Solved HDD not there after re-boot

[bug67]

This is on a fresh Windows 7 install with 2 brand new drives...I was running out of space.

I have 2 drives in my laptop. The boot drive (C) is a SSD and the data drive ( D ) is a regular old spinny drive. Whenever I re-boot, the dvd drive forgets the drive letter I assigned it (E), the data drive ( D ) disappears and the dvd drive reverts back to ( D ). I have to open the computer manager and reassign the dvd drive letter to E and re-scan for the data drive and then log out/in to get everything back as it should be. Everything is fine till I re-boot then, I have to do it all again. Any ideas?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Well bug how about downloading Partition Wizard and reassigning the letters mate as most machines I have had assign D: to the optical

Start Partition Wizard right click on the partition a list will drop down > choose change the letter you can repeat this as many times as you like.

To change the letter for the optical you will have to change through Windows . I take it you assigned D for data when you put that letter on the spinner - in my pic my spinner is X:

You might have to disconnect the data drive while you do the optical first.

Best Free Partition Manager Freeware and free partition magic for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition. < very handy tool to keep

 

[bug67]

I have changed the optical drive to "E". I was then able to assign the spinner the letter "D". I was able to do all that within Disk Management.

When I reboot, the spinner is gone and the optical forgot that it was renamed and reverts to "D".

 

[Britton30]

I may be wrong but I believe Windows reserves drive letters, such as A,B,C, and D. C is the drive the OS is currently running on, A and B are for floppy drives, and D will be for the first optical drive installed. Any drives installed after you have the C and D taken will be assigned E.
So I think you could give the HDD any letter other than A,B,C, or D and it will "stick".

 

[bug67]

I may be wrong but I believe Windows reserves drive letters, such as A,B,C, and D. C is the drive the OS is currently running on, A and B are for floppy drives, and D will be for the first optical drive installed. Any drives installed after you have the C and D taken will be assigned E.
So I think you could give the HDD any letter other than A,B,C, or D and it will "stick".

Hmm. I've always changed the drive letters to whatever so I can have my data drive labeled as "D." However, I guess I'll change it to "X" or something and see what happens...now that I've got everything linked to the "D" drive.

EDIT:

Yeah, as soon as I changed the drive letter, all my links went away and programs couldn't find bits they needed.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep Britton is right mate and sort of what I said before now did you try the Partition Wizard and do what I indicated on your non optical drives from it because as I said opticals are not listed because they do not have storage media as such in them for example like the spinning disk inside a HDD (magnetic coated disk)

If you got the optical to be D: then PW will NOT let you used D: for anything nor will it let you change C: for the OS / boot drive or use it on any other drive as Britton says by default drives are assigned by the Windows and I stand to be corrected by most other software OS's.

Go in and pull up the drives and run that right click on the partitions and this time hit "explore" it will or should (unless the drive is dead) list what is in each of any of those partitions.

It can be a good way of transferring data from what you thin maybe a dying drive to some other storage drive installed in the machine albeit internal or external.

 

[bug67]

None of this is making sense. I've done my hard drive's this way since the dawn of time and never had any problems. Downloading Partition Wizard as ICit2lol suggests but, really, I'm not understanding why the way it's worked for me since the dawn of time isn't working this time.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Bug look mate just because it has always worked in the past doesn't mean it will work until the end of time.

Not being personal or having a go at you mate but getting worked up and stressed out by this I will admit annoying issue is not helping you at all. I found out a long time ago that tearing into a problem willy nilly is not the way to approach a problem and one has to think simple first because I am guilty as many others before me of thinking that there is some dreadfully wrong when it really can be worked through a little slower and with a little bit of logic.

Look if you would rather me not take part in this thread then please say so I have no "agenda" and truly I will not be offended at all. I am just saying that you should try what I would try if were my own machine and if you think it is wrong or too much trouble to do then I am not forcing you to do anything, only trying to help you out of a hole in which you are stuck.

Let me know what you want to do I am only too pleased to carry on but if you are unhappy then we had better leave it here

 

[bug67]

ICit2lol,

Wow! I'm not getting "worked up and stressed out". Where did that come from? :shock:
I tried your suggestion with the 3rd party drive utility. The verdict on weather it worked or not is still out.

