Windows XP Pro, cant change drive letter

  • Thread starter Thread starter 2E1 BZU
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 20
  • Views Views 2810
2

2E1 BZU

New member
AmiBayer
Joined
Apr 2, 2010
Posts
338
Country
East Sussex
Region
UK
Hi all

I am really needing some advice please on this, pulling my hair out.

My dual boot PC messed up big time thanks to a microsoft update and now constantly reboots, so thats it. But my other boot partition was ok, so I had to transfer my Carbonite online backup software to that 'system'. I have had to rename that system to that of the duff partition that does not boot and create an account with the same name. So far so good. However, Carbonite must see the same file path/directory structure as per the backup they have for it to see it as no change. This is the problem, for some reason I have the same hard drive in the PC being seen twice, with different drive letters, 'L' and 'U' (see attatched grab). I need to use 'U:' drive letter for mapping to a shared drive so my Synology backup software writes to and creates the correct directory tree in my other drive (R: )
I have looked in the drive management in Win XP and see no referance to drive 'U:' but it's there on my 'Computer' window and accessible.

I don't have long to sort this out as my subscription expires as well soon on Carbonite...and risk waving bye to 3 years/750gb of online back up

:help:

Thanks
 

Attachments

  • Error.JPG
    Error.JPG
    185.7 KB · Views: 6
It would help to see what Disk Management sees in the Computer Management Window.

Make sure all disks are visible in the screenshot.
 
Hi miner2049er
Hope this comes out readable...


Looks too compressed to me :-(
 

Attachments

  • Disk management.jpg
    Disk management.jpg
    162.6 KB · Views: 6
Is U: definately a local disk? You can check this by right clicking on it and it should say under general.

It's possible it may have mapped the other partition to a drive somehow.

---------- Post added at 17:51 ---------- Previous post was at 17:46 ----------

And you def cant just right click on L: in disk management and choose change drive letter?
 
AmiNeo said:
Is U: definately a local disk? You can check this by right clicking on it and it should say under general.

It's possible it may have mapped the other partition to a drive somehow.

---------- Post added at 17:51 ---------- Previous post was at 17:46 ----------

And you def cant just right click on L: in disk management and choose change drive letter?
Click to expand...


I just tried changing L: to a spare drive letter, rebooted and it did not change.

Drive U: looks just like a normal disk but does not come up in disk management.


>>>edit<<< Just successfully changed the drive letter for 'L:' via REGEDIT, to 'Q:' . However 'U:' is still the same and is not even listed in 'MountedDevices' in REGEDIT
 
Last edited:
A bit confusing but at a guess I would say your partition table is corrupt which could explain why dual booting no longer works.

A few things:

It looks like R F and L are partitions on the same disk, is that correct?

Only one of them is showing as Dynamic while the others are Basic, as far as I know that should not happen, I thought making a disk dynamic makes all partitions on it Dynamic as well. I would personally make them all Dynamic.

You should be able to change a drive letter without rebooting afterwards.

I would also try changing the names of the disks / partitions in "My Computer" as well by taking the drive letter references out.
 
Okay so it looks like its unmounted somehow. You need some kind of FDisk tool to mount it if it has. I'm sure there may be third party ones but FDisk is usually done in command line and there will be instructions on the web but it has been so long since I have had to use it that I cannot recall off the top of my head.

Not saying this is definately the case but its definately the next thing I'd be trying.

---------- Post added at 18:43 ---------- Previous post was at 18:34 ----------

In XP there is a tool called Diskpart which may be able to rename drives. Forget what I said above (FDisk was taken out of XP by the looks of it) and try that. It is command line using CMD but if disk management cant see your disk Diskpart is likely the best bet.

---------- Post added at 18:47 ---------- Previous post was at 18:43 ----------

Is it not possible to just change the directory letter in this carbonite software?
 
miner2049er said:
A bit confusing but at a guess I would say your partition table is corrupt which could explain why dual booting no longer works.

A few things:

It looks like R F and L are partitions on the same disk, is that correct?

