Disk Management (Snap in) shows swaped Disk0=D and Disk1=C

When starting a backup (Acronis), I noticed that my C: drive was now "Disk 1" and my D: drive now "Disk 0".

I verified this using Computer Management > Disk Management

I had this happen with Disk2=E and Disk3=F becoming Disk2=F and Disk3=E. I've removed them from the system as a result. It's also why I'm doing a full C: image backup.

Is there a reason the disk to drive letter is changing?

I'm using Windows 7 Pro, 64bit

Thanks

TVeblen said:

Old folks like me who remember IDE drives and the importance of Master/Slave positioning get hung up on the drive order, but we will learn!
So the short answer is fugetaboutit.

Old folks like me remember VM/370 and card punches

On the same HW (I swap some of the disks) booting FreeBSD and Fedora keep things "in order", even before I started using UUID. So I wanted to check and understand what was going on.

So if you really need to arrange the drives "in order" then the thing to do is to shut down > disconnect all hard drives except the one with the OS > Optional: make sure the drive is connected to SATA port 1 > start the computer and let Windows load fully > check DM to see that the one hard drive is Disk 0 > Shut down again > connect the hard drive you want to be Disk 1 > Start up, and so on.

I did this once. But I change drives so often I'm guessing "un-did" things. I'll live.

Thanks for the reply

TVeblen said:

...So if you really need to arrange the drives "in order" then the thing to do is to shut down > disconnect all hard drives except the one with the OS > Optional: make sure the drive is connected to SATA port 1 > start the computer and let Windows load fully > check DM to see that the one hard drive is Disk 0 > Shut down again > connect the hard drive you want to be Disk 1 > Start up, and so on.

The "correct" order should stick after that.
Hope that helps!

Sorry, I've found that doesn't always work. In my case, as soon as I add back second drive after the boot drive, the boot drive changes to disk 1 and the second drive becomes 0. I've also tried swapping ports, spitting into the wind, etc. to no avail.

TVeblen said:

I wonder why that is? I have 4 rigs going and the hard drives stay put. Maybe they are just afraid of me!

Wanna come over and scare mine?

TVeblen said:

...I suspect that in cases like yours, and possibly the OP's too, is that the hard disk that you want to be Disk 0 is just slower to be enumerated (recognized and 'named' by the base system) then the faster drive that "steals the spot" every time you start up...

A 2TB WD Black spinner is faster than a 128GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD?

Put on your most frightening face when you come over.

So if you really need to arrange the drives "in order" then the thing to do is to shut down > disconnect all hard drives except the one with the OS > Optional: make sure the drive is connected to SATA port 1 > start the computer and let Windows load fully > check DM to see that the one hard drive is Disk 0 > Shut down again > connect the hard drive you want to be Disk 1 > Start up, and so on.

The "correct" order should stick after that.

Not wishing to be disruptive or rambunctious here, but I can assure you the above suggestion does not work. Please see attached snippet of my clean install.

As with all installs, I place my SSD on SATA 1 and Optical 1 on SATA 5. I set SATA 1-6 to AHCI (opticals don't need IDE, happy with AHCI). When I do a clean install (hundreds so far), I never, ever connect the other drives - just the OS/Programs drive at SATA 1, and the Boot Optical on SATA 5.

Result: Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit arranges the drives in a nicely chaotic order.

Oh, am I too remember card punches and then CP/M. I just didn't have the courage to admit it.