Hard disc Letter change automatically

[ortho]

Have MegaScenery Earth files on a separate HD "L, last night I had an automatic Window update.

 

Now the letter has changed"to "D", yesterday I connect a couple of USB sticks to delete info.

 

Beforehand I did not check if the "L"was present.

 

I have no problem using this "Letter" but the MSE scenery cannot be loaded when using FSX.

 

Just downloaded the Flight1 Register & Repair file.

 

How do I use it to get the MSE recognised by FSX.

 

The HD was an extra install a few months ago and the disc is not always recognised by the computer.

 

According to the shop this is because sometimes there is not enough "power" to load.

[W2DR]

...

[StringBean]

Look in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX for the scenery.cfg file.

 

Open it with Notepad.

 

Press Ctrl+H

 

In the "Find what:" box type Local=L

 

In the "Replace with:" box type Local=D

 

Click on "Replace All"

 

Save your changes.

 

peace,

the Bean

[il88pp]

Is this 'separate' hd a fixed disk inside your pc, or an external hd.

 

If it is an external drive it will not always have the same letter. It will get assigned a letter when it is plugged in and what letter that is depends on how many other drives, hdd, dvd, Usb-sticks, are plugged in already. If the highest letter in use at that time is G the external becomes H.

 

If you unplug two Usb sticks first the highest letter in use is E, and then plugging in the external drive it becomes F

[copperpen]

All of my external drives use fixed drive letters.

[il88pp]

Mine, connected through usb, and only plugged in when needed, do not.

Last HDD=E:

DVD=F:

EHD plugged in is J:

 

Unplug EHD,

1,2 or 3 usb sticks plugged in they become G,H, and I

EHD plugged in is again J:

 

EHD unplugged,

one more stick plugged in becomes J:

EHD plugged in now becomes K: (so not J: any more.)

[JSkorna]

Mine, connected through usb, and only plugged in when needed, do not.

Last HDD=E:

DVD=F:

EHD plugged in is J:

 

Unplug EHD,

1,2 or 3 usb sticks plugged in they become G,H, and I

EHD plugged in is again J:

 

EHD unplugged,

one more stick plugged in becomes J:

EHD plugged in now becomes K: (so not J: any more.)

 

Of course not because they are movable drives and you are plugging them in different combinations. I bet copperpen leaves his alone and never unplugs them or moves them around. If you never unplug them, drive letters always stay the same.

[W2DR]

I think the root of the problem here is that the drive relies on the USB port for power. The "power" problem that the computer shop is talking about is that, on startup, the drive will sometimes hit a power spike which exceeds the capability of the USB port. When that happens Windows cannot see the drive (it never started) and the drive letter becomes available for reassignment.

 

There is no way to automatically have "fixed" letters assigned on external drives. If they fail to start, for any reason the drive letter is likely to be reassigned. Two possible solutions: either connect the drive through a self-powered hub or replace the drive with a self-powered drive.

 

Doug

[ortho]

Thanks StringBeam, for advice worked.

 

Also thanks to the other replies.

 

The disc is an internal one which I had put in several months ago, it is often there when the PC is set on then comes and goes. That is why I only have the MSE on the disc.

If it returns the same day it is sometimes recognised as if it has just been plugged in.

 

Often it can be on for several days then a couple op days not.

It always had the same letter.

Yesterday I removed info from a couple of small USB sticks, maybe I removed it when I got the message about hardware removal.

 

I now wonder if the Addon/Remove program will recognise the change of letter if I need to remove the MSE.

[W2DR]

OK, internal drive. Definitely hardware related. Most likely cause is either a marginal or failing power supply or a failing SATA connector. You'll need a local computer shop to really pin down the cause. Another way to get the "L" drive letter back is simply change the drive letter from whatever Windows assigns back to "L". See here for how to do it: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-add-remove-drive-letter#1TC=windows-7 . That will solve any potential MSE uninstall issue(s).

 

Doug

[il88pp]

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not disagreeing with W2DR here.

I would just like to add, you really need to get the issue fixed with the disconnecting Hdd as soon as possible!

There could be several causes, the powersupply is too weak or the Sata port that the Hdd is connected to is bad, as mentioned. But also the Hdd itself could be bad, or it could be as simple as a loose connection cable from hdd to mainboard (sata) or a bad or slightly loose cable from the power supply unit to the Hdd.

A slightly loose cable or wire would be easy to fix. The power supply usually has another connector you can use instead. A Sata cable is easily replaced.

(In case you decide to go in yourself, don't forget to unplug the pc from the wall socket first! )

[W2DR]

I couldn't agree more. Sometimes we overlook the simple things. Indeed, the cables could be the cause. Now why don't I think of that? LOL... Good catch.....

 

Doug

[MBKHOU]

I know SATA cables can be picky sometimes, and don't like to be loose.

I've had a couple of times where a cable was causing problems. It will leave a

SMART record on the hard drive. Or at least it did on two of mine. And both were

caused by loose or maybe dirty SATA cables from the drives to the MB.

If the drive sees cable data loss mayhem, it will spit out a "Interface CRC Error Count"

message, which is not a warning, but will say "Attention", as something to keep an eye

on. It will leave a data number. When you fix the problem, note the data count number,

and it shouldn't change. If it does, you still have a problem.

