you booted
directly to the newly-cloned disk with no other storage devices connected,
right?

So...

Would it not be appropriate to simply undertake another disk-cloning
operation involving the two HDDs? Just on the chance some glitch occurred
during the operation that caused the problem you've indicated. Or have you
already done so with the same results? I'm also assuming that you've
previously used that Ghost program - whatever its version is - with no
previous problems similar to the one you're now experiencing.
Anna

 

[John John (MVP)]

You will have to remotely edit the registry. If the computer is
networked you can use the Load Hive feature in Regedit.exe., you can
connect to the broken machine with the Net Use command:

net use \\ComputerName\IPC$ /user:administrator *

If the machine isn't networked try here:
http://www.rwin.ch/xp-live/regedit.htm

John

 

[philo]

Now, I'm not so sure, so I'll do it again.

The only time I had a clone assign a wrong letter
was the first time I did one and rebooted and let the OS load
with the cloned drive attached.

Hope you get it working on the 2nd try.
If you follow the documentation carefully it should work

 

[Anna]

The only time I had a clone assign a wrong letter
was the first time I did one and rebooted and let the OS load
with the cloned drive attached.

Hope you get it working on the 2nd try.
If you follow the documentation carefully it should work

philo & Bill
FYI, one of the major reasons we prefer the Casper 5 disk-cloning program
over other disk-cloning programs is precisely because it always avoids that
problem.

This potential problem that affects every disk-cloning program that we've
ever used (with the exception of the Casper program) assumes that *internal*
HDDs have been used in the disk-cloning process. If the recipient of the
clone - the "destination" HDD is an *external* HDD, e.g., a USB external
HDD, there's ordinarily no problem along the lines that will be described.

Following the successful disk-cloning operation should the user boot with
*both* of his/her hard drives connected (the so-called "source" &
"destination" drives), the system, of course, will ordinarily boot to the
source HDD (presumably the C: drive) as would be expected.

However, at some later date when the user attempts to subsequently boot with
*only* the previously-cloned (destination) HDD connected - let's say for
restoration purposes - there's a strong possibility the system will not boot
should *only* that HDD be connected. And this, even though the disk-cloning
operation had been successful, i.e., the cloned HDD is a precise copy of the
source HDD.

What has happened (and keep in mind this is a *potential* problem in that it
does not *always* occur) is that when both HDDs are connected *immediately*
following the disk-cloning operation and the user boots the system, a drive
letter other than C: is assigned to the destination (newly-cloned) HDD. This
other-than-C: drive letter assignment remains permanently assigned to the
destination HDD. So that if later the user attempts to boot to that HDD that
is solely connected to the system, it will not boot since the XP OS will not
"see" it as the boot drive. (A number of commentators have indicated a
registry modification can be employed to correct this problem, i.e., assign
a C: drive letter to the HDD, but we have not found this a workable
solution).

Anyway, the point here is that we've never encountered that problem using
the Casper program - either the earlier version 4 or the present version 5.
(And we've been involved in hundreds of disk-cloning operations with this
program.) It is simply unnecessary that following the successful
disk-cloning operation (again, involving internal hard drives), the cloned
HDD be disconnected from the system (or, conversely, the source HDD be
disconnected from the system and an initial boot be made only to the
newly-cloned HDD.)
Anna

 

[John John (MVP)]

What has happened (and keep in mind this is a *potential* problem in that it
does not *always* occur) is that when both HDDs are connected *immediately*
following the disk-cloning operation and the user boots the system, a drive
letter other than C: is assigned to the destination (newly-cloned) HDD. This
other-than-C: drive letter assignment remains permanently assigned to the
destination HDD. So that if later the user attempts to boot to that HDD that
is solely connected to the system, it will not boot since the XP OS will not
"see" it as the boot drive. (A number of commentators have indicated a
registry modification can be employed to correct this problem, i.e., assign
a C: drive letter to the HDD, but we have not found this a workable
solution).

With all due respect, the drive letter change on cloned drives is a very
well known issue and it lies completely with Disk Signatures and the
Mount Manager's database at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices.
If changing the drive letter there doesn't work for you then I can only
suggest that perhaps you guys don't know how to edit the entries because
it works for almost everybody else who has ever worked with cloned
drives. If it is too difficult for you to do it doesn't mean that it
doesn't work for others.

Another easy way around the problem when there is only one drive with
one partition in the computer is to boot the computer with a Windows 98
startup diskette and issue the Fdisk /mbr command on the disk. This
will rewrite the disk signature and automatically invalidate the Mount
Manager's database, when Windows is rebooted the I/O Manager's
IoAssignDriveLetters function will reassign drive letters based on a
predetermined set of rules and the active partition on the disk will
automatically be assigned the C: drive letter.

John

 

[Anna]

Anna wrote: (SNIP)

With all due respect, the drive letter change on cloned drives is a very
well known issue and it lies completely with Disk Signatures and the Mount
Manager's database at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices. If
changing the drive letter there doesn't work for you then I can only
suggest that perhaps you guys don't know how to edit the entries because
it works for almost everybody else who has ever worked with cloned drives.
If it is too difficult for you to do it doesn't mean that it doesn't work
for others.

Another easy way around the problem when there is only one drive with one
partition in the computer is to boot the computer with a Windows 98
startup diskette and issue the Fdisk /mbr command on the disk. This will
rewrite the disk signature and automatically invalidate the Mount
Manager's database, when Windows is rebooted the I/O Manager's
IoAssignDriveLetters function will reassign drive letters based on a
predetermined set of rules and the active partition on the disk will
automatically be assigned the C: drive letter.

