To initialize new disks
1.. Open Computer Management (Local).
2.. In the console tree, click Disk Management.
Where?
a.. Computer Management (Local)
b.. Storage
c.. Disk Management
3.. Right-click the disk you want to initialize, and then click Initialize
Disk.
4.. In the Initialize Disk dialog box, select the disk(s) to initialize.
If you are running Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, you can select whether to
use the master boot record (MBR) or GUID partition table (GPT) partition
style.
The disk is initialized as a basic disk.
Notes
a.. To open Computer Management, click Start, and then click Control
Panel. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer
Management.
b.. You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the
Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer
is connected to a network, network policy settings might also prevent you
from completing this procedure.
c.. New disks appear as Not Initialized. Before you can use a disk, you
must first initialize it. If you start Disk Management after adding a disk,
the Initialize Disk Wizard appears so you can initialize the disk.
To assign, change, or remove a drive letter
Using the Windows interface
1.. Open Computer Management (Local).
2.. In the console tree, click Disk Management.
Where?
a.. Computer Management (Local)
b.. Storage
c.. Disk Management
3.. Right-click a partition, logical drive, or volume, and then click
Change Drive Letter and Paths.
4.. Do one of the following:
a.. To assign a drive letter, click Add, click the drive letter you want
to use, and then click OK.
b.. To modify a drive letter, click it, click Change, click the drive
letter you want to use, and then click OK.
c.. To remove a drive letter, click it, and then click Remove.
Important
a.. Be careful when making drive-letter assignments because many MS-DOS
and Windows programs make references to a specific drive letter. For
example, the path environment variable shows specific drive letters in
conjunction with program names.
Notes
a.. To open Computer Management, click Start, and then click Control
Panel. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer
Management.
b.. You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the
Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer
is connected to a network, network policy settings might also prevent you
from completing this procedure.
c.. A computer can use up to 26 drive letters. Drive letters A and B are
reserved for floppy disk drives, but you can assign these letters to
removable drives if the computer does not have a floppy disk drive. Hard
disk drives in the computer receive letters C through Z, while mapped
network drives are assigned drive letters in reverse order (Z through B).
d.. You cannot change the drive letter of the system volume or boot
volume.
e.. An error message may appear when you attempt to assign a letter to a
volume, CD-ROM drive, or other removable media device, possibly because it
is in use by a program in the system. If this happens, close the program
accessing the volume or drive, and then click the Change Drive Letter and
Paths command again.
f.. Windows 2000 and Windows XP allow the static assignment of drive
letters on volumes, partitions, and CD-ROM drives. This means that you
permanently assign a drive letter to a specific partition, volume, or CD-ROM
drive. When you add a new hard disk to an existing computer system, it will
not affect statically assigned drive letters.
g.. You can also mount a local drive at an empty folder on an NTFS volume
using a drive path instead of a drive letter.
--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-
