OSS and BIOS disk order
After installing a new internal hard drive, OSS shows the order of disks based on the "BIOS Number". From where does this BIOS number come ?
When I go into my BIOS I only see the hard drives as specified off of their internal SATA numbers. In that case my new hard drive is SATA3, whereas the two hard drives already in my system are SATA1 and SATA2. Yet OSS has my three disks in the order of:
Hard disk 1 = BIOS Number 128
Hard disk 2 = BIOS Number 129
Hard disk 3 = BIOS Number 130
where Hard disk 1 is SATA1, Hard disk 2 = SATA3, and Hard disk 3 = SATA2.
I am aware I can manually change the order of the disks in OSS but i want to know what the BIOS number means.
The first drive is the booting drive and the others are often listed in boot order or detection order. It is not uncommon for the BIOS to "insert" a new drive between two existing drives - can be irritating at times.
I wish the BIOS allowed me to specify the BIOS number order, But I see nothing about BIOS numbers for hard drives in my BIOS configuration. I willl ask in my motherboard's ( MSI K9A2 Platinum ) forums. Thanks for your help
It won't be a "number" order. It's either the physical order (what's connected to which port) or it's the order of the drives in the boot menu or sub-boot menu. For example, some BIOS's have a "main" boot menu for devices (DVD drive, HDD, USB, etc.) and then sub-menus for the rest. You would order the hard drives in the HDD menu (the one on top gets shown in the "main" menu as the HDD). There really isn't any standard on this and that doesn't help.
It won't be a "number" order. It's either the physical order (what's connected to which port) or it's the order of the drives in the boot menu or sub-boot menu. For example, some BIOS's have a "main" boot menu for devices (DVD drive, HDD, USB, etc.) and then sub-menus for the rest. You would order the hard drives in the HDD menu (the one on top gets shown in the "main" menu as the HDD). There really isn't any standard on this and that doesn't help.
The order of drives in the BIOS "main" boot menu only has the first hard drive disk in it.
As far as physical order I do have my new drive on the 3rd SATA port, while the boot drive and the other previous drives are on the first and second SATA ports respectively. The BIOS clearly shows this also so I know I did not make a physical mistake when adding the new hard drive to my motherboard. That is why I am bothered when I see the BIOS numbers which OSS shows me, and cannot understand why the added hard drive is placed between the first hard disk and the second one that was previously there.
You could swap the ports for those two drives and see if it switches, but it really doesn't normally matter that much. Some BIOS's will also remember things like previous boot orders and adjust from them -- it can get confusing. Windows doesn't care a bit about the BIOS order so it makes a difference only to DOS or pre-boot operations.
I have a similar problem on one of my newer comptuers. If I plug in an eSATA drive it gets inserted inbetween two existing internal SATA drives and changes the order. The eSATA is even on a different controller.