If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Assigning Drive Letters
I just got a Fujitsu MPC3043AT (4.3GB) hard disk today, to add to my
rather lame PC (it currently has a 8.4GB Seagate Medalist). One of the IDE pins was broken off the PCB, but after some bending it seemed to stay in the right place - I probably should get it soldered back on properly, but hey - I'm a student (read: I HAVE NO MONEY!). It seems to work OK, and it's *very* quiet compared to my other drive. I just hope it's not one of those bad models which will inevitably die (anyone know about this one?), but I can't really complain - I did get it for free! Anyway, back to the POINT: The only real problem I have with it is the drive letter assignments. I previously just had the 8.4GB drive partitioned into two (C: and D, but now the Fujitsu drive has gone on to D:, with the second partion of the original drive moved to E: and the CD burner to F:. I'm not bothered about where the CD drive is, but I had a lot of shortcuts assigned to things on D: (now E and some programs are installed on it too, which is an annoying problem. Is it Windows (98SE) that assigned these drive letters, or the BIOS? I can't see anything on the BIOS menu about it - it doesn't even say anything about the partition at all. Anyway, can I change these letter assignments? I really would like to swap E: with D: if possible. Is there something in the registry that can change this? I've tried some 'tweaking' programs like TweakUI and X-Setup, but the closest things they have is to hide/show drives. Would I need to re-format anything? I can format the new drive again (it was already formatted in FAT32 when I got it, so I haven't done it myself yet), but I wouldn't want to have to go through the hassle of formatting the other drive. I'd really appreciate any help! Specs (in case you need them for some reason O.o): Celeron 366MHz/66MHz FSB (socket 370) Gigabyte GA-6VX7-4X m/b (AMI BIOS; latest update) 2 HDDs (mentioned above) 3 1/2" FDD ASUS CRW-5224A CD-RW drive Crappy "Real Power" 270W(?) PSU. Lame ATI AGP graphics card -- Zilog Jones Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Reformat the 4.3 GB drive with an extended partition only; no primary partition. The BIOS assigns hard drive letters, primary partitions first, then logical drives on extended partitions. Win9x can't change the letters, but WinNT based OSs (WinNT, Win2k, WinXP) can. Zilog Jones wrote: I just got a Fujitsu MPC3043AT (4.3GB) hard disk today, to add to my rather lame PC (it currently has a 8.4GB Seagate Medalist). One of the IDE pins was broken off the PCB, but after some bending it seemed to stay in the right place - I probably should get it soldered back on properly, but hey - I'm a student (read: I HAVE NO MONEY!). It seems to work OK, and it's *very* quiet compared to my other drive. I just hope it's not one of those bad models which will inevitably die (anyone know about this one?), but I can't really complain - I did get it for free! Anyway, back to the POINT: The only real problem I have with it is the drive letter assignments. I previously just had the 8.4GB drive partitioned into two (C: and D, but now the Fujitsu drive has gone on to D:, with the second partion of the original drive moved to E: and the CD burner to F:. I'm not bothered about where the CD drive is, but I had a lot of shortcuts assigned to things on D: (now E and some programs are installed on it too, which is an annoying problem. Is it Windows (98SE) that assigned these drive letters, or the BIOS? I can't see anything on the BIOS menu about it - it doesn't even say anything about the partition at all. Anyway, can I change these letter assignments? I really would like to swap E: with D: if possible. Is there something in the registry that can change this? I've tried some 'tweaking' programs like TweakUI and X-Setup, but the closest things they have is to hide/show drives. Would I need to re-format anything? I can format the new drive again (it was already formatted in FAT32 when I got it, so I haven't done it myself yet), but I wouldn't want to have to go through the hassle of formatting the other drive. I'd really appreciate any help! Specs (in case you need them for some reason O.o): Celeron 366MHz/66MHz FSB (socket 370) Gigabyte GA-6VX7-4X m/b (AMI BIOS; latest update) 2 HDDs (mentioned above) 3 1/2" FDD ASUS CRW-5224A CD-RW drive Crappy "Real Power" 270W(?) PSU. Lame ATI AGP graphics card -- Zilog Jones Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ -- Mike Walsh West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Windows looks for the first physical disk that has a primary partition and
assigns it a drive letter of C. Then it looks for the next physical disk that has a primary partition and assigns it a drive letter of D. It continues this way until there are no more physical disks with primary partitions. Then it goes back to the first physical disk and sees if it has any logical drives an the extended partion. If it does it lables that the next letter It proceeds through all the drives that way until all partitions are labled. You started with a single physical drive with a primary partion and a single extended partition. Thus you have volumes C and D on that drive. You added a new drive with a primary partion. So, it became D and the extended partion on the original drive became E Delete the primary partion on the new drive (fdisk from the cmd prompt, best with a boot floppy). Create an extended partion on the new drive with a single logical volume. This will result in the drive ordering you want. Marc Reinig System Solutions "Zilog Jones" kenshiro_this_address_is_ruined_by_spam_so_I_don' wrote in message news I just got a Fujitsu MPC3043AT (4.3GB) hard disk today, to add to my rather lame PC (it currently has a 8.4GB Seagate Medalist). One of the IDE pins was broken off the PCB, but after some bending it seemed to stay in the right place - I probably should get it soldered back on properly, but hey - I'm a student (read: I HAVE NO MONEY!). It seems to work OK, and it's *very* quiet compared to my other drive. I just hope it's not one of those bad models which will inevitably die (anyone know about this one?), but I can't really complain - I did get it for free! Anyway, back to the POINT: The only real problem I have with it is the drive letter assignments. I previously just had the 8.4GB drive partitioned into two (C: and D, but now the Fujitsu drive has gone on to D:, with the second