Generic Volume

NTDEV
1

Hey,
I want to find out why a “Generic volume” device shows up when I
connect a diskonkey. It’s under the “Storage volumes” class. The
associated driver is volsnap.sys (used for shadow copies).
Does anyone know?

Tom

2

What were you expecting?

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Tom Gilat
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 8:43 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Generic Volume

Hey,
I want to find out why a “Generic volume” device shows up when I
connect a diskonkey. It’s under the “Storage volumes” class. The
associated driver is volsnap.sys (used for shadow copies).
Does anyone know?

Tom

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

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

__________ NOD32 1.853 (20040830) Information __________

This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
http://www.nod32.com

3

I was wondering why the diskonkey driver creates a device under the “Storage
Volumes” class and not only a device in the “Disks” class like my IDE hard
drive.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Jamey Kirby
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 10:37 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Generic Volume

What were you expecting?

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Tom Gilat
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 8:43 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Generic Volume

Hey,
I want to find out why a “Generic volume” device shows up when I
connect a diskonkey. It’s under the “Storage volumes” class. The
associated driver is volsnap.sys (used for shadow copies).
Does anyone know?

Tom

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

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

__________ NOD32 1.853 (20040830) Information __________

This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
http://www.nod32.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@safend.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

4

You should also see it show up under the Disks section.

You could switch to “by connection” view and see what’s hanging off your
USB controllers. One of those nodes should be your disk.

-p

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Shahar Talmi
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 2:57 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Generic Volume

I was wondering why the diskonkey driver creates a device
under the “Storage Volumes” class and not only a device in
the “Disks” class like my IDE hard drive.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Jamey Kirby
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 10:37 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Generic Volume

What were you expecting?

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Tom Gilat
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 8:43 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Generic Volume

Hey,
I want to find out why a “Generic volume” device shows up
when I connect a diskonkey. It’s under the “Storage volumes”
class. The associated driver is volsnap.sys (used for shadow copies).
Does anyone know?

Tom

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

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

__________ NOD32 1.853 (20040830) Information __________

This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
http://www.nod32.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@safend.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@windows.microsoft.com To unsubscribe send a blank
email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

5

I suspect disk means it has an MBR and partition table. Most flash drives I
have used (Muvo, Jump, etc…) have no MBR by default and no partition table
(kind of like a floppy). In this case, it is not a disk to the OS, but a
storage volume.

I am only speculating… Maybe someone knows for sure.

Jamey

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Shahar Talmi
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 2:57 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Generic Volume

I was wondering why the diskonkey driver creates a device under the “Storage
Volumes” class and not only a device in the “Disks” class like my IDE hard
drive.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Jamey Kirby
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 10:37 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Generic Volume

What were you expecting?

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Tom Gilat
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 8:43 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Generic Volume

Hey,
I want to find out why a “Generic volume” device shows up when I
connect a diskonkey. It’s under the “Storage volumes” class. The
associated driver is volsnap.sys (used for shadow copies).
Does anyone know?

Tom

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

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

__________ NOD32 1.853 (20040830) Information __________

This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
http://www.nod32.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@safend.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@storagecraft.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

__________ NOD32 1.853 (20040830) Information __________

This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
http://www.nod32.com

6

If it loads disk.sys then it should show up under the disk class. I
suppose they could have their own INF that put it some other class, or
that marks it as hidden in the UI. So let’s say if it loads using the
disk.inf that comes with Windows it should show up as a disk class
device.

Volumes are just extents of one (or more) disks represented by a logical
entity. A volume could be a fraction of a disk, or could consist of
multiple disks. Technically they exist for every fixed (non-removable)
media disk attached to the machine - but they’re normally hidden (select
show hidden devices in the devmgr and you’ll see the “Storage Volumes”
class appear with a bunch of entries within)

-p

PS - There are a surprising number of hard-disks out there that are
formatted as “super floppies”, meaning they have no partition table and
no MBR but instead contain a file system starting at sector 0 (complete
with a BPB typically used by floppies, and the 0xaa55 signature found in
both BPBs and MBRs). Some OEM was shipping their win9x systems this way

  • nothing’s better than an 8GB “floppy”. Reliably detecting these and
    making them look like they were partitioned was an interesting and
    frustrating exercise in and of itself.

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Jamey Kirby
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 3:10 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Generic Volume

I suspect disk means it has an MBR and partition table. Most
flash drives I have used (Muvo, Jump, etc…) have no MBR by
default and no partition table (kind of like a floppy). In
this case, it is not a disk to the OS, but a storage volume.

I am only speculating… Maybe someone knows for sure.

Jamey

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Shahar Talmi
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 2:57 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Generic Volume

I was wondering why the diskonkey driver creates a device
under the “Storage Volumes” class and not only a device in
the “Disks” class like my IDE hard drive.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Jamey Kirby
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 10:37 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Generic Volume

What were you expecting?

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Tom Gilat
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 8:43 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Generic Volume

Hey,
I want to find out why a “Generic volume” device shows up
when I connect a diskonkey. It’s under the “Storage volumes”
class. The associated driver is volsnap.sys (used for shadow copies).
Does anyone know?

Tom

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

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

__________ NOD32 1.853 (20040830) Information __________

This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
http://www.nod32.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@safend.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@storagecraft.com To unsubscribe send a blank email to
xxxxx@lists.osr.com

__________ NOD32 1.853 (20040830) Information __________

This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
http://www.nod32.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@windows.microsoft.com To unsubscribe send a blank
email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

7

There are lots of MBR-containing USB flashes.

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

----- Original Message -----
From: “Jamey Kirby”
To: “Windows System Software Devs Interest List”
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 2:10 AM
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Generic Volume

> I suspect disk means it has an MBR and partition table. Most flash drives I
> have used (Muvo, Jump, etc…) have no MBR by default and no partition table
> (kind of like a floppy). In this case, it is not a disk to the OS, but a
> storage volume.
>
> I am only speculating… Maybe someone knows for sure.
>
> Jamey
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
> [mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Shahar Talmi
> Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 2:57 PM
> To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
> Subject: RE: [ntdev] Generic Volume
>
> I was wondering why the diskonkey driver creates a device under the “Storage
> Volumes” class and not only a device in the “Disks” class like my IDE hard
> drive.
>
> Tom
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
> [mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Jamey Kirby
> Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 10:37 PM
> To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
> Subject: RE: [ntdev] Generic Volume
>
> What were you expecting?
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
> [mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Tom Gilat
> Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 8:43 PM
> To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
> Subject: [ntdev] Generic Volume
>
> Hey,
> I want to find out why a “Generic volume” device shows up when I
> connect a diskonkey. It’s under the “Storage volumes” class. The
> associated driver is volsnap.sys (used for shadow copies).
> Does anyone know?
>
> Tom
>
>
>
> —
> Questions? First check the Kernel Driver FAQ at
> http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=256
>
> You are currently subscribed to ntdev as: xxxxx@storagecraft.com
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com
>
> NOD32 1.853 (20040830) Information
>
> This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
> http://www.nod32.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@safend.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@storagecraft.com
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com
>
> NOD32 1.853 (20040830) Information
>
> This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
> http://www.nod32.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@storagecraft.com
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com