Local drive as E:

  • Thread starter Thread starter blemond
  • Start date Start date
B

blemond

Hi,
My hard drive recently crashed. I received a replacement and installed
it, reconnecting the cables properly and reinstalling XP. XP for some
reason i have yet to figure out assigned the local (and only) hard
drive as E:.

Will this cause any problems? I'm having a hard time finding a
definitive answer out here on the web, and I've been experiencing some
general sluggishness from my machine since the new drive was put in.

Thanks,
BL
 
Did you perhaps have the optical drive(s) on the primary IDE, and install
the new HD on the secondary IDE? So, for example, if the primary IDE had
two optical drives, I imagine the install could assign them C: and D:, and
your HD on the secondary as E:. I don't recall ever seeing an XP install as
anything but C: if the installation HD was on the primary IDE (master), and
optical(s) on primary slave, or better yet, secondary IDE (master and/or
slave).

It's not necessarily a problem if Windows XP is E:, it will work, but I do
prefer using C: since it can be convenient at times. Many applications will
assume C:, and having to manually change to E: each time can be a nuisance.
But again, it shouldn't cause a problem w/ day to day operations.

Jim
 
Try "Control Panel" - "Administrative Tools" - "Computer Management" - "Disk
Management" -" Show Volumes" -right click "Change Drive Letter and Paths"
also cofirm "status is healthy for your disks. (note you require
Administration Rights to preform this change)
 
Was ANY removable drive, USB most likely, OR ZIP drive attached at the
time of install?
 
blemond said:
Hi,
My hard drive recently crashed. I received a replacement and installed
it, reconnecting the cables properly and reinstalling XP. XP for some
reason i have yet to figure out assigned the local (and only) hard
drive as E:.

Will this cause any problems? I'm having a hard time finding a
definitive answer out here on the web, and I've been experiencing some
general sluggishness from my machine since the new drive was put in.

Thanks,
BL
Click to expand...

It is a cosmetic issue only. I'm guessing you had a card reader(s), external
drive, or printer with a card reader(s) hooked up when you installed
Windows. Windows will work fine as drive E:. To change it you would have to
remove the drives/readers that were hooked up when you installed Windows
then do a full reinstall deleting and recreating the partition. When
installing Windows it is a good idea to disconnect all external devices and
only have the hardware needed to install Windows connected i.e. keyboard,
mouse, monitor, internal drive that Windows is to be installed on, floppy
drive, and CD/DVD drive. Hooking up anything else may cause the issue you
are experiencing.

Kerry
 
Thanks for the response, Jim.

Unfortunately, no, I didn't have another drive installed as C: when
installed the new HD.

A bit of context: I took the exact same setup the computer was shippe
to me originally a year ago. The hard drive crashed (cyclic redundanc
errors led to unmountable boot volume). Dell sent me a new drive and
merely unplugged the old drive and installed the new one into exactl
the same configuration.

I the just powered it up and installed Windows XP Professional on it
It just 'decided' to make the new drive the E. I can't figure out why
The good news is Windows is installed on E as well, so at least that'
aligned.

Any other ideas, or other feelings on the E versus C angle
 
Thanks for the response, Jim.

Unfortunately, no, I didn't have another drive installed as C: when I
installed the new HD.

A bit of context: I took the exact same setup the computer was shipped
to me originally a year ago. The hard drive crashed (cyclic redundancy
errors led to unmountable boot volume). Dell sent me a new drive and I
merely unplugged the old drive and installed the new one into exactly
the same configuration.

I the just powered it up and installed Windows XP Professional on it.
It just 'decided' to make the new drive the E. I can't figure out why.
The good news is Windows is installed on E as well, so at least that's
aligned.

Any other ideas, or other feelings on the E versus C angle?
Click to expand...

You haven't mentioned whether drive letters C and D are used. Are
they assigned to anything?
If you boot from the Windows XP CD and pretend to do a new
installation and stop at the screen that shows the disks and their
partitions, letter C should be assigned to the partition on the new
disk.
 
Kerry Brown said:
It is a cosmetic issue only. I'm guessing you had a card reader(s),
external drive, or printer with a card reader(s) hooked up when you
installed Windows. Windows will work fine as drive E:. To change it you
would have to remove the drives/readers that were hooked up when you
installed Windows then do a full reinstall deleting and recreating the
partition. When installing Windows it is a good idea to disconnect all
external devices and only have the hardware needed to install Windows
connected i.e. keyboard, mouse, monitor, internal drive that Windows is to
be installed on, floppy drive, and CD/DVD drive. Hooking up anything else
may cause the issue you are experiencing.

Kerry

Also check that "new" disk has only 1 partition.
Click to expand...
 
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