Can I swap D and E drive letter assignments?

[G Mulcaster]

Hi folks,

When picking up my new computer (with XP), I gave the vendor my backup
drive to install so I could transfer my data files.

Now the drive designations are:

CDRW - drive D
backup hard drive - drive E.

Is it possible to change these these around so my second hard drive
becomes D and my CDRW becomes E?

Thanks, Gary


Please remove XXX in email address if email reply is desired.

[Jim Macklin]

Yes, rename drive D:. the CD-RW F:, then name the second
hard drive D:, rename the CD-RW again if you want...If you
plan on partitioning your hard drives, name the CD-RW L: to
allow a fixed letter name assignment.

Right click on MY Computer and select manage.


"G Mulcaster" > wrote in message
...
| Hi folks,
|
| When picking up my new computer (with XP), I gave the
vendor my backup
| drive to install so I could transfer my data files.
|
| Now the drive designations are:
|
| CDRW - drive D
| backup hard drive -
drive E.
|
| Is it possible to change these these around so my second
hard drive
| becomes D and my CDRW becomes E?
|
| Thanks, Gary
|
|
| Please remove XXX in email address if email reply is
desired.

[Paul]

The one problem with reassigning the drive letters is that any application you
installed up to this point that will try and look at the CD drive for data will
now be pointing to the second hard drive. I think that is why NT/2000/XP keep
the CD drive letter the same whereas Win9x keeps moving the CD drive to the last
possible letter (unless you forced it to stay on a letter manually).

Paul

"Jim Macklin" > wrote in message
...
> Yes, rename drive D:. the CD-RW F:, then name the second
> hard drive D:, rename the CD-RW again if you want...If you
> plan on partitioning your hard drives, name the CD-RW L: to
> allow a fixed letter name assignment.
>
> Right click on MY Computer and select manage.
>
>
> "G Mulcaster" > wrote in message
> ...
> | Hi folks,
> |
> | When picking up my new computer (with XP), I gave the
> vendor my backup
> | drive to install so I could transfer my data files.
> |
> | Now the drive designations are:
> |
> | CDRW - drive D
> | backup hard drive -
> drive E.
> |
> | Is it possible to change these these around so my second
> hard drive
> | becomes D and my CDRW becomes E?
> |
> | Thanks, Gary
> |
> |
> | Please remove XXX in email address if email reply is
> desired.
>
>

[Jim Macklin]

His second drive is not his boot drive and all his apps
should be pointing to the boot drive. He is just looking
for data on the second drive.


"Paul" >
wrote in message ...
| The one problem with reassigning the drive letters is that
any application you
| installed up to this point that will try and look at the
CD drive for data will
| now be pointing to the second hard drive. I think that is
why NT/2000/XP keep
| the CD drive letter the same whereas Win9x keeps moving
the CD drive to the last
| possible letter (unless you forced it to stay on a letter
manually).
|
| Paul
|
| "Jim Macklin" >
wrote in message
| ...
| > Yes, rename drive D:. the CD-RW F:, then name the second
| > hard drive D:, rename the CD-RW again if you want...If
you
| > plan on partitioning your hard drives, name the CD-RW L:
to
| > allow a fixed letter name assignment.
| >
| > Right click on MY Computer and select manage.
| >
| >
| > "G Mulcaster" > wrote in message
| > ...
| > | Hi folks,
| > |
| > | When picking up my new computer (with XP), I gave the
| > vendor my backup
| > | drive to install so I could transfer my data files.
| > |
| > | Now the drive designations are:
| > |
| > | CDRW - drive D
| > | backup hard
drive -
| > drive E.
| > |
| > | Is it possible to change these these around so my
second
| > hard drive
| > | becomes D and my CDRW becomes E?
| > |
| > | Thanks, Gary
| > |
| > |
| > | Please remove XXX in email address if email reply is
| > desired.
| >
| >
|
|

[Alex Nichol]

G Mulcaster wrote:

>When picking up my new computer (with XP), I gave the vendor my backup
>drive to install so I could transfer my data files.
>
>Now the drive designations are: =20
>
> CDRW - drive D
> backup hard drive - drive E.
>
>Is it possible to change these these around so my second hard drive
>becomes D and my CDRW becomes E?

Control Panel - Admin Tools - Computer Management, select Disk
Management and look lower right for the graphic of the drive.
R-click in a partition (other than the one where the system is) or on a
CD icon, and you can 'change drive letter'


--=20
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K.

