how do you detect a hard drive?

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2 total messages Started by Thomas Dwyer III Tue, 26 Jun 1990 16:40

#786

Author: Thomas Dwyer III
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 1990 16:40

9 lines
916 bytes

Hi there.  I've been programming the PCs for years, and this may be a
silly question, but what is the best method to determine if a hard
drive exists on a machine (PC through PS/2 models)?  Examples in ASM
or C would be appreciated.


Thomas Dwyer III                     TOMIII @ MTUS5.BITNET
Network Programmer
Michigan Technological University

Re: how do you detect a hard drive?

#791

Author: Dhanapong Saengrussamee, Univers...
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 1990 18:13

40 lines
2110 bytes

In article <90177.114030TOMIII@MTUS5.BITNET>,
TOMIII@MTUS5.BITNET (Thomas Dwyer III) writes:
> Hi there.  I've been programming the PCs for years, and this may be a
> silly question, but what is the best method to determine if a hard
> drive exists on a machine (PC through PS/2 models)?  Examples in ASM
> or C would be appreciated.
> 
> Thomas Dwyer III
-- 

Have you try Intr $21 function $1C yet?  Call with AH = $1C and DL is the drive
number in question (0=default, 1=A, 2=B, ...).  Look at the first byte of the
return at DS:BX, if it is $0F8 then it is harddisk.  It's worked for me... 
Something like:

	MOV	AH,1CH
	MOV	DL,03H		;drive code, 0 default, 1=A, 2=B, ...
	INT	21H
	CMP	BYTE PTR DS:[BX],0F8H
	JE	FIXED
	JMP	FLOPPY
FIXED:	.....

FLOPPY:	.....

should work, methink ;-}.

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