Are these driveletter allocations satisfactory in XP?

[Dee]

Are these drive letter allocations all right in NTFS/Windows XP?

I am not experienced in the workable allocation of drive letters, and
would be pleased to have a little guidance.

A new computer came with these drive letters. A: floppy. C: Hard Disc
Drive. D: DVD drive. E: CD drive. F: A non-existent, virtual CD drive
placed there by Pinnacle burning software.

I used Partition Magic to partition the C:drive, into two additional
logical drives. The drive letters left by Partition Magic were these.

A: Floppy. C: HDD. D: DVD drive. E: CD drive. F: the virtual drive.
So far just as things were prior to using Partition Magic. Then G:
logical partition. H: logical partition.

So the HDD is partitioned into C:, G:. and H: (I use C: just for
system files and applications.)

I was half expecting C: D: and E: for the hard disk drive, I have always
had consecutive letters previously, though I can see that
non-consecutive letters could be ok - I need reassurance. Are these new
drive letter allocations going to be all right? There is nothing on G:
and H: at the moment, and if any alterations are desirable, now would be
the time to make them.

I also wonder what will happen if in the future I remove the Pinnacle
burning software, and the virtual drive F: goes with it - what would
happen to the drives that are now labelled G: and H: when F: goes?
Would it be desirable to remove the Pinnacle software now, move the
logical partitions G: and H: up to F: and G:, and re-install the
Pinnacle software, so that its new drive letter (for its virtual drive)
would presumably be H:? Then if it was removed in the future, there
would be no subsequent drive letters for it to affect? Or would this be
unnecessary trouble?

Regards

Dee.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

It shouldn't be a problem, you did manage to boot the system and use drives
are accessible aren't they?

If you delete the virtual drive, all drive letters except the system drive
will shift. If C is the system drive, it should remain as is but the other
drives move down one letter. In order to avoid problems later, you should
install your applications to the system drive. That way if drive letter
shift, you won't have a problem accessing your applications or find yourself
having to reinstall them.

 

[Dee]

Yes, the drives are accessible. Thank you for your helpful response.

Regards

Dee.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

You're welcome.