partion of the original drive moved to E: and the CD burner to F:. I'm not bothered about where the CD drive is, but I had a lot of shortcuts assigned to things on D: (now E and some programs are installed on it too, which is an annoying problem. Is it Windows (98SE) that assigned these drive letters, or the BIOS? I can't see anything on the BIOS menu about it - it doesn't even say anything about the partition at all. Anyway, can I change these letter assignments? I really would like to swap E: with D: if possible. Is there something in the registry that can change this? I've tried some 'tweaking' programs like TweakUI and X-Setup, but the closest things they have is to hide/show drives. Would I need to re-format anything? I can format the new drive again (it was already formatted in FAT32 when I got it, so I haven't done it myself yet), but I wouldn't want to have to go through the hassle of formatting the other drive. I'd really appreciate any help! Specs (in case you need them for some reason O.o): Celeron 366MHz/66MHz FSB (socket 370) Gigabyte GA-6VX7-4X m/b (AMI BIOS; latest update) 2 HDDs (mentioned above) 3 1/2" FDD ASUS CRW-5224A CD-RW drive Crappy "Real Power" 270W(?) PSU. Lame ATI AGP graphics card -- Zilog Jones Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
On 22 Oct 2003 20:26:20 GMT, Knowing that it was a Hollywood invention
that lemmings jump off cliffs Zilog Jones kenshiro_this_address_is_ruined_by_spam_so_I_don' wrote : I just got a Fujitsu MPC3043AT (4.3GB) hard disk today, to add to my rather lame PC (it currently has a 8.4GB Seagate Medalist). One of the IDE pins was broken off the PCB, but after some bending it seemed to stay in the right place - I probably should get it soldered back on properly, but hey - I'm a student (read: I HAVE NO MONEY!). It seems to work OK, and it's *very* quiet compared to my other drive. I just hope it's not one of those bad models which will inevitably die (anyone know about this one?), but I can't really complain - I did get it for free! Anyway, back to the POINT: The only real problem I have with it is the drive letter assignments. I previously just had the 8.4GB drive partitioned into two (C: and D, but now the Fujitsu drive has gone on to D:, with the second partion of the original drive moved to E: and the CD burner to F:. I'm not bothered about where the CD drive is, but I had a lot of shortcuts assigned to things on D: (now E and some programs are installed on it too, which is an annoying problem. Is it Windows (98SE) that assigned these drive letters, or the BIOS? I can't see anything on the BIOS menu about it - it doesn't even say anything about the partition at all. Anyway, can I change these letter assignments? I really would like to swap E: with D: if possible. Is there something in the registry that can change this? I've tried some 'tweaking' programs like TweakUI and X-Setup, but the closest things they have is to hide/show drives. Would I need to re-format anything? I can format the new drive again (it was already formatted in FAT32 when I got it, so I haven't done it myself yet), but I wouldn't want to have to go through the hassle of formatting the other drive. I'd really appreciate any help! Specs (in case you need them for some reason O.o): Celeron 366MHz/66MHz FSB (socket 370) Gigabyte GA-6VX7-4X m/b (AMI BIOS; latest update) 2 HDDs (mentioned above) 3 1/2" FDD ASUS CRW-5224A CD-RW drive Crappy "Real Power" 270W(?) PSU. Lame ATI AGP graphics card http://www.hildrum.com/harddriveadd.html HTH -- Free Windows/PC help, http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html It's a G not a J in gmx for email Free songs download, http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 20:34:11 GMT, Mike Walsh
wrote: Reformat the 4.3 GB drive with an extended partition only; no primary partition. The BIOS assigns hard drive letters, primary partitions first, then logical drives on extended partitions. Win9x can't change the letters, but WinNT based OSs (WinNT, Win2k, WinXP) can. Thanks for the help. I had a feeling it would involve re-formatting... So, what exactly do I have to do in FDISK to get this? I've never used it before so I haven't a clue. I know I should use it from a Win98 bootdisk, but that's about all... -- Zilog Jones Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
You need to boot to DOS to run Fdisk. Use either a floppy, or press F8 while booting from the hard drive and select command prompt. Run Fdisk from the command prompt. There will be an item to select which drive to work with. Select the 4.3 GB drive, probably drive 2. Remove all partitions from the drive; there is probably only a primary partition. Create an extended partition using the entire drive. Create one or more logical drives on the extended partition. You will probably get a prompt about large hard drive support; answer yes to create a FAT32 drive. There will be numerous prompts to keep you from screwing this up. Make sure that you don't accidentally remove a partition from the wrong drive. After you have created a logical drive it needs to be formatted. You can format from DOS, or if Format is not on the floppy you can format from windows. Zilog Jones wrote: On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 20:34:11 GMT, Mike Walsh wrote: Reformat the 4.3 GB drive with an extended partition only; no primary partition. The BIOS assigns hard drive letters, primary partitions first, then logical drives on extended partitions. Win9x can't change the letters, but WinNT based OSs (WinNT, Win2k, WinXP) can. Thanks for the help. I had a feeling it would involve re-formatting... So, what exactly do I have to do in FDISK to get this? I've never used it before so I haven't a clue. I know I should use it from a Win98 bootdisk, but that's about all... -- Zilog Jones Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ -- Mike Walsh West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Help! WinXP can't tell that my 2nd hard drive is already formatted | FitPhillyGuy | General | 12 | September 26th 03 03:38 AM |
Seagate Hard Drive - Faulty? | Mike Walker | General | 2 | September 5th 03 02:06 AM |
Query: Program to reassign Drive letters after removing second harddrive? | V W Wall | General | 0 | August 9th 03 09:05 PM |
Query: Program to reassign Drive letters after removing second hard drive? | Some One | General | 1 | August 9th 03 07:05 PM |
Hard drive invisible after long "power off" | Peter | General | 7 | July 25th 03 09:39 AM |