[G Mulcaster]

>Is it possible to change these these around so my second hard drive
>becomes D and my CDRW becomes E?
>
Thanks for the help. I have made the switch with no problems so far.

Regards, Gary
Please remove XXX in email address if email reply is desired.

[Paul]

Xref: kermit microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware:145097

My point I was trying to convey still remains. If he has loaded programs from
the CD drive and it was called D: drive, then the program will always go back to
D: drive looking for data because this is where the installation path points to.
Since he now has manually made the CD drive E: drive and the second hard drive
D: drive, the programs will not be able to locate the data from the CD. It is
immaterial that the second drive contains only data that he is looking for and
he won't be booting from it.

The only way that he will not be troubled is that no applications were ever
loaded prior to the drive letter change. His OS installation will still go back
to the D: drive though if it ever needs to retrieve data from the XP
installation disk.

Paul

"Jim Macklin" > wrote in message
...
> His second drive is not his boot drive and all his apps
> should be pointing to the boot drive. He is just looking
> for data on the second drive.
>
>
> "Paul" >
> wrote in message ...
> | The one problem with reassigning the drive letters is that
> any application you
> | installed up to this point that will try and look at the
> CD drive for data will
> | now be pointing to the second hard drive. I think that is
> why NT/2000/XP keep
> | the CD drive letter the same whereas Win9x keeps moving
> the CD drive to the last
> | possible letter (unless you forced it to stay on a letter
> manually).
> |
> | Paul
> |
> | "Jim Macklin" >
> wrote in message
> | ...
> | > Yes, rename drive D:. the CD-RW F:, then name the second
> | > hard drive D:, rename the CD-RW again if you want...If
> you
> | > plan on partitioning your hard drives, name the CD-RW L:
> to
> | > allow a fixed letter name assignment.
> | >
> | > Right click on MY Computer and select manage.
> | >
> | >
> | > "G Mulcaster" > wrote in message
> | > ...
> | > | Hi folks,
> | > |
> | > | When picking up my new computer (with XP), I gave the
> | > vendor my backup
> | > | drive to install so I could transfer my data files.
> | > |
> | > | Now the drive designations are:
> | > |
> | > | CDRW - drive D
> | > | backup hard
> drive -
> | > drive E.
> | > |
> | > | Is it possible to change these these around so my
> second
> | > hard drive
> | > | becomes D and my CDRW becomes E?
> | > |
> | > | Thanks, Gary
> | > |
> | > |
> | > | Please remove XXX in email address if email reply is
> | > desired.
> | >
> | >
> |
> |
>
>

[Jim Macklin]

That can be changed with a registry hack or perhaps just
TweakUI or using the browse command.


"Paul" >
wrote in message ...
| My point I was trying to convey still remains. If he has
loaded programs from
| the CD drive and it was called D: drive, then the program
will always go back to
| D: drive looking for data because this is where the
installation path points to.
| Since he now has manually made the CD drive E: drive and
the second hard drive
| D: drive, the programs will not be able to locate the data
from the CD. It is
| immaterial that the second drive contains only data that
he is looking for and
| he won't be booting from it.
|
| The only way that he will not be troubled is that no
applications were ever
| loaded prior to the drive letter change. His OS
installation will still go back
| to the D: drive though if it ever needs to retrieve data
from the XP
| installation disk.
|
| Paul
|
| "Jim Macklin" >
wrote in message
| ...
| > His second drive is not his boot drive and all his apps
| > should be pointing to the boot drive. He is just
looking
| > for data on the second drive.
| >
| >
| > "Paul" >
| > wrote in message
...
| > | The one problem with reassigning the drive letters is
that
| > any application you
| > | installed up to this point that will try and look at
the
| > CD drive for data will
| > | now be pointing to the second hard drive. I think
that is
| > why NT/2000/XP keep
| > | the CD drive letter the same whereas Win9x keeps
moving
| > the CD drive to the last
| > | possible letter (unless you forced it to stay on a
letter
| > manually).
| > |
| > | Paul
| > |
| > | "Jim Macklin" >
| > wrote in message
| > | ...
| > | > Yes, rename drive D:. the CD-RW F:, then name the
second
| > | > hard drive D:, rename the CD-RW again if you
want...If
| > you
| > | > plan on partitioning your hard drives, name the
CD-RW L:
| > to
| > | > allow a fixed letter name assignment.
| > | >
| > | > Right click on MY Computer and select manage.
| > | >
| > | >
| > | > "G Mulcaster" > wrote in
message
| > | > ...
| > | > | Hi folks,
| > | > |
| > | > | When picking up my new computer (with XP), I gave
the
| > | > vendor my backup
| > | > | drive to install so I could transfer my data
files.
| > | > |
| > | > | Now the drive designations are:
| > | > |
| > | > | CDRW -
drive D
| > | > | backup hard
| > drive -
| > | > drive E.
| > | > |
| > | > | Is it possible to change these these around so my
| > second
| > | > hard drive
| > | > | becomes D and my CDRW becomes E?
| > | > |
| > | > | Thanks, Gary
| > | > |
| > | > |
| > | > | Please remove XXX in email address if email reply
is
| > | > desired.
| > | >
| > | >
| > |
| > |
| >
| >
|
|

