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Weird Windows install problem / change System Volume Drive Letter

R

rottweiler

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
May 13, 2000
Messages
1,126
When I was installing windows I tried the following
I set up on my 9500S my 74gb Raptor as a single drive and then my 3 200gb Seagates in Raid 5.
XP install saw both drives, but could not install on the raptor.
It showed it as unpartitioned space, and when I selected it XP said it could not install on that partition, then going back, the space was partitioned, w/ 8mb left unpartitioned.
And if I tried partitioning it first, it worked, but then gave me the same error when I chose that partition to install onto.
It could install fine on my Raid 5 partition.
So I restarted and set the Raid 5 up first and the Raptor up second.
This worked and windows installed fine, but since I also had 2 ide drives, the Raptor was listed as drive G.
Which leads to my question

Can you change the System or Boot Volume Drive Letter in XP.
I changed the 2 ides and the Raid 5, but windows says it can't change the System/Boot partition.
Is there a way around this without destroying all my data.
If not, how can I do it at all?
The data's not a big deal as I just installed, and haven't done much yet.
Unless I need to reorder the partitions and mess up my Raid 5 array, that might be a small problem, but I still have all that backed up too.

Thanks for any help.
 
whenever you do a windows install, only have the drive connected that you want windows to be on, otherwise you may run into problems like this.

No, there is no way to change the drive letter of the boot volume without formatting/redoing your install.

Also, did you do F6 during the install and load the proper controller drives for whatever your raptor was connected to?
 
Yes, I loaded the correct drivers.
Like I said, Windows saw both partitions.
It would even install on the Raid 5.

Actually it was weird, I thought that for some reason it couldn't install on the 1st created partition, but after I switched the partition order, I could install on both.

Ok, no big deal to reinstall windows, I guess.
Would it be possible to disconnect my 3 Seagate drives, leave in my raptor, reinstall windows with it being the only drive, and then reconnect my Seagates in a Raid 5?
I know you can move the entire array to another computer, but can you disconnect one array, use another array, and then reconnect the array?

Also, what is the terminology for what I'm calling an array/partition.
Is an array all disks connected to a controller, even if there are seperate partitions.
or is an array a set of disks in a raid setup, meaning you could have multiple arrays per controller?

Thanks
 
Well an array, by definition has to have multiple disks.

One disk *technically* isn't an array.

What I would do, put the raptor on the first channel. Reload windows on that.

Shutdown, connect the 3 seagate raid 5 drives, reboot and reload/reinitialize the array from there.

Then the raptor should be your C: and the raid 5 array will be D:, etc...
 
Well, I tried my best this morning, but it's a no go.
Here's the details for anyone interested.
If you have a better idea, let me know, but after all this, I don't think it can be don w/o destroying my Raid 5 array.

First I took out my 2x ide drives, no biggie there.
Then I tried something simple, moving the Raptor to the first position in the 3ware bios setup.
This showed the raptor as set 0, and the Seagates as set 1.
Well, I booted into windows setup, and it still saw the Raid 5 as C, but the Raptor was D.

Then I tried disconnecting the Seagates, but then the 3ware controller didn't load.

Then I went back into the 3ware bios and removed the Raid 5.
I read on 3wares site that, only with the 9000 series, you can remove a Raid 5 array, and then remove the drives, then add them back later with no data being destroyed.
Everything seemed good.
Windows setup read the Raptor as C and installed on it.
Then I restarted and let the 3ware controller recognize the Seagates again.
Then I got an NTLDR missing error.

I tried removing and reattaching them at many different points, since windows setup restartes a couple times, but no luck.
It seems to me that even though the drives were removed, when they go back on their in the same spot as before.
Same with reordering, it only looks different.
But something is looking in the same spot for the NTLDR, and when the Raid 5 comes back on, it goes bakc to it's same spot.

The only thing I didn't try, I guess, is removing the Raid 5, shutting down, unplugging them, then install windows, and finally after that's done, plug them back in and have them re-detected.
I just ran out of time this morning, I had to go to work, but I don't think it will work anyway.
I'll try it tonight, hopefully, but if all else fails, I'll just destroy the array, and get my files back from my 250gb backup drive.
 
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