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Windows 8 and command line show different drive letters
Hi All,
I have a 128Gb SSD boot drive (Originally C: ) and a 750 Gb Data HDD (Originally D: ) after some weirdness (possible faulty SSD)
I did a system restore on the SSD. When I went again to move my users directory to the HDD as I originally had done, I notice within command line,
it is showing the HDD as the C Drive, and SSD as my D: drive... however when I look within windows, it shows drive C & D correctly.
(You can tell by the size difference) - I did notice when I go into command line I am seeing x:/ as the active location when it first comes up.
What should I do to correct this?... fresh restore, change drive letters via command line? Any assistance would be appreciated!
UPDATE:
When I first got the machine, I DID NOT use alien respawn, but made an image with Acronis Trueimage 2013 - I have since attempted 5 re-installes both via
windows, then alien respawn, then my acronis copy... same results each time, plus different amoutn of space taken on SSD.
I think since the copy I made with alien respawn the computer may have been in recovery mode still... could that be part of the issue?
Once I determine WHY the dives are not showing the correct letters via command line, I want to do a FRESH install of windows 8,
then install all the alienware. But we'll cross that bridge when I get there.
Tesla1856
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April 17th, 2013 12:00
You don't say what machine you have, but it sounds like your drives might actually be connected to SATA Ports like this:
Drive #1 - HDD Spinner 750gb
Drive #2 - SSD 128gb
In Acronis, it might show drives like above. However, if you make the SSD the boot drive, and install Windows to SSD (what you want) ,,, it will show as C:
I wouldn't worry about it if it boots properly and you understand what you see in Control Panel/ Computer Mgmt. Sometimes it must be this way due to physical space. However, still be sure SSD is on fast SATA-3/600 ports if you have them.
Alternatively, if I guessed right, but you want to make them more similar ... you will have to exchange the drives/controller slots/wires and possibly re-install/re-image/etc.
stevek2013
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April 17th, 2013 14:00
Sorry for the lack of info. This is a brand new M17x-R4 - 128Gb SSD boot drive, with 750Gb Data drive. received on 4/3/13. When the machine came SSD was correct as C: - used about 50Gb with Windows 8, Alien software, etc. D: was Data Drive and was blank. - I moved user directory to D: and created a backup directory. It took me about a week to get all my software loaded up (photoshop, dreamweaver, etc) and was going good... one day I turned on and machine wouldn't boot. I ended up doing refresh... keeping files/info - seemed to go OK... next day, same problem. No boot... this time I did a restore., again seemed to work, then used acronis to restore to last image. That's when wierdness began.
Programs would not load correctly, or didn't exist. So I though I had restored an incremental backup. So I decided to restore from the original image from 4/3, and update to last image.
That's when I noticed the user directory was no longer in D: . - At this time I used alien respawn and created a factory backup to USB.
I decided to start from scratch, and just use alien respawn to start factory fresh with the plan to manually reinstall all software. (Since I hadn't been having the boot up problem I assumed it may have been a software issue with some trial software I used)
After this install, when I went to move user directory from C: to D: is when I found the issue. - As I mentioned when looking in Windows, it shows SSD as the C: drive, and my 750Gb drive as D: - But when I go into command Prompt - and check directories, they are backwards! I even attempted to rename the drives correctly as C & D and then move the directory - Which broke the user directory all together... and other reinstall... attempted to just move directory using C & D as windows shows them correctly, but NOPE... it now shows the user directory in D pointing to the C drive in windows.
Remember, windows appears to show drives correctly, but command prompt is showing SSD (OS System) as D:, and Data Drive (750Gb HDD) as C: - I confirmed Restore did go to SSD drive.
Suggestions?
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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April 17th, 2013 15:00
You can look in BIOS to see if drives are connected like I said. It's more common in laptops than desktops (due to space restrictions). Then, they just set the second drive as bootable. It's only confusing because Acronis still sees drives in their logical or true order.
However, the above DOES NOT explain this problem:
windows appears to show drives correctly, but command prompt is showing SSD (OS System) as D:, and Data Drive (750Gb HDD) as C:
(that is just weird) ... but it might be good to know because it might be related to your strange-ness.
I can't really speak to what happened. A complete guess is something to do with ReSpawn. It's pretty flakey, and I'm not sure why you are using it if you have Acronis TI 2013.
At this point ... I personally would either:
1. Clean install Windows (see my Favorite Thread #1)
2. Or, if you have a FULL (validated/verified) Acronis Image of SSD boot drive (created soon after machine was first booted up) ... restore that and start over. Do things a little different this time, and keep notes like you have been.
What you are trying isn't that hard. However ... I usually just leave those folders on the C: drive (even if they ARE on a SSD) and just don't use them. Create a \Data folder on D: and use that instead. Anything that does get put in them gets backed up when you occasionally Image your C: drive anyway.