Re: Hard disc recognition

Thanks Andy,

I spent most of last weekend Googling without finding either of those two
pages which, between them, appear to explain _everything_ I need to know
in this connection. It'll probably take me most of this weekend to fully
understand what they're trying to tell me.

Regards, Andrew Borland (UK)

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Go to <http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm>, and read the
section "How does Windows XP remember drive letters?"
In order for Windows to think it's looking at the same disk, both
disks have to have the same disk signature in the MBR (see
<http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/Win2kmbr.htm>), and the
partition(s) on the disks has to start at the same location(s).

On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:05:09 GMT, Andrew Borland
<msnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have a pair of caddy-mounted IDE hard discs which I use in rotation
for backup purposes. Each time I swap them over (cold swap), Windows
XP allocates a new drive letter and I have to rummage around in disc
management to reset it to the value expected by my backup routines.

What characteristic of the disc is Windows using to recognise that it
has changed? Is it the Volume ID, Volume Serial Number, or even some
invisible hardware serial number?

I would like to be able to be able to make these two discs appear
identical such that the caddy always get the same drive letter.

Alternatively, I'll settle for definitive proof that it can't be done!



.

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