Scanning for removable disk drives

Hey Guys,

I would like to add an option to a program that would allow me to scan a computer for any removable disk drives like floppy, zip and usb disks. Any ideas on where I should start? Thanx.

 

in vb6 ?

you were using fso earlier.

use it again

Personally I stay away from the scripting object and use pure api but you'd probably find it simpler with fso

 

Hey matt, I think i've got fso commands pretty down pack but if you think that api is a better way of doing it i'm willing to give it a try. Thanx 4 the input.

 

well with fso it would probably be something like this:

Code:

    Dim fso As New Scripting.FileSystemObject
    
    Dim d As Scripting.Drive
    For Each d In fso.Drives
        Select Case d.DriveType
            Case 0 ' Unknown
            
            Case 1 ' Removable
                MsgBox d.DriveLetter & ": is removable"
            
            Case 2 ' Fixed
            
            Case 3 ' Remote
            
            Case 4 ' CDRom
            
            Case 5 ' ramdrive
            
            Case Else
                'This should never occur but who knows with vb6
        End Select
    Next

You may not need the full case statment but rather just use an if

 

Try something like this to do it with api, this would remove the denpendancy on the Microsoft Scripting Runtime

Code:

[COLOR=#0000FF]Private[/COLOR] Declare [COLOR=#0000FF]Function[/COLOR] GetDriveType [COLOR=#0000FF]Lib[/COLOR] [COLOR=#FF0000]"kernel32"[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]Alias[/COLOR] [COLOR=#FF0000]"GetDriveTypeA"[/COLOR] ([COLOR=#0000FF]ByVal[/COLOR] nDrive [COLOR=#0000FF]As[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]String[/COLOR]) [COLOR=#0000FF]As[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]Long[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#0000FF]Private[/COLOR] Declare [COLOR=#0000FF]Function[/COLOR] GetLogicalDriveStrings [COLOR=#0000FF]Lib[/COLOR] [COLOR=#FF0000]"kernel32"[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]Alias[/COLOR] [COLOR=#FF0000]"GetLogicalDriveStringsA"[/COLOR] ([COLOR=#0000FF]ByVal[/COLOR] nBufferLength [COLOR=#0000FF]As[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]Long[/COLOR], [COLOR=#0000FF]ByVal[/COLOR] lpBuffer [COLOR=#0000FF]As[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]String[/COLOR]) [COLOR=#0000FF]As[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]Long[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#0000FF]Private[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]Sub[/COLOR] Form_Load()
    [COLOR=#0000FF]Dim[/COLOR] DrivesString    [COLOR=#0000FF]As[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]String[/COLOR]
    [COLOR=#0000FF]Dim[/COLOR] DrvI            [COLOR=#0000FF]As[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]Integer[/COLOR]
    [COLOR=#0000FF]Dim[/COLOR] Drive           [COLOR=#0000FF]As[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]String[/COLOR]
    
    DrivesString = [COLOR=#0000FF]String[/COLOR](255, Chr$(0))
    
    ret& = GetLogicalDriveStrings(255, DrivesString)

    [COLOR=#0000FF]For[/COLOR] DrvI = 1 [COLOR=#0000FF]To[/COLOR] 100
        [COLOR=#0000FF]If[/COLOR] Left$(DrivesString, InStr(1, DrivesString, Chr$(0))) = Chr$(0) [COLOR=#0000FF]Then[/COLOR] Exit [COLOR=#0000FF]For[/COLOR]
        Drive = Left$(DrivesString, InStr(1, DrivesString, Chr$(0)) - 1)
        DrivesString = Right$(DrivesString, Len(DrivesString) - InStr(1, DrivesString, Chr$(0)))
        
        Select [COLOR=#0000FF]Case[/COLOR] GetDriveType(Drive)
            [COLOR=#0000FF]Case[/COLOR] 2  [COLOR=#008800]'Removable[/COLOR]
                MsgBox Drive & [COLOR=#FF0000]" is removable"[/COLOR]
            [COLOR=#0000FF]Case[/COLOR] 3  [COLOR=#008800]'Fixed[/COLOR]
                MsgBox Drive & [COLOR=#FF0000]" is fixed"[/COLOR]
            [COLOR=#0000FF]Case[/COLOR] 4  [COLOR=#008800]'Remote[/COLOR]
                MsgBox Drive & [COLOR=#FF0000]" is remote"[/COLOR]
            [COLOR=#0000FF]Case[/COLOR] 5  [COLOR=#008800]'Cd-Rom[/COLOR]
                MsgBox Drive & [COLOR=#FF0000]" is CDDrive"[/COLOR]
            [COLOR=#0000FF]Case[/COLOR] 6  [COLOR=#008800]'Ram disk[/COLOR]
                MsgBox Drive & [COLOR=#FF0000]" is Ram Disk"[/COLOR]
            [COLOR=#0000FF]Case[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]Else[/COLOR] [COLOR=#008800]'Unrecognized[/COLOR]
                MsgBox Drive & [COLOR=#FF0000]" is unknown"[/COLOR]
        [COLOR=#0000FF]End[/COLOR] Select
    [COLOR=#0000FF]Next[/COLOR] DrvI
[COLOR=#0000FF]End[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000FF]Sub[/COLOR]

 

Thanx for your reply matt, I will definately be adding your suggestions to my code library but the following code worked good for me. I've attached it for everyone to have a look:

Option Explicit

Private Const DRIVE_UNKNOWN = 0
Private Const DRIVE_NO_ROOT_DIR = 1
Private Const DRIVE_REMOVABLE = 2
Private Const DRIVE_FIXED = 3
Private Const DRIVE_REMOTE = 4
Private Const DRIVE_CDROM = 5
Private Const DRIVE_RAMDISK = 6

Private Declare Function GetDriveType Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetDriveTypeA" (ByVal nDrive As String) As Long

Private Sub Form_Load()

Dim i As Long, DrvType As Long

For i = 0 To 25
DrvType = GetDriveType(Chr(65 + i) & ":")

If DrvType = DRIVE_REMOVABLE Or DrvType = DRIVE_RAMDISK Then
MsgBox Chr(65 + i) & ":"
End If

Next i

End Sub

 

that works, but its almost a bit dodgy lol, the getlogicaldrivestrings returns a list of drives so you don't have to loop form a to z but since you are using the api call it will just bork (stole your word kodo ) when it comes to a non existant drive without you knowing. which might slow it down a tad but not a lot.

You don't need to add 65 to the i value you can loop from anything to anything

Code:

For i = 65 to 90
Next