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Formatting an external drive using different interfaces


Dave-H

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The only thing I saw immediately is that the readme still refers to "mkdualmode.cmd" in a number of places, which should be "mkdualdisk.cmd" of course!

:)

Good catch :thumbup

 

See also if you find anything else not easily understandable or that could be however explained better (or in better English), please.

 

jaclaz

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OK, I've been through it and here are my suggested changes.

 

The changes are marked in red so you can see what I've altered, and because of that I've converted it to a Word document, which I hope you can read OK.

 

ReadMe.doc

:)

 

 

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I was rethinking on the long delay that the diskpart rescan creates, and I tried again not using it but doing instead a "plainer" Mountvol removing/reassigning of drive letter after the switching.

 

Obviously it is rather "immediate".

 

The consequences are seemingly ONLY that the (rightly "switched") volume:

  1. does not show in Explorer "root" view it's label (i.e. it remains "Local disk" even if the volume has a label BUT it shows used/free space
  2. if you right click on it in Explorer and choose properties it is shown as "RAW", and has NO label (BUT the usage/free space is correct)

Apart from those, everything else seems to work "normally".

 

And if I "force" the writing of a label to it it seems like the situation is instantly updated.

 

I have to do a few more tests, but I believe that re-assigning a label to the volume would assure a much faster update and we could get rid of most of the diskpart commands.

 

jaclaz

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Sounds good, but I must say that I never thought that the diskpart delay was a problem.

I only mentioned it at all because on my system at least there was an apparent pause in the script at one point which wasn't explained, which might lead impatient people to think that something had gone wrong!

It's only 10 seconds at most though.

:)

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Sounds good, but I must say that I never thought that the diskpart delay was a problem.

I only mentioned it at all because on my system at least there was an apparent pause in the script at one point which wasn't explained, which might lead impatient people to think that something had gone wrong!

It's only 10 seconds at most though.

:)

Sure :), but the ultimate sophistication is simplicity. :yes:

 

Please try the attached, the only (meaningful) change/new "limitation" is that the NTFS volume will be assigned a Label of either Data_4kb or Data_512, something that could be actually called a "feature".

 

Test it and let me know what you think ...

 

jaclaz

SwitcherQE001.zip

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Hi jaclaz.

Sorry for the delay again, but I'm wrestling with another problem at the moment.

I am trying to get my 98/XP system over to another drive, and it's been causing endless problems.

I'm now stuck with a 98 system that say "invalid boot drive" when selected in the boot menu, and an XP installation that logs on and then immediately logs off again and endlessly loops this!

Why do I think these things are going to be straightforward with computers? I never learn!

Anyway, irrelevant to this forum, but I will have to wait until I can restore the hardware configuration to normal before I can test your new version, so please do bear with me!

:)

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@jaclaz and Dave-H

Thanks for the wonderful sector size story. Continue please.

 

and an XP installation that logs on and then immediately logs off again and endlessly loops this!

Userinit path is false: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929825/en-us

Adjust the drive letter: MountedDevices https://support.microsoft.com/kb/223188/en-us

Boot another NT Windows and adjust XP registry.

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@jaclaz and Dave-H

Thanks for the wonderful sector size story. Continue please.

 

Well, the story is nearing the end, once also the SwitcherQE will have been tested (hopefully with success) all that remains is to double check everything and "RTM".

 

Being the smart guy I am ;), I left however open the possibility of a sequel, for which your opinion/ideas/etc. would be appreciated, here is the rough storyboard (second part of the post):

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173265-formatting-an-external-drive-using-different-interfaces/?p=1095074

 

jaclaz

 

P.S.: As a bonus for the (affectionate) readers of this saga, find attached the (hopefully) final version of the accompanying Excel worksheet, as always password protected, but the password is empty

PriLogxls.zip

Edited by jaclaz
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@cdob

Thanks, off topic but I actually fixed it using this brilliant tool SavePart.

I had fallen into the hole of ending up with a new system drive that was being given the wrong drive letter, and SavePart fixed the registry of the new installation from the old one, which I thought was pretty cool!

:yes:

 

@jaclaz

I tried the new switcher, and sorry to report that it again works perfectly in XP, but doesn't work at all in 8.1!

I've tried running it every possible way in 8.1 (it works fine from a double click in XP) and it won't switch in either direction.

It doesn't put up any error messages, but when it runs the "you need to format the drive" message from Windows keeps popping up, and when the batch ends, the switching hasn't been done.

:no:

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@jaclaz

I tried the new switcher, and sorry to report that it again works perfectly in XP, but doesn't work at all in 8.1!

I've tried running it every possible way in 8.1 (it works fine from a double click in XP) and it won't switch in either direction.

It doesn't put up any error messages, but when it runs the "you need to format the drive" message from Windows keeps popping up, and when the batch ends, the switching hasn't been done.

:no:

I tend to see the half full glass :), the bottom part of it (the XP part ;)) is full, let's see if we can fill also the top part with Vista :ph34r: or later.

 

Test the attached in 8.1, at first in an open command prompt with Admin privileges, I just added to the previous version a few PAUSEs and some added "feedback" in order to catch where the error occurs, and post the output, notwithstanding what it may seem, it is "better" that the issue is "symmetric", i.e. it is not related to one  geometry or the other.

 

jaclaz

SwitcherQEV.zip

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OK, this is what I got.

Elevated command prompt attempting the switch from 512 to 4096.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.3.9600](c) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.C:\WINDOWS\system32>I:I:\>switcherqev"DUAL" disk found as \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE4, connected as 4096 bytes/sectorThe NTFS Volume is Volume{e308684d-bc26-11e4-bfa7-00304879f908}Checking drive letters ...In use: C: D: E: F: G: H: I:                            S:          W:Free  :                      J: K: L: M: N: O: P: Q: R:    T: U: V:    X: Y: Z:Mounting volume to drive letter J: ... OK, done:Press any key to continue . . .Volume 7     J                RAW    Partition    931 GB  HealthyPress any key to continue . . .Press any key to continue . . .Press any key to continue . . .I:\>

The "you need to format the disk in drive J: before you can use it" window pops up as soon as the first part of the batch prints.

:)

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Good :). this should be it:

 

 

Volume 7     J                RAW    Partition    931 GB  Healthy
 Try the attached, it's the same as above, but I added the condition for the "RAW" in the diskpart output:

 

SET Is_part=%5

::IF Is_part is item 5 it means that ONLY Filesystem is defined (i.e. it is the right geometry BUT Volume has no Label)

::as on the "other" geometry the Label cannot be recognized

IF "%Is_part:~0,4%"=="Part" (

SET Disk_Filesystem=%4

)

IF "%Disk_Filesystem%"=="NTFS" ECHO.&&ECHO Everything is cool ...&&GOTO :EOF

::under XP diskpart, when the filesystem is RAW, outputs a blank, whilst on 8.1

::the filesystem is output as RAW, hence, we need to check for this value to have compatibility with 8.1

::i.e. possibly "Vista and later"

::then we need to "shift" to parameter #4

IF "%Disk_Filesystem%"=="RAW" (

ECHO Filesystem is RAW, we need to switch ...

CALL :do_switch

GOTO :EOF

)

SET Is_part=%4

::IF Is_part is item 4 it means that BOTH Label and Filesystem are NOT seen (i.e. it is the other geometry)

IF "%Is_part:~0,4%"=="Part" (

ECHO We need to switch ...

CALL :do_switch

)

jaclaz

SwitcherQEVmod.zip

Edited by jaclaz
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