[Paul]

"Jim Macklin" > wrote in message
...
> That can be changed with a registry hack or perhaps just
> TweakUI or using the browse command.
>
OS by itself is not hard. I have done that myself. But for every program? What
if he had 50 to 100 programs installed? trying to find every occurance of the
CD path is not that easy (trust me, I know. I did this when I added a drive to
a well established Win98 machine). It took me a couple of hours to track down
every place that every program put a reference to the CD path and change it to
reflect the new drive letter.

Paul

>
> "Paul" >
> wrote in message ...
> | My point I was trying to convey still remains. If he has
> loaded programs from
> | the CD drive and it was called D: drive, then the program
> will always go back to
> | D: drive looking for data because this is where the
> installation path points to.
> | Since he now has manually made the CD drive E: drive and
> the second hard drive
> | D: drive, the programs will not be able to locate the data
> from the CD. It is
> | immaterial that the second drive contains only data that
> he is looking for and
> | he won't be booting from it.
> |
> | The only way that he will not be troubled is that no
> applications were ever
> | loaded prior to the drive letter change. His OS
> installation will still go back
> | to the D: drive though if it ever needs to retrieve data
> from the XP
> | installation disk.
> |
> | Paul
> |
> | "Jim Macklin" >
> wrote in message
> | ...
> | > His second drive is not his boot drive and all his apps
> | > should be pointing to the boot drive. He is just
> looking
> | > for data on the second drive.
> | >
> | >
> | > "Paul" >
> | > wrote in message
> ...
> | > | The one problem with reassigning the drive letters is
> that
> | > any application you
> | > | installed up to this point that will try and look at
> the
> | > CD drive for data will
> | > | now be pointing to the second hard drive. I think
> that is
> | > why NT/2000/XP keep
> | > | the CD drive letter the same whereas Win9x keeps
> moving
> | > the CD drive to the last
> | > | possible letter (unless you forced it to stay on a
> letter
> | > manually).
> | > |
> | > | Paul
> | > |
> | > | "Jim Macklin" >
> | > wrote in message
> | > | ...
> | > | > Yes, rename drive D:. the CD-RW F:, then name the
> second
> | > | > hard drive D:, rename the CD-RW again if you
> want...If
> | > you
> | > | > plan on partitioning your hard drives, name the
> CD-RW L:
> | > to
> | > | > allow a fixed letter name assignment.
> | > | >
> | > | > Right click on MY Computer and select manage.
> | > | >
> | > | >
> | > | > "G Mulcaster" > wrote in
> message
> | > | > ...
> | > | > | Hi folks,
> | > | > |
> | > | > | When picking up my new computer (with XP), I gave
> the
> | > | > vendor my backup
> | > | > | drive to install so I could transfer my data
> files.
> | > | > |
> | > | > | Now the drive designations are:
> | > | > |
> | > | > | CDRW -
> drive D
> | > | > | backup hard
> | > drive -
> | > | > drive E.
> | > | > |
> | > | > | Is it possible to change these these around so my
> | > second
> | > | > hard drive
> | > | > | becomes D and my CDRW becomes E?
> | > | > |
> | > | > | Thanks, Gary
> | > | > |
> | > | > |
> | > | > | Please remove XXX in email address if email reply
> is
> | > | > desired.
> | > | >
> | > | >
> | > |
> | > |
> | >
> | >
> |
> |
>
>