No drive "D"?

[Gramma]

"My Computer" shows: C, Local; A, Floffy; F, Removal Disk; and E, DVD-RAM.
What has happened to my "D" drive?

I can use the E (once called D) drive for disks, but when my computer is
shut down, I can only start up if I hold the D/F drive button and then it
starts up when the disk drawer opens!

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

you might try going
to control panel>
admin tools>
computer management.

you will likely find
all your drives under
the disk management
section.

by right clicking on the
individual representations
you will get additional options
like reassigning/arranging
drive letters.

just be sure to leave the
system drive as c, else
you will have a small mess
on your hands.


if by chance that lost drive
you are looking for still does
not show up in computer
management, then you will
have to check your bios and
see if it is being acknowledged
by the machine.

check your computer manual
or your computers homesite
about the bios.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

 

[Gramma]

Thanks for prompt reply.
Disk Mgt: Computer Mgt (Local)
Then under Storage>Disk Mgt:
Disk 0 (C Partition, Basic, NTFS, Healthy
CD-Rom 0 DVD: Owner_1(E, Partition, Basic, CDFS, Healthy

Strange because I cannot sign on as "Owner" since computer repair, and then
I would know zero about editing the BIOS.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Thanks for prompt reply.
Disk Mgt: Computer Mgt (Local)
Then under Storage>Disk Mgt:
Disk 0 (C Partition, Basic, NTFS, Healthy
CD-Rom 0 DVD: Owner_1(E, Partition, Basic, CDFS, Healthy

Strange because I cannot sign on as "Owner" since computer repair,

What computer repair? This is not information you mentioned previously.
Is the lack of the D drive coincidental with this repair?

What exactly was the D drive? Was it a CD/DVD or a hard disk partition?

What do you mean by the "D/F button"?

 

[Gerry]

Gramma

I agree with the questions Patrick has asked.

The suggestion which follows help.

Download TweakUI, one of the MS powertoys, from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

In TweakUi select My Computer, Drives. Check the box before D.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

ok, so it seems you have
"c" and "e"

but you seem to say that
use to have a "d".

the question which only you
can resolve is what exactly use
to be your "d" drive.

there are 2 possibilities:

one possibility was that
you had only 1 hard disk
and it was partitioned in
half.

thus you had a c drive/partition
and a d drive/partition, both
of which were on a single
hard disk.

machine wise the single
disk would be identified
as disk 0

the other possibility was that
you had 2 hard disks,

one hard disk was your c drive
and the other disk was your
d drive.

machine wise the disks
above would be identified
as disk 0 and the other as
disk 1, respectfully.


--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

 

[Gerry]

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º

There are a number of possibilities. DVD / CD and removable drives take
drive letters as well as floppy and hard drives and volumes within a
hard drive. Windows XP and Vista can see different drives as C (this
will not apply here) so drives can change with the addition and removal
of drives. Speculation does not really answer the question.

--



Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Gramma]

I search on changing drive letters and changed the "f" to "D". Now showing
under Comp Mgt (Local)>Disk Mgt is "(C Partition, Basic, NTFS, Healthy
(Sys)..." but the one with "Owner..." info has disappeared.

Then below in the grey area: Disk 0, Basic, 74.52 GB, Online with lighted
area showing (C 7452GB NTFS (Healthly ....)
below that: Disk1, Removable (F, No media, but nothing lighted next to it..
below that: CD-Rom 0, DVD(D, No media, but nothing highliighted next to it.

D drive seems to be working well; however, cannot say about F drive since I
had just reinstalled WIN XP Home Ed (meant to do repair from original disk)
and lost all my programs and do not have a disk yet to reinstall my digital
camera.
But reinstalling all programs--printer, scanner, word, Quicken, etc but lost
MS Picture It! Premium Photo 9 which has been important to edit e-mail photos
of greatgrandchildren, choir, etc--well, not too bad for an 81-year-old would
you not say!

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

yes, it is easy to reassign
drive letters.

however, when programs
get installed, the drive letter
is hard coded.

for example, if you had
inadvertently changed the
letter c to d,

then all the programs that
were on the c and hard coded
to run from the c, would no
longer work because the new
drive letter for their location
is now d.

but if you change it back to
c, then the programs would
work fine.

likewise with your f drive.

if you installed software to
the f, then the drive letter f
is hard coded for them.

so if you change their f to
say d, then the software
would not run from the f
any more.

the solution is to change
the letter back to f.

the exception to the above
are basic files, personal ones,
pics, letters, doc's, etc...

anything that is not a program
in which software was installed
and hard coded the drive letter,
can be moved around easily,
because they are just files and
not programs.

perhaps, it is best to leave
well enough alone and keep
the f.

it seems that you have a disk1
and this use to be your drive d,
but now its your drive f.

if you cherish the software
you installed on drive f, then
leave it as is and don't change
it to d.

but if you want a drive d, then
change it and you might as well
delete all the software you installed
to it, since they cannot work unless
the space is defined as drive f.

I think for an elderly person, you
did quite well.

incidentally, you mentioned that
you installed windows again and
on drive f ?

if so, then you should now have
a boot menu with two options to
either boot from the windows on
the c drive or windows on the f
drive.
--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

 

[Gramma]

Oh, oh. Did I get in serious trouble? Is taking some time to digest
concept, but so far printer is working fine but problem with Visioneer
scanner. So going to uninstall and reinstall on this D drive.
Need guidance on your information, so please stay tuned.

Thought I'd try Repair from my OS disk for Win XP Home edition, but I needed
a password and don't recall ever entering a password.

I'll be back later.

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

hmm?

well, the question is
why are you re-installing
windows on the d drive?

don't you already have
one on the c drive?

if you do have windows
on the c drive, then you
simply need to ensure
all your other programs,
like the scanner are installed
to the operating system
on your c drive.

in regards to your quasi
d/f drive, what exactly are
you trying to accomplish
on this disk?

if it is primarily used for
regular files, like your
docs, pics, etc, then you
may as well leave it alone.



--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

 

[Gramma]

I noticed that when I changed the drive name to D that a new "computer name"
came up--but I changed it back to the first one. How does that affect access
to boot?
And...how does changing and using different User names affect booting to a
drive? I don't understand how I can boot from both drives as you say.

If I have partitioned to have two drives, does that affect the volume
available for use; i.e., can one partition be deleted to add more volume to
use?

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

changing the drive letter is simple
for us, but installed software
will see the new drive letter as
a totally new location and not
function.

so you basically have two options:

either reinstall the software under
the new drive letter designation or
leave the original drive letter designation
as is, so that the installed software
can continue to function.

----------------

the other question I had was
whether or not you had installed
windows to the c drive previously.

it sounds like to me that you
did have windows on the c drive
but then reinstalled windows on
the second hard disk that was
designated as the f drive at the time.

is the above correct?

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

 

[Gramma]

Gerry, did you get my past post? After I clicked "post" a blank white screen
appeared instead of the one saying my post was being entered.

 

[Gerry]

Gramma

What last post. My last post suggested:

Download TweakUI, one of the MS powertoys, from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

In TweakUi select My Computer, Drives. Check the box before D.

I gave up trying to follow the suggestions made by db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~