John

Well assuming the OP is still faced with that drive letter assignment
problem (he may have since corrected the situation through a repeat cloning
operation) it will be interesting to see if John's suggestions re the
registry change and/or use of the DOS FDISK /mbr command will resolve the
problem.
Anna

 

[Bill H.]

Yeah, that's just what I did, and it worked fine the second time around.

--Bill

 

[Bill H.]

Before I recloned, I booted using the recovery console, then executed
fixmbr. Didn't help.

But, as in a previous reply, I recloned and was sure to remove the source
disk before rebooting, and that worked fine.

Thanks to all.

--Bill

 

[philo]

Before I recloned, I booted using the recovery console, then executed
fixmbr. Didn't help.

But, as in a previous reply, I recloned and was sure to remove the source
disk before rebooting, and that worked fine.

Thanks to all.

Glad you got it to work!

 

[philo]

With all due respect, the drive letter change on cloned drives is a very
well known issue and it lies completely with Disk Signatures and the
Mount Manager's database at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices.
If changing the drive letter there doesn't work for you then I can only
suggest that perhaps you guys don't know how to edit the entries because
it works for almost everybody else who has ever worked with cloned
drives. If it is too difficult for you to do it doesn't mean that it
doesn't work for others.

<Break>

Though the "advisors" here do as you suggested...
to give such advice to a "casual" user is imprudent.

To simply reclone the drive following the *proper* procedure
is the simpest and fastest solution .

As you can see, the OP posted back and got it all sorted out in a matter of
minutes
simply by re-cloning.

 

[John John (MVP)]

The Windows 2000/XP Fixmbr command does not rewrite the disk signature,
you have to use a Windows 98 startup diskette and fdisk.

John

 

[John John (MVP)]

that it



<Break>

Though the "advisors" here do as you suggested...
to give such advice to a "casual" user is imprudent.

There is nothing "imprudent" about the procedure, to reclone the drive
the user had to remount the old drive and once booted back to the old
installation they could have easily loaded the hive on the clone and
carried out the fix. For that matter, he could have deleted *all* the
entries in the Mount Manager's database and it would have worked! It
would have taken less than 10 seconds to get the job done and the end
result would have been the same.

John

 

[philo]

There is nothing "imprudent" about the procedure, to reclone the drive
the user had to remount the old drive and once booted back to the old
installation they could have easily loaded the hive on the clone and
carried out the fix. For that matter, he could have deleted *all* the
entries in the Mount Manager's database and it would have worked! It
would have taken less than 10 seconds to get the job done and the end
result would have been the same.

John

If you re-read the posts here
you will see that the OP did try "fixmbr" and it did not work.


The reason it did not work is simply because the drive letter was assigned a
designation other than C:


The OP rebooted his system with the cloned drive still attached
and that's why it happened. The drive will not be of any use unless you can
re-assign
the C: drive designation to it.

The reason I said your advice was imprudent
was because I am pretty sure a casual user who is asking questions here is
not going to know what you are referring to
by "loading hives" etc.
Besides, that is still not going to address the real issue of the drive
being assigned the wrong letter.

Anyway I am not going to sit here all day and argue about it and will make
no further comments.
the OP has the problem fixed and is long gone I am sure.

 

[John John (MVP)]

If you re-read the posts here
you will see that the OP did try "fixmbr" and it did not work.

If you read again you will see that I told the user to use a *Windows
98* startup floppy and use the fdisk /mbr command, this command rewrites
or zeros out the 4 byte long disk signature from offsets 1B8h through
1BBh. These are 4 of the famous 6 bytes that fdisk /mbr rewrites, it
rewrites the 4 byte disk signature at bytes 440 to 443 along with the
two bytes 444 & 445. Rewriting the disk signatures invalidates the
Mount Manager's database and allows or causes it to reassign drive
letters. The Windows 2000/XP fixmbr command does not rewrite these
bytes, it rewrites the first 440 byte and doesn't touch the disk
signature, fdisk /mbr rewrites the first 446 bytes and zeros out the
signature.

The reason it did not work is simply because the drive letter was assigned a
designation other than C:

No, the reason it didn't work is because fixmbr doesn't rewrite the disk
signature so when he rebooted the installation the disk and partitions
were unchanged and the Mount Manager did as it always does, it respected
the drive letter assignment in its database.

The OP rebooted his system with the cloned drive still attached
and that's why it happened. The drive will not be of any use unless you can
re-assign
the C: drive designation to it.

And that is exactly what would have happened if he would have edited the
registry or if he would have used fdisk/ mbr. The reason the clone
didn't get assigned drive letter C: is because the Mount Manager saw the
old parent drive with the same disk and partition signature and it
respected its previously assigned C: letter so in turn this letter was
no longer available for the clone, so the Mount Manager does what it
always does, it assigned the next available letter to the clone.

The reason I said your advice was imprudent
was because I am pretty sure a casual user who is asking questions here is
not going to know what you are referring to
by "loading hives" etc.
Besides, that is still not going to address the real issue of the drive
being assigned the wrong letter.

Yes, it would have addressed the issue of the wrong drive letter being
assigned to the clone. As I said earlier, he could have removed *all*
the entries in the MountedDevices key and Windows would have booted
properly and reassigned drive letters following its preset rules.

And big deal with being "imprudent", if it would have failed there would
have been little lost as the clone was already unbootable, the user
could have then redone the cloning job if he failed with fdisk or the
registry edit. The point is that this is a *very* well known issue with
disk cloning and it is almost never necessary to go through the whole
process of recloning the drive just to fix this lettering problem.

John