Drive Names

[Guest]

I just installed XP on a new hard drive. The hard drive is named E, the
floppy is A, the DVD/CD is D and a zip 100 is C.

Should I be concerned that the hard drive is E? Is it worth changing it to C?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I just installed XP on a new hard drive. The hard drive is named
E, the floppy is A, the DVD/CD is D and a zip 100 is C.

Should I be concerned that the hard drive is E? Is it worth
changing it to C?

It can cause issues in the future.
Since you JUST installed it - do it again..
This time - disconnect your ZIP drive before you begin.
You can connect it again after Windows XP is installed.

 

[Galen]

In edlewusa had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

I just installed XP on a new hard drive. The hard drive is named E,
the floppy is A, the DVD/CD is D and a zip 100 is C.

Should I be concerned that the hard drive is E? Is it worth changing
it to C?

I wouldn't worry about it and changing it can have some rather unruly
consequences when done improperly and can be quite complicated.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"At present I am, as you know, fairly busy, but I propose to devote my
declining years to the composition of a textbook which shall focus the
whole art of detection into one volume." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Pop`]

In edlewusa had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:


I wouldn't worry about it and changing it can have some rather unruly
consequences when done improperly and can be quite complicated.

If he has literally "just" installed it, and hasn't installed any further
software, then no, that's not true. And it's not complex to do.
Administrative Tools, Disk Management will handle it rather well and
cleanly.

For consistancy for future maintenance, etc, the boot drive should be set
back to C using Disk Management or, as another indicated, maybe
reinstalling. Personally I'd use Disk Management.

Pop`

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I just installed XP on a new hard drive. The hard drive is named E,
the floppy is A, the DVD/CD is D and a zip 100 is C.

Should I be concerned that the hard drive is E?

No. It's no problem at all.

Is it worth changing
it to C?

No. As a matter of fact, you *can't* change it, short of reinstalling
Windows from scratch.

I have Windows installed on F: here, and have no problems with that setup.

 

[Alec S.]

If he has literally "just" installed it, and hasn't installed any further
software, then no, that's not true. And it's not complex to do.
Administrative Tools, Disk Management will handle it rather well and
cleanly.

If that were true, then why does it give you a warning when you try to change drive letters? It's because it CAN'T "handle it
rather well and cleanly". Or, are you saying that the Disk Management console will go through the whole registry and change every
RELATED occurrence of E: (in all it's forms) to C:, and then go through every file (eg, install.ini, etc.) and do the same?

 

[Galen]

In Pop` had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

If he has literally "just" installed it, and hasn't installed any
further software, then no, that's not true. And it's not complex to
do. Administrative Tools, Disk Management will handle it rather well
and cleanly.

For consistancy for future maintenance, etc, the boot drive should be
set back to C using Disk Management or, as another indicated, maybe
reinstalling. Personally I'd use Disk Management.

Pop`

I never make the mistake of assuming that "just installed" means they
haven't installed anything else. It can be very complicated - even with very
little additional software. Having "been there, seen that, and done that" so
to speak on numerous occasions I stand by my recommendation to leave it as
is. Not only that but, in my opinion, any program worth installing will
certainly use %ProgramFiles% to properly locate the installation point and
will follow such standards properly. Failure to adhere to such simplistic
standards on the part of the coding team would tell me, without a doubt, to
expect shoddy coding the rest of the way through.

As for the console snap in diskmgmt.msc I'd barely recommend it for any task
greater than formatting an empty partition or setting the drive letter on a
slaved drive's partition. There are various migration tools that purport to
work, of those choices I've had the most infuriating time with Symantec
products foisted down on us by ignorant management who probably got either a
kickback or sadistic joy at watching us work with said tools.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"At present I am, as you know, fairly busy, but I propose to devote my
declining years to the composition of a textbook which shall focus the
whole art of detection into one volume." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Alec S.]

In my opinion, any program worth installing will certainly use %ProgramFiles%

to properly locate the installation point and will follow such standards
properly. Failure to adhere to such simplistic standards on the part of the
coding team would tell me, without a doubt, to expect shoddy coding the rest
of the way through.

First of all, there are plenty of programs worth installing which you would consider bad. Not adhering to these "standards" does
not a shoddy program (or developer) make. Perhaps someone just wasn't aware of one of the millions of little things available in
Windows programming. You don't propose that a developer learn every single one of the millions of API calls, framework functions,
classes, and so on before coding do you?

