Thumb Drives & Drive Letter Changes

[HoppaLong]

98SE drivers are provided by companies like OCZ and SanDisk for their

thumb drives. They work ok, except for a problem that is probably

not fixable.

If you plug the thumb drive into a USB port after Windows is finished

loading, the drive is recognized in My Computer by the correct label

name and drive letter. For example, I've got a Rally2 drive made by

OCZ. In My Computer it would appear as RALLY2_8GB with the correct

drive letter "H."

If you reboot without unplugging the thumb drive it appears in My Computer

with the generic name "Removable Disk" with the drive letter "I." The

Peformance tab in System Properties also shows the problem. It says,

"Drive H is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system."

Fixing the problem is easy but incredibly annoying. With OCZ drives you

right-click the tray icon and select "Stop USB Disk." Unplugging the drive

for a couple of seconds is the solution. When you plug the drive back into

a USB port its immediately recognized correctly in My Computer and the

Performance tab shows that your "system is configured for optimal

performance."

Since creating scripts and hacking the registry is the only "fun" I have

using a computer, I tried every trick I could think of to get Windows to

retain the correct drive letter during a reboot. Dumping the relevant

registry keys before a reboot, and adding them back with command

lines in autoexec.bat didn't work. I also created a script that caused

Windows to load the driver files toward the end of the reboot process.

No luck. Adding the drivers during system startup doesn't work either.

Is there a way to force 98SE to keep the correct drive letter, while your

thumb drive is plugged in during a reboot?

[Usher]

If you reboot without unplugging the thumb drive it appears in My Computer

with the generic name "Removable Disk" with the drive letter "I." The

Peformance tab in System Properties also shows the problem. It says,

"Drive H is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system."

You have probably set booting from USB drive in your BIOS setup. That's why you can see "DOS compatibility mode".

Just change your BIOS setup setting and see if it works.

[HoppaLong]

I'll definitely try your suggestion. Thank you Usher.

I cloned (more like copied, without the drivers) 98SE from an

old Gateway desktop to a more modern refurbished IBM ThinkPad.

I wanted to preserve this highly customized copy of 98SE on a

laptop. I can finally junk the desktop, which required an enormous

table for the heavy steel box and 50 pound CRT!

Because the Gateway never had the option to boot from a USB device,

it retained the drive letter during a reboot. After I noticed the problem

with the ThinkPad, I immediately checked the Performance tab on the

Gateway. Sure enough, it had assigned that "DOS compatibility mode"

to the drive letter after the thumb drive. Because the drive letter never

changed, I didn't care that it was called a "Removable Disk." In fact, it

never occured to me that there was any problem at all.

[HoppaLong]

I disabled USB boot in the BIOS. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Darn it!

Frankly, it's a minor miracle that the manufacturers of these flash drives

provide drivers for 98SE.

More than likely, it's a problem that can't be resolved with these old

Windows systems. I tried everything I could think of. If you have

anymore ideas, please let me know! I'll try anything that sounds

reasonable.

[dencorso]

What USB related options are there, in your machine's BIOS, under which tab and sub-tab are they located, and what value do they have selected at present?

[Usher]

I cloned (more like copied, without the drivers) 98SE from an

old Gateway desktop to a more modern refurbished IBM ThinkPad.

Explain "without the drivers". Did you remove all hardware related registry entries?

It seems you have some entries from the old configuration conflicting with the new one.

[HoppaLong]

IBM ThinkPad T23

BIOS_v1.20

Embedded Controller_v1.06a

Everything for this ThinkPad was downloaded from the Lenovo site.

The only exception were the chipset drivers which I had to download

from Intel's site. I also managed to locate the service manual

which provides very detailed user info about all the ThinkPad ports,

keys, etc.

After accessing the BIOS setup you see a simple list, there are no

tabs. Selecting "Config" displays another list of all the ThinkPad

devices, including USB. There are only two options, "Enable" or

"Disable" booting from a USB device. That's it. They were enabled

until Usher suggested disabling USB booting might resolve the problem.

I tried, but it didn't make any difference.

Usher, when I decided to save this system I knew it had to be on

something portable. Since I wasn't cloning the system onto another

computer with the identical hardware, I had to strip out all the

hardware driver files from the Gateway and delete the relevant

registry keys and values. I created a very lengthy script that

ran during a reboot. If I had to do the job manually, it would

have been a nightmare! I made multiple backups in case anything

went wrong.

I've searched the registry for any leftover hardware entries from

the Gateway desktop. I'm 99% certain my script deleted all of them.

If there is some obscure key or value from the old desktop that's

causing this problem, I can't find it.

It's important to remember, the Gateway desktop had the same problem.

It never mattered to me, because the drive letter didn't change

during a reboot. As I said, I never knew this problem existed until

I completed imaging the same system onto the ThinkPad. That's when

the drive letter changes forced me to investigate this problem.

I can't help thinking that the drivers themselves are causing this

problem. I'm not going to contact OCZ, but I'm sure they would

say, "if the drivers work, what are you complaining about? Is it

really so terrible that you have unplug the drive during a reboot?"

My answer would be, "well, it's very annoying, but you're right,

the drivers work and I suppose that's all that really matters."

[Prozactive]

I can't say I fully understand all of your issues but I suggest you try the Native USB drivers (NUSB) for your flash drive(s) instead of the vendor-specific drivers you mentioned. They're available at MDGx's website:

NUSB 3.3

About the drive letter issue(s) - you know you can specify a desired drive letter within Device Manager by editing the appropriate Disk drives entry's Settings tab.

I've read about deleting ENUM and other registry settings and files to port over an existing Win98 installation to a completely different hardware platform but I've never tried it myself. I'm seriously considering doing it for my next Win98 system build as there's really nothing to lose. From your experience, are there any specific tricks and advice you could share to increase the likelihood of success?

Edited April 2, 2010 by Prozactive

[Sfor]

Well, I do have a problem with USB devices drive letters on Asus Eee PC 900. But, It's a bit different story, as there are two drive letters for each USB drive. One letter is from BIOS USB support and the other comes from Windows.

Everything seems to be working fine (I mean just one drive letter), when Windows works in APM mode. After enabling ACPI the Windows forces another drive letter to be assigned. Since the ACPI is quite useful on a mobile device, I have learned to live with the issue.

[dencorso]

Here's how to disable ACPI (and APM, if desired), in case you wish to try this idea.

[HoppaLong]

I'll try those native USB drivers. Thanks Prozactive. I did try

selecting the correct drive letter in the Device Manager. Doesn't

work.

I always ask myself two questions with these Windows systems:

1. Should I find the actual root cause of a problem and fix it?

2. If the system is basically working ok, would it be quicker to

develop a workaround for the problem without actually discovering

the root cause?

I know what I'm going to try. It might not work, but if it does these

drive letter changes during a reboot won't bother me anymore.

Instead of simple desktop shortcuts to my flash drives, I'll create

a script with a bunch of flow control and logic statements that may do

the trick. You know, if - or - goto - while, etc.

In the past, I have devoted myself to fixing everything that went

wrong with a Windows system. I always felt great if I found the

root cause and resolved the problem. Thinking back, I have to

admit that simple workarounds requiring far less time and effort

would have been ok most of the time.

Edited April 2, 2010 by HoppaLong