Disk behavior in Windows

NTDEV
1

Hello all!
A question for all you folks. Might not be the right place to ask, but this is something related to the storage stack, so decided to ask you guys to start with because it might be some driver setting I am missing. If I am in the wrong forum, just tell me and I will try to ask this question elsewhere.

When a SCSI disk disappears on Windows 2000(server is connected to an FC SAN), why is it that after it reappears, no application is able to talk to it until I reboot?
As an example, I boot up with a 1G disk which has drive letter E assigned to it, but no file system. Im able to see it in disk manager. Now I run my tools on it, and am able to talk to E: …I plug the disk out of the SAN and the disk disappears from disk manager. Now I reconnect it back again. Comes back up again in disk manager, BUT no application can see it or talk to it. It just drives me nuts to sit and reboot the windows initiator everytime I have to unplug the storage from the SAN. Is this the default behaviour, or am I missing something? Is there some Windows 2000 setting(registry etc) to avoid this? Im using a Qlogic 2340 as the HBA in the server.

Thanks,
Mukul

2

>

Hello all!
A question for all you folks. Might not be the right place to
ask, but this is something related to the storage stack, so
decided to ask you guys to start with because it might be some
driver setting I am missing. If I am in the wrong forum, just
tell me and I will try to ask this question elsewhere.

When a SCSI disk disappears on Windows 2000(server is connected
to an FC SAN), why is it that after it reappears, no application
is able to talk to it until I reboot?
As an example, I boot up with a 1G disk which has drive letter E
assigned to it, but no file system. Im able to see it in disk
manager. Now I run my tools on it, and am able to talk to E: …I
plug the disk out of the SAN and the disk disappears from disk
manager. Now I reconnect it back again. Comes back up again in
disk manager, BUT no application can see it or talk to it. It
just drives me nuts to sit and reboot the windows initiator
everytime I have to unplug the storage from the SAN. Is this the
default behaviour, or am I missing something? Is there some
Windows 2000 setting(registry etc) to avoid this? Im using a
Qlogic 2340 as the HBA in the server.

Do you have plug and play enabled on the QLogic HBA? If you have then it
will destroy all the devices and recreate them. But then again I am not sure
what the applications are trying to do with the device (I can’t explain why
they cannot do anything with the drive).

There is info (in the FAQ) on the QLogic site with regards to this
behaviour…

  • Ian
3

> Do you have plug and play enabled on the QLogic HBA?

Is there any INQUIRY command on FC? If yes - then SCSIPORT will do PnP
automatically using INQUIRY and REPORT LUNS commands.

Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
StorageCraft Corporation
xxxxx@storagecraft.com
http://www.storagecraft.com

4

What happens when you try to access the volume after it’s reattached?
What error do you get? Do you get this error on other FC HBAs?

-p

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Mukul Kotwani
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 8:15 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Disk behavior in Windows

Hello all!
A question for all you folks. Might not be the right place to ask, but
this is something related to the storage stack, so decided to ask you
guys to start with because it might be some driver setting I am missing.
If I am in the wrong forum, just tell me and I will try to ask this
question elsewhere.

When a SCSI disk disappears on Windows 2000(server is connected to an FC
SAN), why is it that after it reappears, no application is able to talk
to it until I reboot?
As an example, I boot up with a 1G disk which has drive letter E
assigned to it, but no file system. Im able to see it in disk manager.
Now I run my tools on it, and am able to talk to E: …I plug the disk
out of the SAN and the disk disappears from disk manager. Now I
reconnect it back again. Comes back up again in disk manager, BUT no
application can see it or talk to it. It just drives me nuts to sit and
reboot the windows initiator everytime I have to unplug the storage from
the SAN. Is this the default behaviour, or am I missing something? Is
there some Windows 2000 setting(registry etc) to avoid this? Im using a
Qlogic 2340 as the HBA in the server.

Thanks,
Mukul

Questions? First check the Kernel Driver FAQ at
http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=256

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as: xxxxx@windows.microsoft.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

5

Peter,
Windows explorer cannot see it, and if I try to use “explore” in disk manager, it gives me an error saying “The system cannot find the device specified”. My app report a CreateFile failure saying it cannot find the device. IOMeter does not see the disk too.

After plugging it in, I checked the event viewer and the last mesage in the log is the arrival notification of the disk after I plugged it back in.

I have tried one other HBA(Zentai), and see the same behavior. Looks like once the disk is gone, even though it comes back in Disk manager, no other app can see it. I might be wrong, but IMHO, this seems like a problem above the miniport cause the miniport seems to be reporting the device and all the miniport does is just pass the IO to the disk and status back to the port driver.

Any setting I can try?

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com]On Behalf Of Peter Wieland
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 10:12 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Disk behavior in Windows

What happens when you try to access the volume after it’s reattached?
What error do you get? Do you get this error on other FC HBAs?

-p

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Mukul Kotwani
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 8:15 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Disk behavior in Windows

Hello all!
A question for all you folks. Might not be the right place to ask, but
this is something related to the storage stack, so decided to ask you
guys to start with because it might be some driver setting I am missing.
If I am in the wrong forum, just tell me and I will try to ask this
question elsewhere.

When a SCSI disk disappears on Windows 2000(server is connected to an FC
SAN), why is it that after it reappears, no application is able to talk
to it until I reboot?
As an example, I boot up with a 1G disk which has drive letter E
assigned to it, but no file system. Im able to see it in disk manager.
Now I run my tools on it, and am able to talk to E: …I plug the disk
out of the SAN and the disk disappears from disk manager. Now I
reconnect it back again. Comes back up again in disk manager, BUT no
application can see it or talk to it. It just drives me nuts to sit and
reboot the windows initiator everytime I have to unplug the storage from
the SAN. Is this the default behaviour, or am I missing something? Is
there some Windows 2000 setting(registry etc) to avoid this? Im using a
Qlogic 2340 as the HBA in the server.