Second, using the ProgramFiles environment variable is wrong in and of itself; I certainly hope you don't. It's programmers who use
that (and the other ones) that have caused MS devs such a big headache and forced them to include those for backward compatibility.
The proper way to get a special folder is with one of the API functions:
SHGetSpecialFolderLocation/SHGetSpecialFolderPath/SHGetFolderLocation/SHGetFolderPath.

Glass houses Galen, glass houses.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

If he has literally "just" installed it, and hasn't installed any
further software, then no, that's not true. And it's not complex to
do. Administrative Tools, Disk Management will handle it rather well
and cleanly.

Nope. It will do that for any drive but the one Windows is installed on.

 

[Galen]

In Alec S. had this to say:

My reply is at the scattered amidst the body of your sent message:

First of all, there are plenty of programs worth installing which you
would consider bad. Not adhering to these "standards" does not a
shoddy program (or developer) make. Perhaps someone just wasn't
aware of one of the millions of little things available in Windows
programming. You don't propose that a developer learn every single
one of the millions of API calls, framework functions, classes, and
so on before coding do you?

Within reason, yes. Before releasing it and suggesting folks install it?
Yes. I expect every single piece of software to conform to minimal standards
and that includes freeware, open source, and closed/proprietary software.
Programming comes with it a responsibility to be aware of the expected
standards, seemingly trivial oversights are giant warning signs and should
be treated as such. For instance, if I notice typographical errors then the
installation is aborted, just as I wouldn't go to a physician who had dirty
hands. If I seem too pragmatic in my approach it is (I'm not sure how one
can be a practitioner of both pragmatism and an idealism this seems to
somehow do so though) from having ridden on the other side - the side of the
admin - for too long and witnessed the impact of shoddy code and the trouble
that is caused by what seemed to be trivial details. I expect the basics to
be covered and such as this is very basic. (Not to mention the developers,
new or old, aren't needing to memorize them all - they're supposed to know
they're human and thus look them up if they don't know instead of making
snap judgments such as assuming they can hard code a path to a drive that
may or may not exist on a user's system. Yes, yes I expect that much.)
Err... I'm more forgiving of beta software and though I probably shouldn't
be I'm also more forgiving of open source projects.

Second, using the ProgramFiles environment variable is wrong in and
of itself; I certainly hope you don't. It's programmers who use that
(and the other ones) that have caused MS devs such a big headache and
forced them to include those for backward compatibility. The proper
way to get a special folder is with one of the API functions:
SHGetSpecialFolderLocation/SHGetSpecialFolderPath/SHGetFolderLocation/SHGetFolderPath.

There are a variety of ways, the example used was just that. An example.
(Though yes, those are better choices than using environment variables.) See
below - you're 100% correct in those being better ways.

Glass houses Galen, glass houses.

Nah, I just don't release much or do much coding these days but if I were
I'd make sure to adhere to standards. My days of coding ended with VB... I
didn't even get much done VB .NET really. Since then I've dabbled only and
truly wouldn't feel qualified to release much of anything I've done
programmatically because, frankly, my capabilities are sub-par and any code
I'd author is likely also sub-par. It does mean I get to stand on the
sidelines and toss stones though. 'Tis a unique position to be in but I'd
certainly agree that environment variables weren't the best choice and my
statement could have been worded better. Perhaps "something akin to...." or
the likes. Anyhow, I don't believe I'm missing out on any good software
because of this. I'm able to accomplish all that I'd like to do and while it
may seem anal to simply disregard anything that doesn't meet my standards
outright they are, however, my standards and I am pretty grateful that I
have them and I don't insist that anyone follow them I do think they make
for a fine set of rules to start out with.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"At present I am, as you know, fairly busy, but I propose to devote my
declining years to the composition of a textbook which shall focus the
whole art of detection into one volume." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Pop`]

edlewusa wrote:

Ken, why do you say it requires an install from scratch to change a drive
letter? It does not; Disk Management will allow changing the drive letters,
and even renaming the drives if desired, amongst a few other useful things
that are not relevant here.

For an experienced user it makes no difference which drive has the os, but
for newbies it's a lot cleaner and less prone to misakes and apps installed
to two drives accidentally.

