Removable to fixed disk for Win7

[BdN3504]

I have searched the forums for the hack which masks a removable usb drive to a fixed disk. There is one topic discussing this here and another one here. As you can see in the second link, there doesn't seem to be a suitable solution for that purpose on win7. This post has been made several months ago and i wonder if anything has changed since then.

Is there a way to turn a removable drive to a fixed drive in win7 with the help of a special driver like the cfadisk.inf for xp?

I read about a tool called lexar Bootit which changed a specific bit in the drives' controller called "removable media bit". But that tool is said to work only on drives produced by a certain manufacturer whereas the cfadisk trick works on all removable drives. I am not willing to lose any data, so messing around with the firmware of the usb drive is not a solution I prefer.

[Tripredacus]

The only place I've seen an option for this is in BIOS. Is that not an option?

[MrJinje]

Yes, the hitachi micro-driver can do the trick (i use it to acronis my USB drives). But since you don't mention why you need this ability, I will warn that this does not allow you to install and boot Windows 7 from an USB device.

If that is your goal, there are methods for that, you might want to check out the Universal HDD image project over at boot-land.

Install of Windows 7 on USB-HDD was realized as follows:

* Install Windows 7 as usual on local harddisk and Reduce Size

* Connect USB-HDD on which you plan to Install Windows 7, so that USB-HDD settings are known in Windows 7 registry.

Wait until all USB-HDD drives are visible in Windows Explorer

* Reboot with other OS e.g XP or PE, anyway so that Windows 7 is not running

* IMG_XP_Restore.exe can then be used to direct Restore in about 20 min Windows 7 on your USB-HDD

* Reboot from USB-HDD with Windows 7 and wait about 3 min to let drivers for new hardware found to be installed

[BdN3504]

Thanks for your replies.

The only place I've seen an option for this is in BIOS. Is that not an option?

I have not seen any BIOS setting which provides this functionality, maybe you could give me a screenshot/hint where to find it.

...since you don't mention why you need this ability...

I don't want to boot off that stick. I just want to have two partitions on it for privacy reasons. One partition is not shown in the system, the other one contains truecrypt. I plugin the stick, start truecrypt and mount the hidden partition. This is only possible, if I can use the two partitions. This is pretty good privacy, because if you plug that stick into a computer without the hitachi driver, then it'll simply show the first partition. After you have installed the hitachi driver, you see an "unformatted" partition which can be mounted with truecrypt. There, that's what I want to do. And this was perfectly possible with WinXP, I don't know about Windows7. But if you say

Yes, the hitachi micro-driver can do the trick (i use it to acronis my USB drives)

On WIndows 7 then I guess it'll work. I have not had the time to check it out yet.

[jaclaz]

To clarify the meaning of my post you cited, that lists the available drivers:

• cfadisk.sys
  
• dummydisk.sys (and rdummy.sys)
  

they are for 32 bit only, and should work under Win7 allright, only I never tested them on that OS, nor I have seen a report about them.

The Lexar boot-it utility works ONLY with sticks by Lexar or that use the same controller the Lexar uses, see here:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21850

There are other utilities (in practice EVERY controller has one, problem may be finding it, and very few are as simple to use as the boot-it program ).

Here is where you should start:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=4661

with the info thus gathered start looking here:

http://flashboot.ru/index.php?name=iflash

A couple examples of a Manufacturer's Tool search and use:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=135120

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=137990

BTW, if you ONLY have one copy of your (precious) DATA on a USB stick, it's time for you to back it up, NOW.

jaclaz

Edited May 12, 2010 by jaclaz

[BdN3504]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll dig into the links you posted!

[BdN3504]

PANIC!!!

Windows 7 with its Microsoft Security Center automagically removes the partition table of partitioned usb sticks. I have plugged in two different sticks, which worked seamlessly on many different xp machines. I have only tested this on win7 home premium 32bit, but as the Security Center is an essential part of 7, I don't think there'll be a difference. The Security Center gives out a warning, that it has found a DOS Virus on both of the sticks and then automagically "solves" the problem. after that, the sticks are displayed as devices containing one raw partition and i am asked to format the stick, when i try to access it.

Major suckage! I hope i can restore the sticks on xp...

Edit: Looks really bad. I hope testdisk will help me, but i think all is doomed.

The Virus Microsoft Security Essentials warns me about is named DOS/Stoned_Spirit.

Edited May 31, 2010 by BdN3504

[jaclaz]

DON'T PANIC!

If all that happened is a MBR wipe, TESTDISK will be able to recover the partritions allright.

Since there are now confirmed reports that the filter drivers work allright under 7, it is very possible you did actually get a MBR virus of some kind:

jaclaz

[BdN3504]

DON'T PANIC!

If all that happened is a MBR wipe, TESTDISK will be able to recover the partritions allright.

As with everything, 42 is not the answer and no, that ain't all that happened. I was able to recover the first partition on the stick alright.

But (<-big but) the second partition can only be repaired, if I have the volume header backed up, which I don't.

I have backed up my data. Unfortunately, I was also curious about that virus and thought: "Maybe this really is a Virus, Microsoft likes me and Open Source Software and wouldn't produce false positive messages on drives which don't have a standard MBR." Following this naive thought, I plugged in the stick containing my backup. The thing is, this is also a manually partitioned stick and posed a threaT to MS which had to be removed.

If you tell me how to restore the encrypted partition, I'd be most thankful!

[jaclaz]

Well, you didn't mention you were using an encrypted partition.

The bad news are that most probably you won't recover anything.

The good news are that you learned two lessons:

1. NEVER use encrypted volumes unless you really, really need them (like you are a spy, a police officer, an outlaw or a political activist, or, in other words, you have actual, compelling and unavoidable security concerns)
   
2. always, always, ALWAYS backup the data (no matter if encrypted or not) and, if using encrypted thingies, backup at least the needed parts for recovery
   

I wouldn't be surprised that the thing that "triggered" the MS tool was the byte scheme derived by the encryption.

jaclaz