Both of mine have never changed since I fixed the cables. One has been reading the

same CRC number for a long time.. And it was a flaky cable that caused it. I had another

drive do it recently. But it was just a slightly loose cable, and hasn't had a problem

since then. I run a lot of drives... I'm totally full up on this MB.. And have a brand new

one in a box with my present Win 7 C drive data, which includes my present FSX.

So if the present C drive goes kaput, I'll just slap the other one in in it's place.

I have two copies of all my data, which is one reason for all the drives. I don't trust

"clouds", etc.. I'm my own cloud.

 

BTW... I was pondering the other day.. Do they make/sell add on SATA controllers

that you can plug in a PCI or USB, whatever socket and add even more SATA drives?

Or maybe I should get a USB SATA docking rig.. I dunno..

Fer instance, I'd like to plug in the new drive every once in a while to update it,

but I gotta unplug a drive, or the CD drive to do it as is being I'm using all the SATA

ports. Kind of a pain..

[il88pp]

Yeah, I had some cable issues too.

Those thin flexible versions never worked somehow. Even the one that came with my last hd did not work well.

Thankfully I got two thicker ones with the mainboard and those always worked smoothly. They also have a small metal clip system, so once connected they stay in the port, even if you pull on them.

The thicker cables are also specified as sata3, while I suspect the thinner ones are sata2 spec, and in my sata3ports that may be an issue.

 

I have oly two of those thicker cables so I do use a thin cable for the dvd drive, which is on a sata2 port on the mainboard, and that does work fine.

[il88pp]

Regarding pci cards, yes those do exist.

But pci is not a fast interface. So putting a fast sata3 drive on there would be a waste, as the data won't go through to the pc very fast.

I think the posts on those cards are sata2

 

however, the also exist as pciExpress cards. The pciExpress interface can pass the data through much faster. Those should be sata3.

I believe the max throughput of pciE is 5GT/s which is the same speed as sata3.

-Both these types have internal ports. You will need (to create) a psu connector for the drive also.

 

You mentioned 'connect sometimes'.

These cards exist as sata, but also as Esata. (External sata.)

there create a e-sata post on the outside of the pc. So you can connect the drive almost like a Usb-external drive. You will need a drive enclosure for your drive, because the connector is different, and the drive needs power. It gets that from a small power adapter, like a phone charger. But the data transfer rate is unchanged. Look into drive letters. I'm not sure if fixed drive letter with e-sata.

 

There are also enclosures that connect the sata drive inside them to Usb port. (i have one that goes IDE hdd -to- Usb. Handy for old drives. That (simplest model) enclosure i found was under 25 dollar. There are also more complex ones that connect either sata 2.5" or 3.5" sata hdd (both would fit inside)----via----either Usb or e-sata or firewire (three connectors on the outside). That leaves you options to choose, usefull if connecting it to another computer. Always a port available.

 

Enjoy!

 

EDIT:

I googled it a bit now and it seems e-sata is not always hot swappable. Depends a bit on how the connection is set up, and on drivers, and how the drive is set up.

[W2DR]

MBKHOU said "Or maybe I should get a USB SATA docking rig.. I dunno.."

 

I had the same problem...too many drives and not enough SATA ports. I ended up buying a couple of SATA docking stations and the whole problem was instantly solved. It works well and I like the flexibility and ease of just being able to pull one drive out and put another on in. Sure beats having a bunch of powered external drives (but, I have a bunch of those too...LOL).

 

Doug

 

Doug

[il88pp]

I missed that about the dock, that works too. You can connect those to usb or to e-sata ports on the pc.

 

Previous post in fewer words:

For more internal and external sata ports:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Description=pcie%20sata&Submit=ENE

You can just connect drives internally.

It also has e-sata ports externally.

 

Or add for example this to create a dock out of the 5.25" inch DVD bay:

http://www.startech.com/HDD/Mobile-Racks/525in-Bay-Mounted-25in-and-35in-SATA-Hard-Drive-Docking-Station~SATADOCK525

[ortho]

The shop who installed the Disc changed the SATA cable, they also imformed me, as I mentioned earlier that it is due to "capability" issues which I should consider when I need to buy a new PC.

 

The disc was not available this morning but a few hours later it came on.

 

Thanks once again for all the ideas.

[il88pp]

Of course I don't know what they said exactly. But what you said is really vague.

 

If that's all they said and they did not offer a solution or explain further I think that's just unacceptable.

 

You really can't have a harddisk randomly connecting and disconnecting. You can never trust that drive. You may loose data from it if it suddenly disconnects. I wouldn't put valuable files on it (and in a way all files are valuable).

 

Don't accept this. Make sure they fix it. Or at least get an explanation that you fully understand.

If this was my pc I would go to a second shop and ask a second opinion.

[W2DR]

+1. It sounds like they're talking about some sort of PSU capacity issue. Ortho, is it possible for you to post your computer specifications? Even a make and model number would help. And I agree with il88pp, if there is another computer shop close by I'd ask them to give you an opinion. The folks you took it to obviously didn't fix the problem. Frustrating things these computers.....

 

Doug