get a removable disk to show as a fixed disk?

[cbsarge]

Does anyone know of a way to get a removable disk (USB) to show as a fixed disk in Windows?

Thanks!

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

Removable disk? like an external Hard Drive or a ZIP, Jaz type drive?
What issue are you trying to resolve?

 

[cbsarge]

I have a piece of software that works with fixed type disks only. USB disks are so cheap (I think I saw a 1TB the other day for under 300 dollars!) now so it would be great if I could get the software to work with them. Unfortunately, USB drives always show up as removable media. I'm hoping someone knows of a way to trick Windows into thinking USB drives are fixed and not removable.

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

I have an Iomega USB drive connected to a Win2003 Server. In disk administrator it shows up as a regular basic disk. I was able to format it as NTFS and I am able to run applications from it. But, mostly I use it for storage and online backup.

Do you have a USB disk or Jump drive that you can test with?

 

[cbsarge]

I have a USB flash drive but, in Disk Administrator it shows up as "Disk 1 Removable".

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

I would install the app (if enough room) and test...

Now don't get me wrong. I don't have to worry about budget constraints in my environment. I would always suggest adding local or SAN drives for applications. But I know there are some environments where you have to make something work. If it works great, but make sure the software vendor will support the solution. If not, you are taking your chances. If that is the case, make sure you get sign off from upper managment (CYA).

 

[cbsarge]

To make a short story long, we are going to upgrade our Exchange server in the future. The current server is running low on disk space. It is a virtual OS (Marathon Technologies everRun FT software) that runs on 2 physical servers at the same time with the processors in lockstep. If something breaks on either of the 2 servers the virtual OS just contiues to compute through the failure without blinking - pretty neat! The problem is that I don't want to spend a bunch of money on this current configuration as it will eventually be replaced. The software that serves up the virtual OS is what won't let me use removable media. If I could trick it into thinking the USB drives were local disks I may be able to get the space I need for not a ton of money. I'll be able to reuse the USB disks in the future for other projects. I know USB won't be as fast as SCSI but, I just need the space in case I need to do a restore.

There must be a way!!!

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

I looked in the WMI Win32_LogicalDisk class to see if there was a method for changing disktype from DriveType = 2 (Removable) to DriveType = 3 (Fixed). No method exists, sorry. I would look into seeing if it can be done via the registry. Use a test system first (disclaimer)...

Still, I verified my USB drive shows up as drive type 3 as it is an actual fixed disk, just in an external enclosure. Not sure why yours is not doing the same.
My test system:
Win2003 Ent.
Iomega 350 Gb external USB hard drive.

 

[cbsarge]

Just so I'm clear, what type of drive and enclosure are you using?

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

Iomega 350 Gb external USB hard drive.

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

Sorry it is actually a 250GB.
It shows up in disk administrator as a basic disk in which I had formatted using NTFS. I would post a screen shot but I don't have a URL to the picture.

 

[cbsarge]

I have a usb to ide converter at work I've used in the ps. I'll see if I hook an ide drive up to that what the behavior is in the software.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[SkreeM]

my external 40gb usb hd's on external enclosures show as fixed disks, perhaps if you buy an enclosure then the disk seperatly it will do the same.

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

The disk type is set on the Drive. I dont think that changing the cable type will resolve, but not saying it is not worth a try.
I did test my jump drive and it shows up as DiskType = 2 (removable drive).
Here is a VBScript I use to enumerate drive types.
Copy the code to a text file and name it DriveType.vbs. Run it from the local computer. Example c:\cscript DriveType.vbs

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colDisks = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    ("SELECT * FROM Win32_LogicalDisk")
For Each objDisk in colDisks
    Wscript.Echo "DeviceID: "& objDisk.DeviceID	
    Select Case objDisk.DriveType
        Case 1
            Wscript.Echo "No root directory."
        Case 2
            Wscript.Echo "DriveType: Removable drive."
        Case 3
            Wscript.Echo "DriveType: Local hard disk."
        Case 4
            Wscript.Echo "DriveType: Network disk."	
        Case 5
            Wscript.Echo "DriveType: Compact disk."	
        Case 6
            Wscript.Echo "DriveType: RAM disk."	
        Case Else
            Wscript.Echo "Drive type could not be determined."
    End Select
Next

This is my output file. Drive E is my Iomega Drive.

DeviceID: C:
DriveType: Local hard disk.
DeviceID: D:
DriveType: Compact disk.
DeviceID: E:
DriveType: Local hard disk.
DeviceID: H:
DriveType: Network disk.
DeviceID: P:
DriveType: Network disk.
DeviceID: W:
DriveType: Network disk.
Exit code: 0 , 0000h

 

[cbsarge]

It showed me that info in Windows Disk Manager but, my experiment worked (mostly) using the IDE to USB adapters. They are morer than just cables and the IDE drives showed as Basic Disks in Windows. I was able to get my software to let me redirect them to my virtual OS enough that they are usable. Unfortunately the USB on the test servers is only 1.0 so they are WAY slow. It's worth getting a couple USB 2 cards to further test this.

Thanks to everyone for helping on this little experiment!

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

I might be worth testing. What's to worst thing that can happen? you find out that you need to add more (expensive) disk to your virtual server SAN?

Hey, good luck...