How do I work out which drive is which.

[skozzy]

I have serveral HDDs in my system, 2 of which I purchased at the same time (Western Digital 750GB SATA). I want to use the various tools from this site like LLF and HDDSCAN, but the two drive I bought at the same time I can't seem to work out which one is the one I want to format with LLF.

Here is my example: Taken from the Low Level Format Tool, v2.36 build 1181
ATA WDC WD7500AACS-00D680 01.01A01 WD-WCAU40764789
ATA WDC WD7500AACS-00D680 01.01A01 WD-WCAU50126936

The only difference is the serial number, but in the LLF software it doesn't show the volume name, and Windows doesn't apear to show the serial number. So I am not sure which of the two drives is the one I want to format.

I could unplug one drive, but I would like to be able to work this out without doing that.

The volume names I given them in Windows is 750_New and 750_Newer, Windows shows the a good bunch of info on the two drives but doesn't offer showing the serial number, so when using the Low Level Format program I can not work out which of the two drives above is 750_New or 750_Newer.

Can someone offer advice how to work this out.

[rchadwick]

If the reason for knowing is important, such as wanting to format one drive, but definitely not the other, then unplug the drive. Better to do that, than lose your data, and have us tell you it will be expensive, or impossible to recover. Anyone who's formatted the wrong drive will have the same answer.

[skozzy]

In this case I did disconnect the other drive, but I still like to know how to work out which one is which, between the Low Level Format program and Windows I can't find anything that points clearly to which drive I am wanting to format.

Disconnecting the drive works, and also Disabling the drive in Windows Device Manager makes it easier, but then manualy assigned drive letters for my removable devices all change next reboot. So not the best solution for me.

[drc]

If nothing else, a utility like Victoria for Windows will show you the drive serial number and the disk number assigned to the drive by windows. The Disk Management section of the Computer Management utility in the Administrative Tools folder on your start menu will then show you the disk number and drive letter of each drive hooked up to your computer.

[hddguy]

The serial numbers are always unique.

[skozzy]

Ok so we have a program that can help, I will give it a tinkle with. Would be good if the tools on this site also did it. I hope the next release of the zero fill/low level format program can give all the info needed to safely select the correct drive.