"Dman-x" wrote in message
...
I currently have my HD partitioned as follows:
C:\ - (System) D:\ (Programs & Games) E:\ (Storage)
and I would like to add another 20 HD that I have but if I do that, it
will take over my D Drive and bump all my partitions down. Is there
any way to stop this and have the 20 GB HD come out as F or some other
letter?? or do I have to redo my system to it doesnt screw up my
programs/games??? By the way I'm using Windows XP Home. Thanks

What happens when you plug in the new drive will depend on the partitions.
Partitions can be primary (and you can have up to 4 per physical drive), or
you can have one extended partition (and up to 3 primaries). An extended
partition lets you have a number of logical partitions. Anyway, when you put
the new drive in the drive letters will be allocated starting at device 0 of
cable 0 (this should probably be your current drive). The primary partitions
on that drive will get the first few drive letters. Then it will look at the
second device on that cable and allocate letters to the primary partition on
that drive, and then do the same for the second cable. Then it will go back
and assign drive letters to the logical partitions.

So if your 3 partitions are all primaries (and assuming that drive is device
0 on controller 0) they will retain their drive letters. If one or more is a
logical partition, they will move to after the primary partition(s) of the
other drive.

Fortunately none of that theory I made you read through matters much in your
case. Windows XP has a disk management feature that allows you to change
drive letters really easily. So if your drives do get mixed up, all you have
to do is right-click My Computer and choose Manage. Click on Disk Management
(under Storage) and your drives will show up. Right-click on any partition
and you can choose to change the drive letter.

Gareth