Drive letter problem

[unclepeteDEL]

I made my primary partition smaller and put some partitions behind it.

Now my second partition (assumedly D has a letter after the CD-DVD
drive. Other systems seemed to float that drive to last in line. How
can I change it so the CD-DVD is last on the totem pole, not first after
C:?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I made my primary partition smaller and put some partitions behind it.

Now my second partition (assumedly D has a letter after the CD-DVD
drive. Other systems seemed to float that drive to last in line. How
can I change it so the CD-DVD is last on the totem pole, not first
after C:?

You can change the drive letter of any drive except the one Windows is
installed on. Right-click on My Computer, click Manage, then, under Storage,
click Disk Management. In the right pane right-click on whatever you want
to change and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths.

 

[unclepeteDEL]

You can change the drive letter of any drive except the one Windows is
installed on. Right-click on My Computer, click Manage, then, under
Storage, click Disk Management. In the right pane right-click on
whatever you want to change and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Thanks you very much. I wonder how many old timers know that.

Jim L via the eCS 1.2r version of OS/2

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thanks you very much. I wonder how many old timers know that.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

[Jonny]

It won't do that if the partitions are there and functional to begin with at
time of install of XP.

If you change the drive letter, may cause problems with an installed program
looking for the media when opened.

To avoid this problem in the future, upon completed install of XP, change
the drive letter to S: or T: This will allow a substantial addition of
drives/partitions and removable media.

 

[unclepeteDEL]

Thanks

Perhaps I can remember to switch letters earlier on when I'm no longer a
new user, assuming I need to reinstall XP (a ____ of a task from all
indications) which I would think inevitible, judging from previous
windows experience.

Since, as I indicated, the partitions were all new (not even formatted
yet), and the remaining drive is a removable media drive, do you really
expect any issues now?

It won't do that if the partitions are there and functional to begin
with at time of install of XP.

If you change the drive letter, may cause problems with an installed
program looking for the media when opened.

To avoid this problem in the future, upon completed install of XP,
change the drive letter to S: or T: This will allow a substantial
addition of drives/partitions and removable media.

Jim L via the eCS 1.2r version of OS/2

 

[Rock]

Thanks you very much. I wonder how many old timers know that.

It's fairly common knowledge. Going to Start | Help and Support and
searching for drive letters or similar will give you this information, as
would a Google search. There are many good resources out there.

As a tip give the CD drive(s) a high drive letter, like Y: or Z:. Leave the
drive letters after the hard drive partitions unassigned to be used for
things like removable drives if you use a flash drive or memory card reader.

 

[Rock]

Thanks

Perhaps I can remember to switch letters earlier on when I'm no longer a
new user, assuming I need to reinstall XP (a ____ of a task from all
indications) which I would think inevitible, judging from previous
windows experience.

<snip>

There are some precautions you can take to make life much easier when the
inevitable data loss occurs from a hard drive failure, bad software install,
etc. Data loss will occur, it's just a matter of when.

Invest in a drive imaging program. The current favorite is Acronis True
Image version 10 (there is also Norton Ghost and Terabyte Unlimited's Image
for Windows). There programs will make a compressed image of the hard
drive. Save this image to some external media such as an external USB hard
drive. Restores can be done from this image on an individual file basis or
of the complete drive. Image the drive on a regular basis. Image before
installing software or upgrading the OS or drivers as well as the periodic
imaging.

That way if something damages the installation you can replace, repair the
damage and then restore the image from the external drive. Restoration is a
matter of minutes as opposed to days doing a reinstall of the OS, and
applications.

You should always, not matter what type you choose, have a full, complete
and current backup of important data. There should be no compromise with
this. Since you should have this, why not use a drive imaging program which
gives you the best recovery options? You can still burn individual files to
CD or DVD for redundancy.

Take the time to become competent with and invest in a backup solution now
so you don't have to worry about the effort to reinstall. The first time
something happens and you restore an image in 20 minutes compared to days
spent otherwise, will repay many times over for the time and effort spent.

 

[unclepeteDEL]

Take the time to become competent with and invest in a backup solution
now so you don't have to worry about the effort to reinstall.

Thanks. I've been working on that ever since I learned that the
"Restore" features are ill engineered, buggy and impossible to keep
track of. (MS online info branches into a zillion alternatives, most of
which are for someone else.) Having a proper OS CD come with a machine
should be a no brainer too. What kind of nut permits any other
condition (rhetorical)?

Thanks

Jim L