As you know, storage devices are important part of the computer system for porting, saving and extracting data files. And for you to differentiate between storage devices on your computer system, each one of the storage devices are labeled with a unique number referred to as Disk Signature for identification.
The unique disk identifier is stored as a part of the MBR or Master Boot Record. Disk signature is used by operating systems in order to identify and set apart different data storage devices and hard disk drive in the computer for data access.
These days, Disk cloning has become a regular practice in upgrading to larger hard disk drives. Drives are cloned in order to produce a similar copy to use both the original drive and cloned copy together. Moreover, lots of virtualization tools are being used to virtualize the physical hard disk drives to create virtual hard disk drive and several virtual machine clones that are created to with the existing virtual hard disk drives. And since these are identical copies, chances these copies may have identical disk signatures. As a result, when you use both disks that have identical signatures at the same time you run into the Disk Signature Collision problem. This kind of problem does not often occur as the Windows system does not really allow two disks to function simultaneously when they have the same disk signature.
When you encounter Disk Collision problem in your Windows 10 computer, you may see the following error messages:
- The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible
- The disk is offline because it has a signature collision
- This disk is offline because it has a signature collision with another disk that is online
You can fix the disk collision problem by changing the disk signature which you can achieve using the command line utility diskpart in Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt or using Windows Disk Management utility.
To fix the disk collision problem, you can make use of the command line utility called diskpart in Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt to view and change the signature, or can make use of Master Boot record in the Windows Registry. You can also make use of Windows Disk Management Utility to change the signature. Simply follow the given options below to change disk signature either way.
Option 1 – Change Disk Signature via Diskpart
- Type “command prompt” in the Windows Search bar and then right click on the related search result and select the “Run as administrator” option.
- After that, type the “diskpart” command and hit Enter to open Diskpart.
- Next, type the “list disk” command to display all the disk available in the system.
- Next, take note of the problematic disk number with the status Offline from the list and then type the “Select disk x” command where x is the offline disk to select the offline disk. For instance, if you type “select disk 1”, it will display the “Disk 1 is now the selected disk” message.
- Now type the “Uniqueid disk” command to display the disk signature and to change the disk’s signature and set the disk online, type the “unique disk ID= (New signature)” where (New signature) is the new ID in hexadecimal. For instance, you can set the new id as “unique disk ID= 1456ACBD”.
Note: If you have given the wrong format ID, command prompt will display the following error:
“The specified identifier is not in the correct format. Type the identifier in the correct format: in hexadecimal form for an MBR disk or as a GUID for a GPT disk.”
- After you’re done, the disk will be online and then restart your computer.
Option 2 – Change Disk Signature via Disk Management Utility
- Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and then type “diskmgmt.msc” and hit Enter or click OK to open Disk Management.
- Next, right click on the disk that is marked as Missing or Offline.
- After that, select Online command from the drop-down menu.
- Then from the selecting option Online, Windows will generate a new disk signature.
For other system-related issues that need to get fixed aside from the Disk Signature Collision problem in Windows 10, there is a one-click solution known as Advanced System Repair you could check out to resolve them. This program is a useful tool that could repair corrupted registries and optimize your PC’s overall performance. Aside from that, it also cleans out your computer for any junk or corrupted files that help you eliminate any unwanted files from your system. This is basically a solution that’s within your grasp with just a click. It’s easy to use as it is user-friendly. For complete set of instructions in downloading and using it, refer to the steps below.
Perform a full system scan using ASR. To do so, follow the instructions below.
- Turn on your computer. If it’s already on, you have to reboot it.
- After that, the BIOS screen will be displayed, but if Windows pops up instead, reboot your computer and try again. Once you’re on the BIOS screen, repeat pressing F8, by doing so the Advanced Option shows up.
- To navigate the Advanced Option use the arrow keys and select Safe Mode with Networking then hit
- Windows will now load the Safe Mode with Networking.
- Press and hold both R key and Windows key.
- If done correctly, the Windows Run Box will show up.
- Type in the URL address, https://errortools.com/download/advanced-system-repair/ in the Run dialog box and then tap Enter or click OK.
- After that, it will download the program. Wait for the download to finish and then open the launcher to install the program.
- Once the installation process is completed, run ASR to perform a full system scan.
- After the scan is completed click the “Fix, Clean & Optimize Now” button.
