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#1 erwan.l

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Posted 01 April 2017 - 06:17 PM

Posted Image

File Name: VolumeMgr
File Submitter: erwan.l
File Submitted: 01 Apr 2017
File Updated: 02 Apr 2017
File Category: Tools

A simple GUI using Windows volume API to list, mount, unmount volumes.

Click here to download this file
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#2 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 07:41 AM

the Device # is the \\.\PhysicalDrive?
If yes, it would be nice to have it called \\.\PhysicalDrive #. (or have - say - a popup label mentioning this).
And - of course if possible :unsure: - it would be nice to have (in case) the "other" device name, the one in the form "Harddiskx\Partitiony"?
Some old reference:
http://reboot.pro/to...-line-possible/
http://reboot.pro/to...command-prompt/

:duff:
Wonko

#3 erwan.l

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 11:17 AM

Yes, the device is the physiscal drive number.

 

Version 0.2 now also includes the partition number : one should now be able to guess \Device\HarddiskX\PartitionY where X=DN and Y=PN.

 

I have also added "show volume informations" right click option.

 

About the "other" device name ("target path" to be exact as the device name is actually the volumename or drive letter), this utility is about volumes, not dos devices.

To be able to get the other device name / target path (or all device names / target paths for a volume), this utility should be focusing on device names first which is not the point here (other tools such as dosdev, etc do this all fine).

 

One good example to illustrate this : in the example below, I am missing my imdisk "drive" (I am purposedly not using the word volume).

Indeed, imdisk does not create a volume but does create a dos device.

If you use tools focusing on dos devices, you would list imdisk drive.

 

otxddjU.png


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#4 misty

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 12:12 PM

Thanks for these tools Erwan - it's great to have native 32 and 64-bit tools for WinPE :thumbsup:

Possible (minor) bug. Selecting Get Volume Informations returns the following (non-latin) characters for VolumeGUID-
->VolumeGUID: 屜尿潖畬敭捻㠸搸㌷ⴶㅤ〲ㄭ攱ⴶ㈸㤵㠭㘰㙥㙦㙥㘹紳\
.
All other information appears to be displayed ok. E.g. -
->DeviceNumber: NONE
->VolumeGUID: 屜尿潖畬敭捻㠸搸㌷ⴶㅤ〲ㄭ攱ⴶ㈸㤵㠭㘰㙥㙦㙥㘹紳\
->GetDiskFreeSpace
Sectors per cluster: 8
Bytes per sector: 512
ClusterSize: 4096
Total clusters: 13107199 (51199 MB)
Free Clusters: 2483025 (9699 MB) / Used Clusters: 10624174 (41500 MB)
.
Misty

#5 erwan.l

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 12:15 PM

Thanks for these tools Erwan - it's great to have native 32 and 64-bit tools for WinPE :thumbsup:

Possible (minor) bug. Selecting Get Volume Informations returns the following (non-latin) characters for VolumeGUID-

->VolumeGUID: 屜尿潖畬敭捻㠸搸㌷ⴶㅤ〲ㄭ攱ⴶ㈸㤵㠭㘰㙥㙦㙥㘹紳\
.
All other information appears to be displayed ok. E.g. -
->DeviceNumber: NONE
->VolumeGUID: 屜尿潖畬敭捻㠸搸㌷ⴶㅤ〲ㄭ攱ⴶ㈸㤵㠭㘰㙥㙦㙥㘹紳\
->GetDiskFreeSpace
Sectors per cluster: 8
Bytes per sector: 512
ClusterSize: 4096
Total clusters: 13107199 (51199 MB)
Free Clusters: 2483025 (9699 MB) / Used Clusters: 10624174 (41500 MB)
.
Misty

 

 

You are fast :)

I just spot this one a few seconds ago !

Just fixed it : redownload the zip file and it will be fine.

 

As I thought no one would catch this bug in 0.2 (released a few mns ago), I did not bother to update the version number.

I about to settle a good habit on my side : any software I release will have a version.txt including CRC/MD5, datetime, etc ...

Actually I might be able to automate this everytime I hit the "build" button in my IDE.

A good habit triggered by our good friend Wonko  :thumbup:



#6 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 02:22 PM


 

About the "other" device name ("target path" to be exact as the device name is actually the volumename or drive letter), this utility is about volumes, not dos devices.

To be able to get the other device name / target path (or all device names / target paths for a volume), this utility should be focusing on device names first which is not the point here (other tools such as dosdev, etc do this all fine).

 

One good example to illustrate this : in the example below, I am missing my imdisk "drive" (I am purposedly not using the word volume).

Indeed, imdisk does not create a volume but does create a dos device.

