• Computers
  • Please Help Me Understand This Windows Partition Behavior.... (p.2)
2017/10/16 08:51:59
SonicExplorer
Ok Guys, I figured this out, and it is useful information because this is a rather common issue believe it or not.  I'll do my best to describe all the research and solution, but it will be in somewhat layman's terms as I am not the most uber-technical, so for you super-geeks on the forum please cut me some slack if I say something not quite precise.
 
So, from what I gather, at some point Windows began changing the way it was storing the "Volume Name" that it portrays to users in Disk Manager.  In other words, it is apparently not stored any longer in the same FAT32 boot sector like used to be the case.  I didn't waste time finding where exactly, but it is apparently stored some place else.  This is why Windows and other more modern tools will reflect something different than what is in the actual boot sector.  But the reality is, depending on HOW the partition was formatted, it may even have "NO NAME" stored in the boot sector.  And this is why, when using tools that actually read the literal boot sector, it does NOT reflect the "Windows" Volume Name as you'd expect.
 
Ghost 2003 in particular is a PITA about this because it starts out asking to select a source partition from a provided list - but it uses the actual boot sector information.  So you will tend to see something like DRV1_VOL1 and DRV1_VO2, or the now infamous NO NAME.  Yet when it then next asks to select the target for the image file it portrays a list of volumes as Windows would normally represent them.  For example C:SYSTEM_VOL, D:AUDIO_VOL.  So it is very schizo and confusing.  And then if you also have a NO NAME volume thrown in the mix it really confuses matters even further for the user.  So you can now probably appreciate why it is important to have the boot sector volume names be something sensible & consistent, if not outright matching, the Windows volume names.  
 
Why sometimes does a volume end up with NO NAME in the boot sector you ask? Well, from what I can see, this happens when you use some utility that doesn't bother to ask about a volume name, or if you run the Format.exe command from the command line and don't bother to use the /v switch.  The default ends up as NO_NAME.  There are a variety of ways it might happen actually.
 
So then how do you fix this?  Well, I am still searching for a more tailored stand-alone solution, but for now have managed to find a neat program called Active@ Disk Editor. It is free and can be found here: http://www.disk-editor.org/  It isn't very large, installs quickly and allows incredible control over the entire disk, quite an amazing piece of software.  But you need to take time to understand it since it can be very dangerous if you start making changes and saving them without understanding what you are doing.  To solve the particular problem under discussion is quite simple: Just load the FAT32 boot template and then Navigate to each of the boot sectors and look for the Volume Names.  Then set the Editor to Enable Changes, make the changes and save.  And be sure to also alter the boot sector copy as well.  Then repeat this for each partition that needs changing, or that you want to have match the Windows volume names.   This way, when you go into any disk or imaging tools in the future everything will always make sense.  As I said, I'm hoping to find a smaller, safer, simpler, standalone utility that will allow for volume name changes to the actual boot sectors.  So if any of you guys know of any such tool, please share. 
 
Hopefully I've managed to contribute something useful back to the forum after all the wonderful help people have provided on my DAW rebuild journey.  
 
Kind regards,
 
     Sonic
2017/10/20 20:23:09
SonicExplorer
Quick update on this....I found another method that is even simpler....
 
The right versions of LABEL.EXE tool can do the trick.  Boot up with any OS version from DOS 5.0 to Win98 that has that executable included.  Win98 is probably the safest bet since it understood FAT32 and long file names by that point, etc.   Anything after that, no dice.  And very importantly, keep in mind if you issue a DIR command it may "lie" like later versions of Windows do...it may report back the "Windows Volume Label" instead of what is truly written in the boot sector.  To be sure you have the boot sector written accordingly simply issue the label command with the same volume name as being reported by the DIR command.  That will insure you have both the Windows volume label AND the boot sector volume label the same.  Then, no matter what utilities or OS you use, the volume label will always be reported consistently.
 
One quick disclaimer - I did not test this using NTFS, only FAT32, but I assume the same thing likely applies.
 
Sonic
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