I see errors in my event log saying "The device, \Device\Harddisk3\DR15, has a bad block." There are also references to drive "DR17". What's got me stumped is figuring out which physical disk drives these log entries are referring to. I have only 3 drives (each having just one partition) + an occasionally-connected external USB drive. I see no mention of "DR15" or "DR17" in Device Manager or in the registry.


 
 

Run the following PowerShell command as Administrator:
Get-PhysicalDisk | Select -Prop DeviceId,FriendlyName,SerialNumber
 
https://superuser.com/que...e-harddisk1-dr1/826428

Thanks, John. I'd actually found that thread and tried the suggestions there, but no luck. My theory: those error messages may have been referring to a now-unmounted USB thumb drive, and that's why they don't show up in any listings now. 
 

I believe this is the answer

The number in the DRx part at the end really does not have any special meaning. It is just a sequence number which starts at 0 and increases ever since. That means it matches the preceding HarddiskX part after boot, but if you plug or unplug some drives, the number keeps increasing and naturally gets out of sync.
As for pinpointing the exact disk from a path like \Device\Harddisk1\DR3, this works for me:

1. Download WinObj from Sysinternals
2. Run it as administrator
3. Go to \Device\HarddiskX
4. You will see individual PartitionY symbolic links (to \Device\HarddiskVolumeZ), note these down
5. Go to \GLOBAL??, sort by the 3rd column "SymLink"
6. Find the \Device\HarddiskVolumeZ value you noted down in the 3rd column
7. You will see various names of that volume in the first column, including HarddiskXPartitionY, Volume{GUID} and (what's probably most useful for most people) the DOS-style letter like C:

from this thread

I think you are correct.  If you have two hard drives, they are usually found as device 0 and 1.  And any removable drives will show up with higher device numbers.  I believe that the DR# is a volume reference, which in some cases may not natch the device ID#.

scook
I believe this is the answer

The number in the DRx part at the end really does not have any special meaning. It is just a sequence number which starts at 0 and increases ever since. That means it matches the preceding HarddiskX part after boot, but if you plug or unplug some drives, the number keeps increasing and naturally gets out of sync.
As for pinpointing the exact disk from a path like \Device\Harddisk1\DR3, this works for me:

1. Download WinObj from Sysinternals
2. Run it as administrator
3. Go to \Device\HarddiskX
4. You will see individual PartitionY symbolic links (to \Device\HarddiskVolumeZ), note these down
5. Go to \GLOBAL??, sort by the 3rd column "SymLink"
6. Find the \Device\HarddiskVolumeZ value you noted down in the 3rd column
7. You will see various names of that volume in the first column, including HarddiskXPartitionY, Volume{GUID} and (what's probably most useful for most people) the DOS-style letter like C:

 

from this thread

Yup, that WinObj works!  Good find!  Thanks scook!
 
Long time fan of many Sysinternals tools.  But had never tried that one before ...

And here I thought I was familiar with every SysInternals tool...good find, Steve.
 
Note: you must run this utility as Administrator to see the drive information.
 
Surprisingly, it showed 5 volumes for my 3 disks. Surprising because none of my drives are partitioned. I'm guessing those mystery volumes are boot sectors plus that little space Windows reserves. My C: and D: drives are both bootable and show 3 volumes each. Drive E: is not bootable and shows 2 volumes.
 
If I pop in a USB thumb drive, it takes the name DR6. If I unplug it and plug it back in, it then takes the name DR7 (and volume 10). I'm guessing the number increments each time, which explains where my DR15 and DR17 references came from. This also fits in with the way USB devices are sequentially enumerated.
 
Thanks, guys, for helping me solve this little mystery.