If you use tools focusing on dos devices, you would list imdisk drive.

Allow me to (slightly) disagree.

The idea of new, strange, utilities is to have more possibilities in a single tool.

If I get this right at the moment you only replicated the info that was already available (command line) with my good ol' ddlist batch, JFYI:
http://reboot.pro/to...st-and-ddlistw/

Now, it would be nice if - no matter what the name of the tool is, think on how inaccurate the IMDISK name is - your tool could add the functionalities of dosdev and/or list (possibly after the user has ticked on an "advanced" choice) also IMDISK volumes (or devices, whatever you like to call them).

 

As I thought no one would catch this bug in 0.2 (released a few mns ago), I did not bother to update the version number.

I about to settle a good habit on my side : any software I release will have a version.txt including CRC/MD5, datetime, etc ...

Actually I might be able to automate this everytime I hit the "build" button in my IDE.

A good habit triggered by our good friend Wonko  :thumbup:

One is glad to be of service. ;)

 

:duff:

Wonko



#7 erwan.l

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 02:40 PM

Allow me to (slightly) disagree.

The idea of new, strange, utilities is to have more possibilities in a single tool.

If I get this right at the moment you only replicated the info that was already available (command line) with my good ol' ddlist batch, JFYI:
http://reboot.pro/to...st-and-ddlistw/

Now, it would be nice if - no matter what the name of the tool is, think on how inaccurate the IMDISK name is - your tool could add the functionalities of dosdev and/or list (possibly after the user has ticked on an "advanced" choice) also IMDISK volumes (or devices, whatever you like to call them).

 

Actually one of my old friends on this forum taught me to be stay away from featuritis.

 

VolumeMgr unique goal is (was?) to list Volumes (not disks, not partitions, not devices) - it is the volume counterpart of DiskMgr which I also released these days.

While listing these volumes, I retrieve some basic informations such as the volume mount point, the disk number and partition number and its dosdevice target path.

 

Because I am listing volumes only, I know I will be missing "drives" (in its most generic term) such as ImDisk and possibly a few other ramdisk, vdk, etc drives.

 

I could definitely put some extra efforts to give an exhaustive list of "drives" and/or provide more informations for each volumes (CloneDisk kind of does it already) but I also want to be sure I keep a minimalistic approach (which I am sure you will support me with).

 

Let me give it some thoughts.



#8 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 04:29 PM

Actually one of my old friends on this forum taught me to be stay away from featuritis.
 
VolumeMgr unique goal is (was?) to list Volumes (not disks, not partitions, not devices) - it is the volume counterpart of DiskMgr which I also released these days.
While listing these volumes, I retrieve some basic informations such as the volume mount point, the disk number and partition number and its dosdevice target path.
 
Because I am listing volumes only, I know I will be missing "drives" (in its most generic term) such as ImDisk and possibly a few other ramdisk, vdk, etc drives.
 
I could definitely put some extra efforts to give an exhaustive list of "drives" and/or provide more informations for each volumes (CloneDisk kind of does it already) but I also want to be sure I keep a minimalistic approach (which I am sure you will support me with).
 
Let me give it some thoughts.

I understand how the difference between featuritis and completeness is subtle and elusive.

Usual carpenter example:
Case A:
You put together a carpenter's toolbox.
You want in it, among other things, a carpenter hammer, a handsaw, chisels, etc.
You DO NOT want in it a set of spanners 6-32, a whole set of seeger pliers, a bearing extractor, if you add to it these, you are falling for featuritis.

Case B:
You put together a mechanic's toolbox.

You want in it, among other things, a set of spanners 6-32, a set of seeger pliers, etc.

You DO NOT avoid putting in it a 14-15 spanner (because that size is never used), if that size of spanner is missing, the completeness of the toolbox is debatable.

 

As a side note, when you will have some time, I just made some field use of Clonedisk and found a few little problems with it. (not really issues or defects :), but rather lack of some logical safeguards and *needed* features - while some possibilities offered are of little practical use).

I need some time to do more tests and make some notes that I will post on the Clonedisk thread, you will be happy to know how I find some (perfectly possible/easy to implement) features are missing (or I am missing them :w00t:, which should mean either that I am not as expert with the thingy as I believe :ph34r: or that they are non consistently/logically implemented :whistling:).

 

:duff:

Wonko



#9 erwan.l

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 06:58 PM

New version 0.3 uploaded.

 

Optionally, it can now list drives without a volume (i.e other dosdevices).

I also added auto detection (when a drive is added/removed).

And one can remove a dosdevice.

 

JA8Khvq.png



#10 misty

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 07:20 PM

Hi Erwan,

Another impressive development cycle. Are you getting any sleep? Or relaxing this weekend?

