Windows 10 drive order vs. BIOS drive order

Discussion in 'Windows 10' started by umbala, Jan 15, 2020.

  1. umbala

    umbala MDL Novice

    Sep 26, 2009
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    Hi. I recently built a file server using an Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero motherboard. The seven drives that were installed show up in the correct order on the BIOS screen. But in Windows Disk Management the order is changed from 1-7 to 7, 6, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4. Is there a way to make the drive order shown in the BIOS match the drive order in Windows 10?

    Is my only option to physically swap the drives around until I get the order I want in Disk Management? (Meaning the BIOS order will be scrambled.) And if I do that, would it cause an issues in Windows? I assume drive letters won't change and Windows would simply re-detect the moved drives on their new SATA channels. But would it leave behind any junk in the registry referencing back to their original SATA positions that could cause any future problems? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
     
  2. Flipp3r

    Flipp3r MDL Expert

    Feb 11, 2009
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  3. umbala

    umbala MDL Novice

    Sep 26, 2009
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    I'm not running an older OS. I'm running the latest version of Windows 10 64-bit. After installing the OS I also installed the latest AMD chipset drivers for my board, but it seems those didn't include any AHCI drivers. Device Manager shows standard Microsoft AHCI drivers on my system.
     
  4. Carlos Detweiller

    Carlos Detweiller Emperor of Ice-Cream

    Dec 21, 2012
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    Strange fact: Drive letters are not assigned to drives, they are assigned to partitions. Usually, Windows should remember the drive letters, as the SIDs/UIDs do not change, even if you physically move he drives around. That "fun" ended when usage of Windows 9x based OS faded.

    Notes: Drive letters might shift for any FAT-based partitions, though. Additionally, logical drives on Extended partitions might change, also. Extended Partitions are a legacy technology, unlikely in existence, today.
     
  5. Yen

    Yen Admin
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    #5 Yen, Jan 15, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2020
    If I got you right you mean that the SATA port number does not match the volume number? They start at disk zero, position one should be disk0=SATA port 0 (or 1 if the lowest port is 1)
    But it's disk 0=7, 1=6, 2=5, 3=1, 4=2, 5=3, 6=4 ?

    Try the latest AHCI driver made for your particular chipset. I know somebody who had resolved the issue that way on w7...
     
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  6. pf100

    pf100 Duct Tape Coder

    Oct 22, 2010
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    #6 pf100, Jan 15, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2020
    Just change the drive letters in windows disk management so they match how you have them set up in the bios.
    I've been doing it like that for years and never had a problem because of it.

    Edit: I forgot to mention that when I rearrange the drive letters in disk management to match the bios, I use the new drive letters in the drive label to avoid any confusion. So when I get everything the way I want it, C: drive's label is something like 1TB-C (1 terabyte drive C ), 500GB-D, or however you want to name it so you'll know which disk/partition is which.
     
  7. umbala

    umbala MDL Novice

    Sep 26, 2009
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    Yes, that's exactly the problem. I wasn't talking about drive letters or partitions, but rather physical device IDs that show up in Disk Management. Normally I wouldn't care much about this sort of thing, but this is a file server and we're using monitoring software that lists the drives in them same order as Windows Disk Management. It would make things easier to read/follow if they were in the exact order we want them listed.

    Unfortunately there are no AHCI drivers for my chipset as far as I can tell. I will probably end up swapping the drives around to get the correct order in Windows.

    Thanks all for the replies.