Multiple hard drives show up in Explorer

[512dude]

OS: Windows XP Pro

I have 3 hard drives all 80GB, two are from Western Dig and one is a Maxtor and 1 DVD attached as follows.

Primary IDE channel with the 80 wire cable set up:

Drive #1 (OS drive) - jumper on Master w Slave Present, end cable location, assigned to C:
Drive #2 (data drive) - jumper on Slave, middle cable location, assigned to D:

Secondary IDE channel with 40 wire cable set up:

Drive #3 (DVD) - jumper on Slave, end cable location, assigned to F:
Drive #4 (data drive) - jumper on Master w Slave Present, middle cable location, assigned to E: and G:

I don't know why the same drive #4 gets assigned to two letters E and G???

How to fix so it is only assigned to one letter???

I am taking my setup info from: www.mikeshardware.com in the how to connect IDE drives section

 

[captaincranky]

The only question that springs to mind is, "is there a partition on the drive"?

 

[LookinAround]

The only question that springs to mind is, "is there a partition on the drive"?

Excellent question

@512dude
To help us see what's going on
> Click Start->Run, enter msinfo32
> Then click Components->Storage->Drives and copy/paste info into your next post
> Do same for Components->Storage->Disks

 

[512dude]

I don't have a partition on that drive and the folders/files under each E: and G: are identical.


Here is the /Storage/Drives info:

Drive C:
Description Local Fixed Disk
Compressed No
File System NTFS
Size 74.52 GB (80,015,491,072 bytes)
Free Space 6.57 GB (7,053,213,696 bytes)
Volume Name
Volume Serial Number A08D5E62

Drive D:
Description Local Fixed Disk
Compressed No
File System NTFS
Size 76.33 GB (81,956,655,104 bytes)
Free Space 7.94 GB (8,521,023,488 bytes)
Volume Name DATA
Volume Serial Number D8A5875F

Drive E:
Description Local Fixed Disk
Compressed No
File System NTFS
Size 74.53 GB (80,023,715,840 bytes)
Free Space 31.20 GB (33,495,703,552 bytes)
Volume Name DATA IMAGE DISC
Volume Serial Number 10C48725

Drive F:
Description CD-ROM Disc

Drive G:
Description Local Fixed Disk
Compressed No
File System NTFS
Size 74.53 GB (80,023,715,840 bytes)
Free Space 31.20 GB (33,495,703,552 bytes)
Volume Name DATA IMAGE DISC
Volume Serial Number 10C48725


Here is the /Storage/Disks info:

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model Maxtor 6Y080P0
Bytes/Sector 512
Media Loaded Yes
Media Type Fixed hard disk media
Partitions 1
SCSI Bus 0
SCSI Logical Unit 0
SCSI Port 0
SCSI Target ID 1
Sectors/Track 63
Size 76.33 GB (81,956,689,920 bytes)
Total Cylinders 9,964
Total Sectors 160,071,660
Total Tracks 2,540,820
Tracks/Cylinder 255
Partition Disk #1, Partition #0
Partition Size 76.33 GB (81,956,657,664 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 32,256 bytes

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model WDC WD800BB-00FJA0
Bytes/Sector 512
Media Loaded Yes
Media Type Fixed hard disk media
Partitions 1
SCSI Bus 0
SCSI Logical Unit 0
SCSI Port 1
SCSI Target ID 0
Sectors/Track 63
Size 74.53 GB (80,023,749,120 bytes)
Total Cylinders 9,729
Total Sectors 156,296,385
Total Tracks 2,480,895
Tracks/Cylinder 255
Partition Disk #2, Partition #0
Partition Size 74.53 GB (80,023,716,864 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 32,256 bytes

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model WDC WD800BB-00FJA0
Bytes/Sector 512
Media Loaded Yes
Media Type Fixed hard disk media
Partitions 1
SCSI Bus 0
SCSI Logical Unit 0
SCSI Port 0
SCSI Target ID 0
Sectors/Track 63
Size 74.53 GB (80,023,749,120 bytes)
Total Cylinders 9,729
Total Sectors 156,296,385
Total Tracks 2,480,895
Tracks/Cylinder 255
Partition Disk #0, Partition #0
Partition Size 74.52 GB (80,015,491,584 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 32,256 bytes

Here is the /Storage/IDE info:

Name SiS PCI IDE Controller
Manufacturer Silicon Integrated System
Status OK
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_5513&SUBSYS_0C56105B&REV_01\3&61AAA01&0&15
I/O Port 0x00004000-0x0000400F
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\pciide.sys (5.1.2600.0 (XPClient.010817-1148), 3.25 KB (3,328 bytes), 3/31/2003 5:00 AM)

Name Primary IDE Channel
Manufacturer (Standard IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers)
Status OK
PNP Device ID PCIIDE\IDECHANNEL\4&12969279&0&0
I/O Port 0x000001F0-0x000001F7
I/O Port 0x000003F6-0x000003F6
IRQ Channel IRQ 14
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\atapi.sys (5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2108), 94.25 KB (96,512 bytes), 3/31/2003 5:00 AM)

Name Secondary IDE Channel
Manufacturer (Standard IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers)
Status OK
PNP Device ID PCIIDE\IDECHANNEL\4&12969279&0&1
I/O Port 0x00000170-0x00000177
I/O Port 0x00000376-0x00000376
IRQ Channel IRQ 15
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\atapi.sys (5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2108), 94.25 KB (96,512 bytes), 3/31/2003 5:00 AM)

 

[captaincranky]

Reread that Mike's Hardware article. Pay attention to the number of wires in the cable. The (I think) reverse slave master relationship on the second IDE channel was written for 40 wire cables, which I doubt that you have.

Of course I do have a bit of trouble with reading comprehension, I used to work for the post office.

If you have full access to either drive letter for the same drive, I cautiously suggest that you might just remove one of the letters in disc management.

 

[LookinAround]

Of course I do have a bit of trouble with reading comprehension, I used to work for the post office.

LOL and so did I (once work at the post office)!

@512dude
Yep. Now i can plainly see what you said and agree. Driver letters E and G are mapped to the same Volume name and serial numbers.

So the "curiouser" question (is that a word?) is how did two drive letters get assigned to the same volume (personally, didn't know that was possible). Do these two drives appear in disk management? I join the captain as well in cautiously looking at Disk Management to remove one of the letter assignment

 

[512dude]

I did see that and I do have an 80 wire cable on the Primary Channel and a 40 on the Secondary Channel; I just counted them to be sure. The 80 wire cable has much smaller diameter wires than the 40.

 

[LookinAround]

Rt click My Computer->Manage->Disk Management

 

[512dude]

That seemed to do it, I removed the drive letter assigned under Disk Management and voila there is no additional drive showing up.

Thanks guys and too bad for the posties you aren't with them anymore.

Cheerio! Seattle out...