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Volume Serial Numbers
This section will be of interest to anyone who wishes to create a partition on their
computer.
In this section
- What is a Volume Serial Number
- What is Volume Serial Number used for
- Is a Volume Serial Number a permanent ID for my computer?
- Problems when a Volume Serial Number is inadvertently changed
- How to find the Volume Serial Number of your hard disc
- Rescuing your Volume Serial Number
- How to Reset the Volume Serial Number
What is a Volume Serial Number
A Volume Serial Number (or Volume Serial, or volserID) is an 8 character code which identifies a hard drive.
If your hard drive has partitions (allocations of space on the drive), each partition will have a unique Volume Serial Number.
This code is not in any way tied to the hardware and is allocated whenever a drive is manufactured.
A new Volume Serial Number is allocated when a disc or an existing partition is reformatted (for example by changing from FAT filing system to NTFS).
Flash Drives (memory sticks),External Drives and CDs also have Volume Serial Numbers
What is Volume Serial Number used for?
- Software Registration
When you purchase software which requires registration on-line using a licence, the Volume Serial Number is is commonly used (by the
registration program) to associate your computer with that licence.
- In Ideas Genie, Volume Serial Numbers are used in Data Location Records
Is a Volume Serial Number a permanent ID for my computer?
No. It can change when:
- You change your hard drive
- You reformat your hard drive.
During reformatting, a new Volume Serial Number is assigned to the drive.
- You change the filing system on a drive or partition.
(for example by changing from FAT filing system to NTFS).
Problems when a Volume Serial Number is inadvertently changed
In software which uses the Volume Serial Number to validate registration, a problem can arise when the Volume Serial Number is inadvertently changed (as
described above).
In the case of Ideas Genie Pro, we can reset your registration, so you can re-register your licence.
In the case of Data Location
Records, you can delete any records which point to a renamed Volume Serial Number and rebuild them by locating the folders on the disc.
An alternative
method is described below.
How to find the Volume Serial Number of your hard disc
Ideas Genie can do this for you.
When you do a backup to Hard Disc, you find a folder for the backup and create a Data
Location Record.
Ideas Genie automatically finds the Volume Serial Number of the disc.
You can write this down for your own records.
You can also
use the vol command to read the volser of the volume before changes.
Rescuing your Volume Serial Number
At any time, and on any computer with Ideas Genie installed, you can use the program Open another Database - GA626 to open a backup made from your computer and read the Database Stamp.
This will reveal the Volume Serial Number of the disc used to create the backup.
This is a useful security feature with obvious benefits in the event where the Volume Serial Number is inadvertently changed on your computer.
How to Reset the Volume Serial Number.
There is a way
to avoid any of the problems described above.
A Microsoft program can be downloaded from Windows Sysinternals
This program can be used to restore the Volume Serial Number to its original value.
Having downloaded the Windows Sysinternals program, use the extract wizard to extract the volumeid program.
The volser can be restored to ANY value (in particular the one read earlier) by the command volumeid driveletter: code where driveletter is for example c: and code is for example abcd-1234 (any four hexadecimal characters followed by hyphen and then four more).
Setting the code in this way can also be useful for any other program that uses the volser to check validity.
Make a note of your Volume Serial Number
Keep a backup of your Ideas Genie database in a safe place. It can be used to retrieve your Volume Serial Number as described above.
t is also wise to document the system volume information.
File this in a safe place or keep it in a document saved on a backup storage device.
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