Misty

P.s. Thanks for this, and the other associated programs (PartMgr and DiskMgr) - I will be testing soon.

#11 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 07:24 PM

Nice. :)

Wonko approves of this  :thumbsup: .

And this leads us directly to Clonedisk :w00t: this new Volumemgr thingy is much more clear :yahoo: (having two columns, DiskNumber and PartitionNumber) than clonedisk interface that since it has only a column can lead to mistakingly confuse the disk # with the partition # when both are set as visible.

 

:duff:

Wonko



#12 erwan.l

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 07:25 PM

Hi Erwan,

Another impressive development cycle. Are you getting any sleep? Or relaxing this weekend?

Misty

P.s. Thanks for this, and the other associated programs (PartMgr and DiskMgr) - I will be testing soon.

 

Developping is relaxing for me  B)

I felt like sticking to my keyboard this week end and decided to release a bunch of stuff.

And I still had time to wake up very late today and do some exercice :)

 

I have a lot of work to do around CloneDisk and these programs (PartMgr, VolumeMgr and DiskMgr) are aligned with it so timing is perfect actually.



#13 erwan.l

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 07:29 PM

Nice. :)

Wonko approves of this  :thumbsup: .

And this leads us directly to Clonedisk :w00t: this new Volumemgr thingy is much more clear :yahoo: (having two columns, DiskNumber and PartitionNumber) than clonedisk interface that since it has only a column can lead to mistakingly confuse the disk # with the partition # when both are set as visible.

 

:duff:

Wonko

 

I am currently experiencing a new visual control to implement some hierarchy between disks and volumes, as indeed, as you rightfully noticed, CloneDisk main GUI is still a bit cloumsy when it comes to mix disks and volumes.

See below early prototype.

 

D9M2Ptw.png



#14 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 07:39 PM

Well, that is the same (not particularly intuitive) tree view, it is fine (and more similar to the standard Windows 7 - and possibly later - GUI) but IMHO fails to transmit the same exact "location" of the two column approach (disk+partition) which is common notation also in grub4dos or in grub2 (with the small difference in numbering partitions).

As I see it the Disk Number and the Partition Number should NOT stay in the same column, and the "name" is only confusing, you have a disk with a "name" and a partition with the same "name" :w00t: :ph34r: (disks have no names that I know of, at the most they have a Signature, which is what you call Disk ID), while the partition has also NO "name" (while the volume or the filesystem can have a label) that would be enough to distinguish them at a glance, unless of course you apply to a volume a label *like" AFBC-02DE, which could also be mistaken for the volume serial number ;).

 

:duff:

Wonko



#15 erwan.l

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 07:46 PM

I have been struggling with that since day 1 actually : displaying disks and volumes in one single screen.

 

What about "shamelessly" mimicing something like below?

One ribbon for disks and volumes below each disk/ribbon?

 

mNQQGPq.png.


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#16 misty

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 08:10 PM

...What about "shamelessly" mimicing something like below?
One ribbon for disks and volumes below each disk/ribbon?...

It looks (to me) a simple and easy layout to understand. :thumbsup:

#17 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 03 April 2017 - 07:43 AM

To me it is still confusing without a real *need*, particularly if in the same column you insert the drive letter assigned (if any) and the label (if any).

Maybe I am to used to spreadsheets or (conceptually) to databases, but a field is a field with a given meaning and contains a given value.

If you shorten the titles of the columns to Disk # and Part # (or Disk n° and Part n°) they won't take too much space.

I would understand an indenting for the extended partition (actually for logical volumes inside it) of course.

If you use a "spreadsheet like" layout it should have separate columns[*], if you use "free style" it can have a "left side" as a tree and a right side as spreadsheet (surprisingly similar to the Explorer windows.

As another idea, check *any* Nirsoft tool, it has any number of columns that the user can have visible or not in a given order (more similar to how - say - Task Manager cna be configured), this way you would give more freedom to the user to only have on screen the data he/she actually needs and in the order he/she likes it to be, though I wonder if this would make the actual code more complex/be too much work. :unsure:

Anyway, it is only a minor thing :), it is just the clonedisk interface "as is" that is really confusing, while the VolumeMgr seems just right, but the "tree like" would be fine as well (better than current Clonedisk).

 

:duff:

Wonko

 

 

 

[*] and ideally you could select a row and paste it in an actual spreadsheet



#18 Zharif

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Posted 03 April 2017 - 07:14 PM

...maybe using something like a tab strip to select between Disks, Parts etc.(just another idea) ?



#19 erwan.l

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Posted 06 April 2017 - 01:52 PM

Small change in CloneDisk listening to late feedback from you guys.

 

VXbnCM3.png






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