Hi, Ash.
You've answered your own question, I'm afraid. :>(
Disk Management can change drive letters for any volume EXCEPT the System
Partition and the Boot Volume. (The terminology here is counter-intuitive
and often misused, even by Microsoft. We BOOT from the SYSTEM partition and
keep the operating SYSTEM files on the BOOT volume. The System Partition
must be the Active primary partition (almost always Drive C
, but any
primary partition or logical drive on any HD can be the boot volume for one
Windows installation.)
The only way that MS provides to change the drive letter for the system and
logical volumes is to reinstall Windows. See:
Cannot Change System Volume Drive Letter After Setup
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;223769
I haven't used Partition Magic in so long that I've forgotten, but I think
it used to do this. I'm sure others here can tell you if it still does, or
if there is another third-party solution.
Except for the system and boot volumes, though, you can use Disk Management
to assign letters. I usually like to reserve the early letters for HD
volumes by assigning CD/DVD drives, USB drives, etc., letters much further
out in the alphabet, like V: for DVD or W: for a CD writer.
RC