It is *NOT* necessary to reinstall from scratch to change the drive letters:
XP is quite capable of it. There could be mitigating circumstances, such as
installs made prior to the change, but it doesn't sound like the OP is in a
bad place even from that perspective.

If I'm wrong, I'll listen to reason and admit it, but ... I don't think I
am.

No. It's no problem at all.

Functionally, no, it's not a problem. For an inexperienced user, there
could be problems that arise down the road.

No. As a matter of fact, you *can't* change it, short of reinstalling
Windows from scratch.

Actually, it would be "worth" changing it, since practically every
instruction and application reference refers to C as the system drive: They
only make passing references to haveing a non-C system drive, IF they
mention it. YOU may be able to handle that; newbies aren't very good at
that, or even at knowing the meaning of a system drive. It's a matter of
experience and circumstance.

I have Windows installed on F: here, and have no problems with that
setup.

That's fine, but it's quite obvious, IMO, that the poster isn't well versed
in these areas. The "ymmv" is a truism in this case and what works for you
does not make it right for everyone or evan anyone else.


Comments?


Pop`

 

[Pop`]

If that were true, then why does it give you a warning when you try
to change drive letters? It's because it CAN'T "handle it rather
well and cleanly". Or, are you saying that the Disk Management
console will go through the whole registry and change every RELATED
occurrence of E: (in all it's forms) to C:, and then go through every
file (eg, install.ini, etc.) and do the same?

No, go back and read what I said about installations related to it.

 

[Pop`]

In Pop` had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

I did not make the above statement about the "end" of the sent message.
Something's wrong with the way you quoted.

I never make the mistake of assuming that "just installed" means they
haven't installed anything else.

You also made zero effort to see what it meant, nor even accounted for the
variations of what it could mean. I did. You alse made the comment that it
could be "quite complicated" which may or may not be true. Very few people
IME have ever found it "complicated"; in fact, it's pretty straight forward.

It can be very complicated - even

with very little additional software. Having "been there, seen that,
and done that" so to speak on numerous occasions I stand by my
recommendation to leave it as is.

There's nothing technically wrong with leaving it as it is, which I
explained already. In the future however, then the complexity you referred
to could become the case, because of the mixup. The "install" may go to C,
but since X is the system drive, parts of it may end up on X, unbeknownst to
the user, and that's only one of many of the future possibilities I see it
creating. There's techincally and there's the real world and real people
involved, not just you.

Not only that but, in my opinion,

any program worth installing will certainly use %ProgramFiles% to
properly locate the installation point and will follow such standards
properly.

Yes, that's true. But how do you know it's true of the OP's applications,
or any future application? What you consider "worth installing" isn't every
or even necessarily any one else's opinion. A relatively inexperienced user
(in these areas) should not be treated as though they have the same opinions
and experiences that you do. You only cheat those you try to assist with
that kind of attitude. Think "ymmv" and "tinw".

Failure to adhere to such simplistic standards on the part

of the coding team would tell me, without a doubt, to expect shoddy
coding the rest of the way through.

Again, what YOU expect and what others expect aren't necessarily related in
any way.
And, again, that's YOUR expectation, and maybe true in general, but it's not
true in anything like all or even most instances. Even some of today's
available installer applications used by many companies don't use the "%xx%"
path; and many other programs don't pay attention to it either, because they
check to see what os they are on, and assemble the full path thusly. Many
don't even do if/then's or cases, etc., to be certain the path even exists,
but just go ahead and create it if it's not there.
I have some EXCELLENT apps I use which don't use root paths. They're
blazingly fast for an XP gui app, accurate, and expertly coded, a few of
them done in actual assembly language without the use of a higher level
language/compiler. Your experience almost sounds like it's a combo of just
MS and some unknown site's freebie downloads.

As for the console snap in diskmgmt.msc I'd barely recommend it for
any task greater than formatting an empty partition or setting the
drive letter on a slaved drive's partition. There are various
migration tools that purport to work, of those choices I've had the
most infuriating time with Symantec products foisted down on us by
ignorant management who probably got either a kickback or sadistic
joy at watching us work with said tools.

