Hi, jrefactors.
Find Disk Management. It first appeared in Windows 2000 over 5 years ago,
but many users still haven't found it. Maybe the quickest way is to type at
the Run prompt: diskmgmt.msc
Disk Management is useful for many jobs: creating partitions and logical
drives; deleting them; formatting them; assigning and reassigning drive
letters...and more. But one of the best parts is its Help file. Explore
that - and don't stop at the first page. The Help file is not organized
like a textbook with everything in sequential order. Follow the hypertext
links. There is a LOT of information about hard disks and file systems
here!
Pay special attention to the terms "system partition" and "boot volume". In
short, the System Partition is where the action starts. This is the Active
(bootable) primary partition on the HD currently designated in the BIOS as
the boot device when the computer starts. This is typically C:, but it can
be any primary partition on any HD in the computer, depending on BIOS
settings, and it can change from one boot to the next if the hardware
configuration or CMOS settings are changed. The Boot Volume can be any
primary partition or any logical drive in an extended partition on any HD in
your computer. YOU decide this when you tell Setup where to install
Windows. Most often, especially in single-OS systems, this is also Drive
C:. It is entirely possible - typical, in fact - for Drive C: to serve as
both the System Partition and the Boot Volume, but this is within our
control when we install Windows.
In a dual-boot system, Drive C: typically remains the System Partition for
all installations, but each installation of WinNT4/2K/XP/Vista should go
into a separate volume. That volume becomes the Boot Volume for that
particular installation only, and that is where Setup will create the
\Windows folder and all its subfolders and files. When booted into WinXP
Pro on D:, for example, D: is the Boot Volume. But when you reboot into
WinXP Home on F:, then F: is the Boot Volume - and D: is "just another
volume". When you boot into WinXP, then you insert the CD-ROM and run Setup
to install a second copy of WinXP (or another version of Windows), you can
choose an existing drive letter for the new installation. But when you boot
from the CD to run Setup, it does not have access to your prior drive letter
assignments and it uses the rules built into Setup to decide which is Drive
C:, D:, etc. The System Partition MAY keep the letter C:, but, depending on
how many HDs, CD/DVD drives, USB devices, etc., are in the computer at the
time Setup is run, and how many of those HDs have an Active partition, and
other factors, you might find that your new WinXP sees F: as the System
Partition and installs your new Windows into H:. The only way to change
this is to shutdown, reconfigure your hardware, and run Setup again. :>(
Disk Management can reassign drive letters, as I said, but not for the
current System and Boot volumes. The Disk Management screen shows which
volumes are serving as System and Boot. Whatever letters are assigned here
will "stick" through reboots, unless a change in the hardware configuration
(like adding or removing a HD or USB drive) forces a change. But whenever
you reboot into a different Windows installation, the computer uses the
assignments made in the new OS's Registry. So it is quite possible that
Drive F: in WinXP Pro is Drive Z: when rebooted into WinXP Home - and vice
versa.
When you have only one physical HD, then Drive C: should always be the
System Partition and may also be the Boot Volume for one copy of Windows.
Other Windows installations will be in other volumes, but the boot process
will always start in C:. That's where the computer will find C:\NTLDR,
C:\NTDETECT.COM and C:\Boot.ini, which will tell it where to find the copy
you've chosen from the opening menu.
There's a lot more good information in the Resource Kits, which are books
from Microsoft Press and cost about $60, for each Windows version. You can
read the WinXP Pro version online for free, starting at:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...indows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prork_overview.asp
Pay special attention to Chapters 12, Disk Management, and 13, File Systems,
and to Part VI, System Troubleshooting.
RC
