Drive Letters Changed???

Hello,

My C: hard drive(HD) crashed, and purchased a new one and did a clean install of XP. Before the crash, my main HD was C:, my backup HD was H:, my DVD player was D:, and my DVD writer was E:.

After installing the new HD, my main HD (the new one) is showing up as H:, my backup is showing up as C:, my DVD player is showing up as F:, and my DVD writer is showing up as G:.

Does anyone know why this happened, and how to fix it?

A search of the forums seemed to indicate to me that I can NOT at this point change the HD letters (for example, I can't change the C: to H: and vice versa). I can live with remember that my H: is what I have (since getting my first computer) always thought of as the C: drive.

But, I'd really like to get the DVD player back to D: and the DVD/CD writer back to E:. And really, I'd like to know how the media drives changed?

Any ideas?

 

I believe you get to choose which is which when installing the operating system.
If you have xp installed then read this to fix your problem: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844

 

Why sure you can, to change a HDD letter do the following -

control panel
admin tools
computer management
disk management
right click the drive and select change letter.

 

stop posting multiple threads....

 

As I mentioned, after searching I discovered this method. But, my search also appeared to indicate that you couldn't switch these drives.

When I right click on the H: drive, for example, and click "Change Drive Letter and Paths" it lists the H: drive and options to "add" "Change" and "Remove." If I hit "change" it says "Windows cannot modify the drive letter of your system volume or boot volume."

The same thing happens if I right click on the C: drive.

As far as the DVD/CD writers go, I don't see a similar option for changing their designation. If I go to Device Manager and right click on my Plextor PX-708A (DVD writer) for example, the only options I get are "update driver" "disable" "uninstall" "Scan for hardware changes" and "properties." There isn't a similar "change" option.

 

Thanks Acorn, but as I described above, it does not allow me to change it.

 

Just to throw my two cents' worth in , perhaps this http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q223188 microsoft support article might be of some help. I read through it briefly, and it appears to apply to cases where a drive letter has been changed (it specifically says that it does not apply where a drive letter has not changed) and where the disk management utility cannot be used to change the drive letter back.

Be careful however! The fix described in that article involves editing the registry, so back everything up first (including a separate backup of the entire registry - unlike in fashion, belts & suspenders is always "fashionable" where tinkering with the registry is involved ).

 

any time I hear the word "registry" I go no further .

 

it sounds like c: might still has it's boot infomation(mbr)/os on it and your laptop is just confused.............

try booting up, go thru steps above to change drive letter

try changing C: to something like K or L, that should free up the C letter>> then change your H: to C if you want-- it should make C available to you that way. You may want to "explore" C b4 you do any changing and save files, data etc off it. After you change the letters around, you may want to format your old C and make it just"logical" and not primary/active>> try using the Disk Manager in Vista first, then Acronis Disk Director or Paragon.......

This is a pretty common problem we run into when a os in installed and there is an available hard drive besides C>> it usually installs to that drive........

 

Aww, come on in, the water's fine :wink:

 

I had the same thing happen to me last week. Here's the thread

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=202152

Hope it helps. I'm not sure you can reassign the letter of the root drive in Administrative Tools. Also, some of the Microsoft articles I read on the issue advise against trying to go into the registry to change the boot drive letter if you installed to the letter currently assigned, as opposed to the drive letter getting changed by some glitch after the installation.

I just decided it would be easier to reinstall, which solved the issue. However, you may have a different problem.