Thanks,
Mukul

Questions? First check the Kernel Driver FAQ at
http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=256

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as: xxxxx@windows.microsoft.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

Questions? First check the Kernel Driver FAQ at http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=256

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as: xxxxx@troikanetworks.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

6

On Thu, 6 May 2004 20:15:28 -0700, Mukul Kotwani wrote:

Mukul,

Do you still see drive letter E: in Disk Management for this 1GB disk after
reconnecting the cable? If so, can you select the partition and get its
Properties? Does it show the correct filesystem type (ie. FAT32, NTFS)?

Bob

Hello all!
A question for all you folks. Might not be the right place to ask, but this is something related to the storage stack, so decided to ask you guys to start with because it might be some driver setting I am missing. If I am in the wrong forum, just tell me and I will try to ask this question elsewhere.

When a SCSI disk disappears on Windows 2000(server is connected to an FC SAN), why is it that after it reappears, no application is able to talk to it until I reboot?
As an example, I boot up with a 1G disk which has drive letter E assigned to it, but no file system. Im able to see it in disk manager. Now I run my tools on it, and am able to talk to E: …I plug the disk out of the SAN and the disk disappears from disk manager. Now I reconnect it back again. Comes back up again in disk manager, BUT no application can see it or talk to it. It just drives me nuts to sit and reboot the windows initiator everytime I have to unplug the storage from the SAN. Is this the default behaviour, or am I missing something? Is there some Windows 2000 setting(registry etc) to avoid this? Im using a Qlogic 2340 as the HBA in the server.

Thanks,
Mukul

7

Robert,
Yes I can see the drive letter as E: and this is a raw disk with no file system, only a drive letter assigned to it. IIRC, i saw the same behavior with an NTFS disk.

Mukul

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com]On Behalf Of Robert Stankey
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 3:06 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: Re:[ntdev] Disk behavior in Windows

On Thu, 6 May 2004 20:15:28 -0700, Mukul Kotwani wrote:

Mukul,

Do you still see drive letter E: in Disk Management for this 1GB disk after
reconnecting the cable? If so, can you select the partition and get its
Properties? Does it show the correct filesystem type (ie. FAT32, NTFS)?

Bob

Hello all!
A question for all you folks. Might not be the right place to ask, but this is something related to the storage stack, so decided to ask you guys to start with because it might be some driver setting I am missing. If I am in the wrong forum, just tell me and I will try to ask this question elsewhere.

When a SCSI disk disappears on Windows 2000(server is connected to an FC SAN), why is it that after it reappears, no application is able to talk to it until I reboot?
As an example, I boot up with a 1G disk which has drive letter E assigned to it, but no file system. Im able to see it in disk manager. Now I run my tools on it, and am able to talk to E: …I plug the disk out of the SAN and the disk disappears from disk manager. Now I reconnect it back again. Comes back up again in disk manager, BUT no application can see it or talk to it. It just drives me nuts to sit and reboot the windows initiator everytime I have to unplug the storage from the SAN. Is this the default behaviour, or am I missing something? Is there some Windows 2000 setting(registry etc) to avoid this? Im using a Qlogic 2340 as the HBA in the server.

Thanks,
Mukul

Questions? First check the Kernel Driver FAQ at http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=256

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as: xxxxx@troikanetworks.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

8

On Mon, 10 May 2004 16:18:03 -0700, Mukul Kotwani wrote:

I didn’t think it was possible to assign a drive letter to a raw disk -
I’ll admit I’ve never tried to do this before.

Bob

Robert,
Yes I can see the drive letter as E: and this is a raw disk with no file system, only a drive letter assigned to it. IIRC, i saw the same behavior with an NTFS disk.

Mukul

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com]On Behalf Of Robert Stankey
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 3:06 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: Re:[ntdev] Disk behavior in Windows

On Thu, 6 May 2004 20:15:28 -0700, Mukul Kotwani wrote:

Mukul,

Do you still see drive letter E: in Disk Management for this 1GB disk after
reconnecting the cable? If so, can you select the partition and get its
Properties? Does it show the correct filesystem type (ie. FAT32, NTFS)?

Bob

> Hello all!
> A question for all you folks. Might not be the right place to ask, but this is something related to the storage stack, so decided to ask you guys to start with because it might be some driver setting I am missing. If I am in the wrong forum, just tell me and I will try to ask this question elsewhere.
>
> When a SCSI disk disappears on Windows 2000(server is connected to an FC SAN), why is it that after it reappears, no application is able to talk to it until I reboot?
> As an example, I boot up with a 1G disk which has drive letter E assigned to it, but no file system. Im able to see it in disk manager. Now I run my tools on it, and am able to talk to E: …I plug the disk out of the SAN and the disk disappears from disk manager. Now I reconnect it back again. Comes back up again in disk manager, BUT no application can see it or talk to it. It just drives me nuts to sit and reboot the windows initiator everytime I have to unplug the storage from the SAN. Is this the default behaviour, or am I missing something? Is there some Windows 2000 setting(registry etc) to avoid this? Im using a Qlogic 2340 as the HBA in the server.
>
> Thanks,
> Mukul

Questions? First check the Kernel Driver FAQ at http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=256

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as: xxxxx@troikanetworks.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com