Windows 10 hard drive is listed as drive E instead of C

ggeoff · 16 Dec 2017

DELL PC Windows 10 Outlook 2007 RAID

One user has no items listed in the Sent folder. This incident happened after the local electric supply blacked us out three times a couple of days ago. The user was in Outlook 2007 and was about to send an email. The email is in the Outbox. The owner has tried to run the Inbox Repair Tool but it can't find the C Drive. The PC has two hard drives set up as a RAID Mirror. Disk Management reports the RAID as Drive E. I tried to change the drive to C: but received an improper parameter.

spunk · 16 Dec 2017

It sounds like the Black out took out the C: drive and the RAID array loaded the Mirror E: drive in it's place.
Is this a Hardware RAID or Software? If a Hardware RAID, boot into the RAID control panel at bootup by pressing the key combo Usually Shit+S or CTR:+I or whatever combo it says, and view the array. It should tell you one of the drives has failed. Replace the drive with one of the same size, boot back into the RAID panel and Rebuild the Array. The E: mirror will clone itself back to the new drive making that new drive C: again. Andy you should be able to access Outlook and send any Emails.

ggeoff · 17 Dec 2017

Thanks Spunk. The Dell 490 uses the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. The RAID seems healthy but I might have missed something. The PC is located at my daughter's house and is in use. I'l go over there and check on the RAID.

The RAID is working correctly. There was an external hard drive, that I thought was defective but it does work correctly. It is labelled as drive C. I have removed it and rebooted. The system still shows the RAID as Drive E. I tried once more to alter the drive letter from E to C but I get the same error message: "The parameter is incorrect".

ggeoff · 18 Dec 2017

This an update. I have not been able to change the drive letter from E to C. But I have run Repair on Office 2007, which completed successfully but with no apparent changes made. The PC runs on the Local Disk and this is still listed as E. since the SCNPST.EXE file won't run on drive E it wants C I have come up with this alternative. I copy the users PST file to my other PC a DELL 9200 running Windows XP Pro and having Office 2007 installed. I then run SCNPST.EXE from the 9200 on the damaged PST file, and copy it back. Does anyone think that this will work?

spunk · 18 Dec 2017

I copy the users PST file to my other PC a DELL 9200 running Windows XP Pro and having Office 2007 installed. I then run SCNPST.EXE from the 9200 on the damaged PST file, and copy it back. Does anyone think that this will work?

That probably won't work. Try unplugging the Mirror drive and just boot the computer up. The main drive should boot normally and then be the drive letter C: and everything should be working. Leave the external drive unplugged. If that works, shut down and add the mirror drive and see if it boots up as C: and rebuilds the array.

Layback Bear · 18 Dec 2017

What ever Window 7 drive you boot into will become "C" when you are looking from within the Windows 7 you are booted into.. Windows 7 insists.

If you have a dual boot (W-7 & W-10). What ever you boot into will become "C".

Jack

ggeoff · 18 Dec 2017

spunk said:

That probably won't work. Try unplugging the Mirror drive and just boot the computer up. The main drive should boot normally and then be the drive letter C: and everything should be working. Leave the external drive unplugged. If that works, shut down and add the mirror drive and see if it boots up as C: and rebuilds the array.

I am confused. I only have one "drive" and it consists of two hard drives configured as a RAID. Are you suggesting that I disconnect one of the drives and then boot up?

ggeoff · 18 Dec 2017

Layback Bear said:

What ever Window 7 drive you boot into will become "C" when you are looking from within the Windows 7 you are booted into.. Windows 7 insists.

If you have a dual boot (W-7 & W-10). What ever you boot into will become "C".

Jack

Hi Layback Bear, I am running Windows 10 not 7. I have unplugged the external hard drive which I found was being regarded as the C drive, even though it was not switched on. I had tried to access the external drive some time ago and it wouldn't switch on. Maybe there is some reference to that drive in the OS that needs to be altered?

spunk · 18 Dec 2017

Are you suggesting that I disconnect one of the drives and then boot up?

Yes, that is what I am suggesting. A RAID 1 mirror has two drives, one of the drives is the Main drive, the second drive is a Mirror copy of the Main drive. So, the full capacity of both drives, is just the size of One drive. The second is hidden and is a Mirror of the Main drive. The drives are not spanned together to make one large drive, that would be a RAID 0 Striped set. To know what drive is the Main drive, you will have to boot into the RAID Control panel and view the array. Or you can just experiment by unplugging one drive and starting the computer to see if it boots off of one drive. If not switch them around (ie) plug that drive back in and unplug the other drive.

ggeoff · 18 Dec 2017

spunk said:

Yes, that is what I am suggesting. A RAID 1 mirror has two drives, one of the drives is the Main drive, the second drive is a Mirror copy of the Main drive. So, the full capacity of both drives, is just the size of One drive. The second is hidden and is a Mirror of the Main drive. The drives are not spanned together to make one large drive, that would be a RAID 0 Striped set. To know what drive is the Main drive, you will have to boot into the RAID Control panel and view the array. Or you can just experiment by unplugging one drive and starting the computer to see if it boots off of one drive. If not switch them around (ie) plug that drive back in and unplug the other drive.

Thanks I'll try it tomorrow.