Only one of them is showing as Dynamic while the others are Basic, as far as I know that should not happen, I thought making a disk dynamic makes all partitions on it Dynamic as well. I would personally make them all Dynamic.

You should be able to change a drive letter without rebooting afterwards.

I would also try changing the names of the disks / partitions in "My Computer" as well by taking the drive letter references out.
Click to expand...

Disks R, F and L are seperate drives. With R being dynamic, F basic and L dynamic. I did briefly manage to get rid of 'U:' by making drive L dynamic but I could not map my network drive as 'U:' was not listed. I rebooted and drive 'U:' came back up as the disk again.

So, I have now removed all removable drives (R,F and L) and now I have drive 'U:' listed under 'Other' in my Computer with a funny drive icon with a red question mark over it labed 'Local Disk'. Clicking on it gets nowhere and right clicking it brings a limited menu up. Properties show 'RAW', 0 bytes.



AmiNeo said:
Okay so it looks like its unmounted somehow. You need some kind of FDisk tool to mount it if it has. I'm sure there may be third party ones but FDisk is usually done in command line and there will be instructions on the web but it has been so long since I have had to use it that I cannot recall off the top of my head.

Not saying this is definately the case but its definately the next thing I'd be trying.
Click to expand...

Cheers mate, will check FDisk out.
 
have you tried fixmbr?
Shouldnt really help but could possibly help.
 
Diskpart is the closest equivalent that is within XP. I had my retro head on. :lol:

It's perfectly possible there may be third party FDisk based tools on the web though.

---------- Post added at 19:05 ---------- Previous post was at 19:04 ----------

I wonder if its got something to do with the other install using the drive letter...
 
Thanks guys for your help. I am throwing in the towel! Going to disconnect the OS hard disks and get a new drive to reinstall the OS.

Microsoft - 1
User - 0
 
:nod:

Always the best solution when MS :censored:s up on you lol.

Sorry we werent able to sort it out.

---------- Post added at 00:09 ---------- Previous post was at 00:08 ----------

Make a linux live USB disk and make a backup of everything on your drives, if poss. Never hurts to have your data backed up twice :thumbsup:
 
Hi AmiNeo

No worries:)
But the more I think about it the more I think it's one of those moments where a clean install will fix all. :thumbsdown:

I am really fuming though that I had a nice working system configured just the way I like it, and XP did an auto update that trashes my setup. All of this is made more complicted by the dual boot which was RAID striped and standard SATA. :censored:
 
I think tbh the RAID setup may have been what caused the issue. The dynamic disk is likely the raid one I'm not mistaken. It may be an idea to try to impliment a setup without it, or just turn windows updates off in future :lol:
What they fix you'll never notice, and what they break is usually more important in most circumstances.
 
You might want to try Windows 7 right away, if you are going to fit a new drive, you could also buy a Windows 7 OEM DVD.
I have no regrets what so ever, compared to XP, Windows 7 is so much better and faster.
 
Buzzfuzz said:
You might want to try Windows 7 right away, if you are going to fit a new drive, you could also buy a Windows 7 OEM DVD.
I have no regrets what so ever, compared to XP, Windows 7 is so much better and faster.
Click to expand...

I run Win 7 on the laptop and to me it's a polished version of XP and a revelation over Vista. Don't want to spend too much though, Microsoft broke my install, and I don't want to give them any more money so I can fix it!

I do agree though, Win 7 is a nice OS to use.
 
+1 TO BUZZFUZZ

I changed all my systems to win 7 and the are better for it

also i dont use updates either any more as i has similar problems and did the upgrade.
 
updates work fine for me
but if u going use your system in a non standard way its best keep ya eyes open as to whats going on
 
cosmicfrog said:
updates work fine for me
but if u going use your system in a non standard way its best keep ya eyes open as to whats going on
Click to expand...



I always try see what is up to but every update says its for security vunuribilities! Oh well...got the new drive now and will reinstall a normal XP.
 
"security vunuribilities"
covers a lot of things

anyway think u on the best course of action, reinstall + experience :cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom