NTFS makes main disk F

[Chris Purvis]

When I first got XP, I had intended to use NTFS. However,
I ran into some strange issues. For some reason, when my
C: drive is NTFS, the system makes it the next drive below
my CDROMs. (So it was showing as F Nothing I did would
make it the c: drive. The system was installed with FAT32,
then I used the command. "Convert c: /fs:ntfs" to convert
the drive. Before the conversion it was fine. After much
headaches and troubleshooting, I reinstalled with NTFS
from the beginning. Same result. Finally I gave up and
reinstalled with FAT32. Funny thing was that my backup
drive (Another physical hard drive) was showing as drive
C: (It was FAT32)

With my main drive as F:, it was causing all kinds of
problems. Some programs automatically try to install to C:
and cause problems. Any ideas what I was doing wrong?

 

[Antonio]

what you needed to do was remove the other drive from your system (just
unplug the power cable) before you install the OS. What happens is that if
two drives are plugged in and there is data or system information on the
drive or if the drive is set as master it will automatically assign C to the
drive. the easiest thing to do is just unplugg the drive and install XP then
after the installation plugg the power cable back in

Let me know if you have any problems

 

[Chris Purvis]

Thanks for the info. I will give this a try as soon as I
can. It's odd that this behaviour only takes place when
using NTFS and not with FAT32. The other drive is strictly
data and has no system files nor is it marked as an active
device. Both drives run off the same IDE cable. WINXP
drive is master, data is slave.

One other thing that concerns me is that the CDROM drives
are marked above the main drive when I do this. So I'm
wondering if they will still be above it even without the
other hard drive connected. I wouldn't be able to
disconnect them since I will of course need them to
install. Unless maybe I install the system, then
disconnect all 3 devices (2 cdroms and the HDD) and boot
up to make the drive c:, then shutdown and connect them.

In any case, you've given me more troubleshooting options
to try. Thanks again.

Chris

 

[Bob Harris]

I agree that unplugging the other drive should help. But, also unplug any
internal, potentially writeable disks, like ZIP drives. Removing the
cartridge is not sufficient; elecrically disconnect the drive. Also, remove
all external hrad drives (USB and/or firewire).