What I'd like to know is, why it's not working like it has in the past? I've changed drives on this machine and others many, many times. I have always been able to re-label the various drives to my satisfaction without issue. That's my question. What's different this time? Nothing as far as I can tell. Do you know? Any suggestions? How you got that I'm "worked up and stressed out" by asking questions is beyond me.

As to weather you care to continue trying to help or not, that's entirely up to you. I appreciate you trying.

 

[AddRAM]

I always change my opticals to the last letters of the alphabet, X, Y, Z etc. Never had a problem with it.
That way the partitions are laid out C, D, E , F etc.

 

[King Arthur]

I may be wrong but I believe Windows reserves drive letters, such as A,B,C, and D. C is the drive the OS is currently running on, A and B are for floppy drives, and D will be for the first optical drive installed. Any drives installed after you have the C and D taken will be assigned E.
So I think you could give the HDD any letter other than A,B,C, or D and it will "stick".

Traditionally A:/B: are reserved for floppies (though they can be reassigned) and C: is reserved for the Windows partition. However, D: and all subsequent letters aren't specifically reserved and are used for any drives/card slots accessible to the OS and may be automatically or manually configured.

In my case my D: drive is a partition on my second internal HDD and my first optical drive is F:.

 

[TVeblen]

Did this laptop always have 2 hard drives? If yes, did it always have an SSD?

Here is what I am thinking: the 2 hard drives are not being recognized in the BIOS at the same time. Or the HDD is not being recognized by Windows in time. The drive letter doesn't stick because the system thinks it doesn't exist at the time of startup. This could be due to a connection problem (try re-seating the drives) or it could be due to the fact that the system was not designed for 2 Hard drives.

Let us know the setup.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

ICit2lol,

Wow! I'm not getting "worked up and stressed out". Where did that come from? :shock:
I tried your suggestion with the 3rd party drive utility. The verdict on weather it worked or not is still out.

What I'd like to know is, why it's not working like it has in the past? I've changed drives on this machine and others many, many times. I have always been able to re-label the various drives to my satisfaction without issue. That's my question. What's different this time? Nothing as far as I can tell. Do you know? Any suggestions? How you got that I'm "worked up and stressed out" by asking questions is beyond me.

As to weather you care to continue trying to help or not, that's entirely up to you. I appreciate you trying.

@bug67
None of this is making sense. I've don't my hard drive's this way since the dawn of time and never had any problems. Downloading Partition Wizard as ICit2lol suggests but, really, I'm not understanding why the way it's worked for me since the dawn of time isn't working this time.

Well mate it certainly sounded like it.
If you cannot take any criticism or advice as much as I meant it to be constructive then I apologise for saying what I did I sincerely hope you get it sorted because I know I would be frustrated too but that is nothing for me to be concerned about now.

Good luck

 

[bug67]

Did this laptop always have 2 hard drives? If yes, did it always have an SSD?

Here is what I am thinking: the 2 hard drives are not being recognized in the BIOS at the same time. Or the HDD is not being recognized by Windows in time. The drive letter doesn't stick because the system thinks it doesn't exist at the time of startup. This could be due to a connection problem (try re-seating the drives) or it could be due to the fact that the system was not designed for 2 Hard drives.

Let us know the setup.

This computer came from Toshiba with two 500 GB, 7200 RPM HDDs installed. The day I got it, I replaced the boot drive with an Intel, 120 GB SSD and did a factory re-install on that drive. I re-labeled the drives and pointed all my data from the remaining spinny drive and all has been well. Recently the ssd got full and I replaced it with a Samsung 256 GB ssd as well as a 1 TB spinner and here we are.

Funny you should mention the BIOS not recognizing the hdd. On a whim I checked and it wasn't "recognized." However, as soon as I re-booted, there it was. I then re-booted again and it was gone!

So, this appears to be an intermittent issue (wonderful!) I have since pulled the drive, cleaned off the contacts and plugged it back in. Everything booted as it should and all drives were labeled correctly.

I'm not going to mark this as solved yet because, I need to keep a really close eye on what's going on here. Luckily, I still have the other drives if I need to swap stuff around to get work done.

Please stand by...