Aha, now we know where you're coming from. Sour grapes. You couldn't get
Norton's stuff to work, so it had to be the fault of those apps. Rather
than figure out WHY it didn't work, you relied on others, took it as bible,
and thus decided your superiors were dummies because they wouldn't accept
your excuses. I've known many like you, actually, if that's accurate.
The XP tool I was referring to is found at Start; Programs;
Administrative Tools, Computer Management, and Disk Management, the very
same location where you find the Event Viewer and probably a host of other
useful and perfectly accurate tools supplied with XP but of which you know
nothing. I think you are the one I've mused before about having to use
x.msc for everything instead of knowing the os well enough to know the logic
of its location, let alone get to it. Plus that makes it look like you know
some great windows "secret" that no one else knows, instead of mentioning
where it's really at, and then saying "here's another way to get to it".

Maybe, in stead of giving erroneous/vague advice and offering your opinions
and experiences as the only way to do/use/have anything, you should learn a
little more about Windows in general and system maintenance in particular.

Pop`

 

[Pop`]

Galen said ...

while it may seem anal to simply disregard anything that doesn't meet
my standards outright they are, however, my standards and I am pretty
grateful that I have them and I don't insist that anyone follow them
I do think they make for a fine set of rules to start out with.

It's your foisting these off as fact on those who are looking for realistic
answers to realistic questions in a manner that also helps them learn
something if they wish to that's so objectionable to me and many others who
cringe at some of your responses.
Your'e an enigma in that you occasionally have good responses and at
other times, well, not so good.
Start Run Opinion.msc click gooky and OK et al is a lazy way to help people
and often isn't any real help but an opinion not admitted to, posed as a
fact.
Perhaps I've misread you: Maybe it's interpersonal skills training you
need first.

Pop`

 

[Pop`]

Nope. It will do that for any drive but the one Windows is installed
on.

True as stated: But with a little help, the newest newbie can do it quite
easily. Took me about ten minutes (mostly waiting time) to change C to P on
my test bed. Going back was almost instantaneous of course.

It's amazing how vague people can be; you don't much like it when it happens
to you, do you?
So, why not part with ALL of the necessary information? Too much
thinking?
Why not ask for the necesary details when they aren't given? Too much
trouble?
I'll stop now; I think I've made my point.
Pop`

 

[Alec S.]

No, go back and read what I said about installations related to it.

I did but it still sounds like you're saying that the Disk Management console can fix it. All that it does is to change the Mounted
Devices registry entry, it doesn't change any references to the drive letter.

 

[Alec S.]

Galen said ...
Your'e an enigma in that you occasionally have good responses and at
other times, well, not so good.
Start Run Opinion.msc click gooky and OK et al is a lazy way to help people
and often isn't any real help but an opinion not admitted to, posed as a fact.

You know, I actually just tried that; there's no opinion.msc, let alone a gooky button. lol

 

[Alec S.]

True as stated: But with a little help, the newest newbie can do it quite
easily. Took me about ten minutes (mostly waiting time) to change C to P on
my test bed. Going back was almost instantaneous of course.

It's amazing how vague people can be; you don't much like it when it happens to you, do you?
So, why not part with ALL of the necessary information? Too much thinking?
Why not ask for the necesary details when they aren't given? Too much trouble?
I'll stop now; I think I've made my point.

I was agreeing with you, but then you went ahead and hypocrited yourself into oblivion. You should have described the procedure
that worked for you (it's not too late, the OP hasn't responded yet.)

 

[Alec S.]

Ken, why do you say it requires an install from scratch to change a drive
letter? It does not; Disk Management will allow changing the drive letters,
and even renaming the drives if desired, amongst a few other useful things
that are not relevant here.

For an experienced user it makes no difference which drive has the os, but
for newbies it's a lot cleaner and less prone to misakes and apps installed
to two drives accidentally.

It is *NOT* necessary to reinstall from scratch to change the drive letters:
XP is quite capable of it. There could be mitigating circumstances, such as
installs made prior to the change, but it doesn't sound like the OP is in a
bad place even from that perspective.

If I'm wrong, I'll listen to reason and admit it, but ... I don't think I am.

It would be best if you outline your method so that the OP can get the help that they need (and that you say is easy). I'm also
curious about the details since I don't believe it to be possible. I would be pleasently surprised if what I THINK you are
describing actually works.

That's fine, but it's quite obvious, IMO, that the poster isn't well versed
in these areas. The "ymmv" is a truism in this case and what works for you
does not make it right for everyone or evan anyone else.

