[RESOLVED] Check if a drive letter is a HDD/SSD or a CD/DVD/Card reader

[Couin]

Hi friends,

I'm building a feature based on wqweto's cZipArchive and for some reason, I have to check for some files to unzip, if the destination path is a HDD/SSD before to write the file.
I explain, the zip contains files that was on a D:\blablabla folder and the user want to restaure the files on another computer that only have C:\ . On this computur, D:\ is an optical drive, so the files should not be unziped to the orinal path. In this case, with the checking return, the script would unzip files to another defined folder.

Is it (simply) possible ? I don't know which word to search (I found some parts of codes but they was for VB.NET

Not asking an entire code but at least a example that I can modifiy to match with what I would do

Thanks

[wqweto]

Check out this IsVolRemovable function:

Option Explicit

Private Declare Function CreateFile Lib "kernel32" Alias "CreateFileW" (ByVal lpFileName As Long, ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, ByVal dwShareMode As Long, ByVal lpSecurityAttributes As Long, ByVal dwCreationDisposition As Long, ByVal dwFlagsAndAttributes As Long, ByVal hTemplateFile As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function DeviceIoControl Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hDevice As Long, ByVal dwIoControlCode As Long, lpInBuffer As Any, ByVal nInBufferSize As Long, lpOutBuffer As Any, ByVal nOutBufferSize As Long, lpBytesReturned As Long, ByVal lpOverlapped As Long) As Long

Private Type STORAGE_HOTPLUG_INFO
    Size                    As Long
    MediaRemovable          As Byte
    MediaHotplug            As Byte
    DeviceHotplug           As Byte
    WriteCacheEnableOverride As Byte
End Type

Public Function IsVolRemovable(DrvLetter As String) As VbTriState
    Const IOCTL_STORAGE_GET_HOTPLUG_INFO As Long = &H2D0C14
    Const INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE          As Long = -1
    Const OPEN_EXISTING                 As Long = 3
    Const FILE_SHARE_READ               As Long = &H1
    Const FILE_SHARE_WRITE              As Long = &H2
    Dim hVol            As Long
    Dim lSize           As Long
    Dim uInfo           As STORAGE_HOTPLUG_INFO
    
    hVol = CreateFile(StrPtr("\\.\" & Left$(DrvLetter, 1) & ":"), 0, FILE_SHARE_READ Or FILE_SHARE_WRITE, 0, OPEN_EXISTING, 0, ByVal 0)
    If hVol <> INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Then
        Call DeviceIoControl(hVol, IOCTL_STORAGE_GET_HOTPLUG_INFO, ByVal 0, 0, uInfo, LenB(uInfo), lSize, 0)
        Call CloseHandle(hVol)
        IsVolRemovable = (uInfo.MediaRemovable + uInfo.DeviceHotplug > 0)
    Else
        IsVolRemovable = vbUseDefault
    End If
End Function

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Debug.Print IsVolRemovable("C:")
    Debug.Print IsVolRemovable("K:")
End Sub

cheers,
</wqw>

[fafalone]

Can probably get away with the much simpler GetDriveType:

Public Enum DriveTypes
    DRIVE_UNKNOWN = 0
    DRIVE_NO_ROOT_DIR = 1
    DRIVE_REMOVABLE = 2
    DRIVE_FIXED = 3
    DRIVE_REMOTE = 4
    DRIVE_CDROM = 5    'can be a CD or a DVD
    DRIVE_RAMDISK = 6
End Enum

Public Declare Function GetDriveType Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetDriveTypeA" (ByVal lpRootPathName As String) As Long

DRIVE_FIXED is your regular HDD/SSD.

[wqweto]

Yes, the simple GetDriveType API call correctly returns DRIVE_CDROM for optical drives.

Apparently the IsVolRemovable above tries to recognize USB thumb drives too. I have no other explanation why it's done so overcomplicated.

cheers,
</wqw>

[fafalone]

Thumb drives show up as DRIVE_REMOVABLE.

[wqweto]

Thumb drives show up as DRIVE_REMOVABLE.

Not always. Sometimes it just returns DRIVE_FIXED

cheers,
</wqw>

[Couin]

Hi friends,

Thanks a lot.

I built a small app with both solution and will try it on different machines to compare results between GetDriveType and IsVolRemovable .