"...Good luck"

Hey, no problems! I appreciate the help. I know the meanings of what is said in type can easily be misinterpreted over the vastness of the ether.

 

[TVeblen]

Also: when you switched the old SSD/HDD setup for the new, did you clone the drives?
Or did you use the factory recovery partition to reinstall?

 

[bug67]

I did a factory, out of the box install from recovery DVDs had made when I got the computer.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Did this laptop always have 2 hard drives? If yes, did it always have an SSD?

Here is what I am thinking: the 2 hard drives are not being recognized in the BIOS at the same time. Or the HDD is not being recognized by Windows in time. The drive letter doesn't stick because the system thinks it doesn't exist at the time of startup. This could be due to a connection problem (try re-seating the drives) or it could be due to the fact that the system was not designed for 2 Hard drives.

Let us know the setup.

This computer came from Toshiba with two 500 GB, 7200 RPM HDDs installed. The day I got it, I replaced the boot drive with an Intel, 120 GB SSD and did a factory re-install on that drive. I re-labeled the drives and pointed all my data from the remaining spinny drive and all has been well. Recently the ssd got full and I replaced it with a Samsung 256 GB ssd as well as a 1 TB spinner and here we are.

Funny you should mention the BIOS not recognizing the hdd. On a whim I checked and it wasn't "recognized." However, as soon as I re-booted, there it was. I then re-booted again and it was gone!

So, this appears to be an intermittent issue (wonderful!) I have since pulled the drive, cleaned off the contacts and plugged it back in. Everything booted as it should and all drives were labeled correctly.

I'm not going to mark this as solved yet because, I need to keep a really close eye on what's going on here. Luckily, I still have the other drives if I need to swap stuff around to get work done.

Please stand by...

"...Good luck"

Hey, no problems! I appreciate the help. I know the meanings of what is said in type can easily be misinterpreted over the vastness of the ether.

Well at least we got that sorted and it is a shame that I didn't know it was a Toshiba before as I have a fair bit of experience with them fixing and such and after what has been said made some sense but the others can help out now as I feel that they are doing what is needed to be done.

 

[TVeblen]

Thanks for the info. It is helpful.

This is a recurring issue that has a bit of mystery to it: "how does W7 identify and catalog hard disk drives?". We have seen similar problems to yours in the case of cloning drives, and I believe that a factory restore is basically the same thing.

Hopefully your problem is solved and it was just a connectivity issue. But if not, I can link you to a past thread with a more 'involved' solution.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Thanks for the info. It is helpful.

This is a recurring issue that has a bit of mystery to it: "how does W7 identify and catalog hard disk drives?". We have seen similar problems to yours in the case of cloning drives, and I believe that a factory restore is basically the same thing.

Hopefully your problem is solved and it was just a connectivity issue. But if not, I can link you to a past thread with a more 'involved' solution.

Not in Toshiba's TV the factory "default" is housed in a separate partition it might not have been copied exactly and anyway it will be full of Toshiba crapware. I always replaced the HDD with an SSD and stuck an OEM in - end of a lot of Toshiba problems and issues and the old drive just use for data.
Still I said I would not interfere so I had better go.

 

[bug67]

Thanks for the info. It is helpful.

This is a recurring issue that has a bit of mystery to it: "how does W7 identify and catalog hard disk drives?". We have seen similar problems to yours in the case of cloning drives, and I believe that a factory restore is basically the same thing.

Hopefully your problem is solved and it was just a connectivity issue. But if not, I can link you to a past thread with a more 'involved' solution.

Well, I just booted up (after a good night's sleep) and all is as it should be. I'm thinking it may very well be a connectivity issue. Jury's still out...

Not in Toshiba's TV the factory "default" is housed in a separate partition it might not have been copied exactly and anyway it will be full of Toshiba crapware. I always replaced the HDD with an SSD and stuck an OEM in - end of a lot of Toshiba problems and issues and the old drive just use for data.
Still I said I would not interfere so I had better go.

I have a full Windows 7 license that I used at first for a bare bones install. However, Windows could not, nor could I, find all the drivers necessary to make this machine 100%. That's why I did a factory install from the recovery discs. As for Toshiba's crap ware, I will uninstall it just like I always do.