"ymmv"??? Mmmmm… ymmv…



Everyone should just take a look at the post I made in response to "Boot drive letter"
(dated Oct.09.06 at 12:14pm. I clearly explain why it works without problem for Ken,
and why it may not work for others. I suspect that edlewusa is in the same situation as Ken.

 

[Galen]

In Pop` had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Galen said ...


It's your foisting these off as fact on those who are looking for
realistic answers to realistic questions in a manner that also helps
them learn something if they wish to that's so objectionable to me
and many others who cringe at some of your responses.
Your'e an enigma in that you occasionally have good responses and at
other times, well, not so good.
Start Run Opinion.msc click gooky and OK et al is a lazy way to help
people and often isn't any real help but an opinion not admitted to,
posed as a fact.
Perhaps I've misread you: Maybe it's interpersonal skills training
you need first.

Pop`

Accept that it is years of poking about in the trenches that have not only
demonstrated the statements to be accurate but also best practices... That
you fail to see that it can be complicated if you try to change it once it
is in place and that there's no harm in using it as, simply, is not my
fault. Trying to read more, or less, into it than it really is or trying to
bluster you way into entirely alternative subject matter is entirely
disruptive and, thankfully, I have the capacity to simply block your posts.

Yes, yes you can fix an exhaust pipe with a tin can and bailing wire but I'm
not going to recommend that to anyone and if it's not broken in the first
place I'm not going to recommend someone fix it. There are a variety of
solutions to almost every problem under the Sun and when given the choice I
will give the most accurate and, in my experience, best answer. I will not
take the time to describe the root cause nor all the variables nor will I
delve deep into the various factors that could cause the issues, the vast
majority of people don't want to know that, they simply want it fixed easily
and effectively.

I am not without fault and will certainly listen to reason when there's a
doubt. In this I'm certain, having been there and seen it one too many
times. I have been wrong in the past and will be wrong in the future. This
time? I stand by my statements knowing, with reasonably certainty, that
while having the OS on a non-standard drive letter isn't the best choice it
is a great deal easier and more acceptable than trying to cobble a fix
when/if things go wrong because of having tried to move it.

This is, however, a reasonably free system in which you're free to voice
your opinions. Fortunately technology has enabled me to not hear those
opinions, a feat for which I shall be forever grateful. I read a post
earlier today in which you disclosed serious head injury and, please trust
that this is not intentionally a personal barb but rather a stab in the dark
hoping to find a reason as to why you'd bleat on as such, perhaps that is at
the root of why you'd think there's a pressing need to change it or that
changing it is always going to be effective and simple. I don't recall the
KB number off the top of my head but heck, Microsoft's own recommendations
are to re-install - certainly not to try to use Disk Management. Please
refrain from giving out potentially harmful information - using the console
snap-in to change the drive letter of the OS drive is simply potentially
harmful.

Ah here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326683/

(Note that the KB's been acting funny today and I've had to type the KB#
into the search field else it was saying it couldn't be found or no longer
existed. You may need to do so as well.)

Note that at that point I differ from Microsoft and don't feel that a
re-install is needed. Provided you use properly coded software you'll find
no ill effects. I've yet to find a function I couldn't easily and quickly
perform while maintaining reasonable standards for quality. My problem
wasn't with Symantec programs (though that was/is the source of much angst)
but rather ignorant managers who read in a magazine (so it must be true)
that security via obscurity was a good thing and so all 750 seats needed to
be migrated (in a 24/7/365 environment) to a new drive letter. We did it, it
worked, and no - it wasn't simple.

As for my standards, it is true that a great deal of the freeware doesn't
make the grade and those that do make the grade, if they have a donation
button, I tend to support them. My level of functionality doesn't suffer for
this and with the large number of applications that go on and off the
various systems here I'd say that the vast majority of pay-ware doesn't make
the grade either. And while you may (or may not) agree with the various
answers that I give, the one basic truth is that I'm not the one here asking
questions or having system problems.

Hopefully you took the time to read all that, perhaps you won't. Either way
it truly isn't important to me and while I'm certain that I'm full of
frailties this is one issue I'm quite sure of the solution and in this case,
unless it personally bothers them to see a different drive letter - leave it
alone...

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"At present I am, as you know, fairly busy, but I propose to devote my
declining years to the composition of a textbook which shall focus the
whole art of detection into one volume." - Sherlock Holmes