I join the project zip for who search for the same function



Edit : Added another version that directly list all drives from A to Z

[VanGoghGaming]

Private Function CheckDriveType(Optional sDriveLetter As String = "C:") As String
Dim objWMIServices As SWbemServices, objLogicalDisk As SWbemObject, objDiskPartition As SWbemObject, objDiskDrive As SWbemObject
    Set objWMIServices = GetObject("winmgmts:")
    For Each objLogicalDisk In objWMIServices.InstancesOf("Win32_LogicalDisk")
        If objLogicalDisk.Name = UCase(sDriveLetter) Then Exit For
    Next objLogicalDisk
    For Each objDiskPartition In objLogicalDisk.Associators_("Win32_LogicalDiskToPartition")
        Exit For
    Next objDiskPartition
    For Each objDiskDrive In objDiskPartition.Associators_("Win32_DiskDriveToDiskPartition")
        Exit For
    Next objDiskDrive
    CheckDriveType = objDiskDrive.MediaType
End Function

I don't have a CDROM drive anymore but I whipped up this piece of code in a jiffy and it correctly identifies all internal SSDs as "Fixed hard disk media" and all USB sticks as "Removable Media".
You need to set a reference to "Microsoft WMI Scripting V1.2 Library" to run this code. Hope this helps.

[dilettante]

Of course WMI might either be disabled on the user's machine or secured against non-admin user access. It is not meant to be used in applications, it's an admin scripting tool.

[el84]

Is there a method of differentiating between an HDD an an SSD?
Also, perhaps a method of reading into Vb6 code the name and/or specs of the drive?

[VanGoghGaming]

WMI can do all of that. For example you can check if the drive has "TRIM" enabled and then it'll be an SSD for sure.

[el84]

WMI can do all of that. For example you can check if the drive has "TRIM" enabled and then it'll be an SSD for sure.

Could you post some code for this beginner. Say to list all the drives on a machine. I've already got your earlier code, but have split the long line.

'Disk Identifier
'Code from forum:VanGoghGaming
'Project Reference: Microsoft WMI Scripting V1.2 Library

Option ExplicitPrivate Function CheckDriveType(Optional sDriveLetter As String = "C:") As String
Dim objWMIServices As SWbemServices, objLogicalDisk As SWbemObject, _
objDiskPartition As SWbemObject, objDiskDrive As SWbemObject
    Set objWMIServices = GetObject("winmgmts:")
    For Each objLogicalDisk In objWMIServices.InstancesOf("Win32_LogicalDisk")
        If objLogicalDisk.Name = UCase(sDriveLetter) Then Exit For
    Next objLogicalDisk
    For Each objDiskPartition In objLogicalDisk.Associators_("Win32_LogicalDiskToPartition")
        Exit For
    Next objDiskPartition
    For Each objDiskDrive In objDiskPartition.Associators_("Win32_DiskDriveToDiskPartition")
        Exit For
    Next objDiskDrive
    CheckDriveType = objDiskDrive.MediaType
End Function

Private Sub Form_Load()

End Sub

It's just how to show the results. I suspect it may be trivial.

[VanGoghGaming]

Option Explicit

Private Function PartitionHasLogicalDisks(objDiskPartition As SWbemObject, objLogicalDisk As SWbemObject) As Boolean
Dim objLogicalDisks As SWbemObjectSet
    Set objLogicalDisks = objDiskPartition.Associators_("Win32_LogicalDiskToPartition")
    If objLogicalDisks.Count > 0 Then
        For Each objLogicalDisk In objLogicalDisks: Exit For: Next objLogicalDisk: PartitionHasLogicalDisks = True
    End If
End Function

Private Function CheckAllDrives() As String
Dim objWMIServices As SWbemServices, objLogicalDisk As SWbemObject, objDiskPartition As SWbemObject, objDiskDrive As SWbemObject, sMediaTypes As String
    Set objWMIServices = GetObject("winmgmts:")
    For Each objDiskDrive In objWMIServices.InstancesOf("Win32_DiskDrive")
        For Each objDiskPartition In objDiskDrive.Associators_("Win32_DiskDriveToDiskPartition")
            If PartitionHasLogicalDisks(objDiskPartition, objLogicalDisk) Then
                sMediaTypes = sMediaTypes & objLogicalDisk.Name & " - " & objDiskDrive.MediaType & vbNewLine
            End If
        Next objDiskPartition
    Next objDiskDrive
    CheckAllDrives = sMediaTypes
End Function

Private Sub Form_Load()
    MsgBox CheckAllDrives
    Unload Me
End Sub

This will list all drives on your computer along with their respective media type.

[el84]

Many thanks for that last code
This is the result that I got
Attachment 186389
I do have a CD drive --not mentioned.
Also I am interested in any other info on the disk, like a way of being sure of whether a given disk is an SDD, or even the capacity and amount of space used.
I am not asking for a whole rewrite.
I'd be interested in what must be changed or added

[VanGoghGaming]

Although your attachment isn't working, I think you need to have a disc loaded into the CDROM if you want it to show up in that list. Also the method for checking whether a given disk is an SSD, is not something trivial. WMI is a vast subject and you have a lot of googling to do if you want to learn more about it.

[el84]

Although your attachment isn't working, I think you need to have a disc loaded into the CDROM if you want it to show up in that list...

I've tried that without success.
But funnily enough, a standard drivelistbox control shows it on my desktop, whether or not there is a CD in that drive!