Drive letters
Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Drive letters

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    Surrey, UK
    Posts
    647

    Drive letters

    What ho one and all,

    Don't think this is a particular W7 issue and I'm only interested.

    Building a W7 install on a new hdd (yes, I know it is taking a long time!!) When I want to do serious work on the computer, I exchange the W7 hdd for my original XP and will continue to do so until I am happy to go 100% to W7.

    Obviously, whichever hdd is in the slot, is Drive 0. On XP I have partitions C, D, E, F and G with C bieing the XP os and d is My Docs.

    On the W7 hdd, there are only two partitions, C (the os) and H which the os named and to which I currently save images of the W7 build.

    When I run EaseUs Partition Master, this is what I see: well, I am unable to post an image as I cannot see how to delete attachments for the VrDr attachments link, but essentially, the hdd with C and H partitions are listed as Drive1. Drive 0 has some other letters, which the install has randomly assigned.

    My question is, I though the os had to be on Drive 0 so why is Parition Master showing it as Drive 1?

    As a secondary question, how do I delete files from the attachment page?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 1998
    Location
    Toronto
    Posts
    25,426
    how do I delete files from the attachment page?

    https://discussions.virtualdr.com/sh...90#post1563490

    VirtualDr email notices are not working.
    Check back regularly for responses.

    _____________________
    cat lovers click here

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
    Location
    Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
    Posts
    18,063
    The OS can be on any drive.

    Possibly useful link:

    https://www.howtogeek.com/192772/wha...you-delete-it/

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    Surrey, UK
    Posts
    647
    Thanks for the attachment link. I have only ever been to attachments via the up-load page, never via Settings. Will try to remember next time.

    And for the drive letter link.

    On the new W7 installation, I do not have a System Reserved partition. Don't really care, it is working more or less just fine.

    However, it does raise another question.

    A few days ago, i had the need to restore the new W7 install from a Acronis True Image backup. I have managed to get ATIHome 2010 working but it is slightly more complex than my previous version.

    On the what to restore page, there are two options, the OS and the MBR. I am familiar(ish) with the MBR but don't really know what it does, nor why I have the option of restoring it or not. If I select it, does this create the System Reserved partition? I did not select and all appears fine.
    Last edited by Rekusu; March 9th, 2021 at 07:39 AM.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Arkham Asylum, Cell 13
    Posts
    11,686
    The MBR is different from the System Reserved partition. If you formatted the drive BEFORE you installed Win7, then it was forced to combine the System Reserved partition with your OS partition.

    The MBR is the master boot record. It's basically the boot and partition info for your drives. If you did a restore to a blank hard drive, you would need to restore both the MBR and the OS partition. If you had a System Reserved partition, you would need to restore that also.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    Surrey, UK
    Posts
    647
    Thanks for the explanation. I did indeed install W7 to a clean drive, so no SR partition. When I restored, a few days ago (only to get rid of some software that and other associated junk) I don't recall if I checked the MBR box or not. But the restore is working fine.

    With my old ATI8 on XP, never had that option. Guess the next time I need to restore, hit the create MBR check-box.

    If restoring the MBR is important, why is there an option to not include it?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Arkham Asylum, Cell 13
    Posts
    11,686
    If you are restoring the OS partition to the original drive, you don't necessarily need to restore the MBR. If it's a blank drive, you'd definitely need it.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    Surrey, UK
    Posts
    647
    I have the new 2TB drive and will be creating the partitions. So when I copy the image, I should include the MBR.

    I have a desktop hdd caddie; if I have the new drive in the caddie and copy the W7 os to the first partition, inc, MBR, will it operate when I install the hdd into the Drive 0 slot?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Arkham Asylum, Cell 13
    Posts
    11,686
    Don't partition the new drive before you clone over the OS. Just leave some unallocated space, and create new partitions in Windows Disk Management.

    If you clone the OS drive to the new drive, then it would act like the original drive once you install it. That's what it is meant to do.

    It would probably be better to make an image backup to an external USB drive first, install the new drive, and then restore the image backup to the new drive.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •