Wrong drive letters...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rayb
  • Start date Start date
R

Rayb

I recently installed a new 80gb WD hd in addition to an
existing 40gb hd on a Win2000Pro machine (stand alone).
The new (80) drive was assigned the next available letter
which was "G". I read in the MSFT Knowledgebase article
223188 that editing the registry under mounted devices
that I could rename the drives to the proper sequence. I
wanted 80gb=drive c, 40gb-drive d, cdrw=drive e, and cdr-
drive f. After editing, I get duplicates of the 80gb and
each of the cdroms in this registry key. My computer and
device manager only show the correct drives in the proper
position. What can I do? Please help....Ray
 
Uh..... if you want the 80gig to be the C drive put your Win2k on it
and boot from it. For it is said, "Thou shalt boot from C and the
drive thou bootest from shall BE C {unless you have the ram to run
Knoppix OS from CD in which case you're surfing the net off A:} else
thou pissest off Winders".

The rest of it you're making needlessly complex.
Open Admin tools/Computer management/Disk management.
Right click the drive you want to change and select "Change drive
letter and path". Then change it. The drive letters in use are
already greyed out or not listed. Start with your D drive and change
it to Z {temporarily} then you have the D drive letter option
available to change the drive you actually want to become D.
In this way you can change all your drive letters to what you want
them to be except for the silly notion of your 40gig C drive coming up
as D drive.

I recently installed a new 80gb WD hd in addition to an
existing 40gb hd on a Win2000Pro machine (stand alone).
The new (80) drive was assigned the next available letter
which was "G". I read in the MSFT Knowledgebase article
223188 that editing the registry under mounted devices
that I could rename the drives to the proper sequence. I
wanted 80gb=drive c, 40gb-drive d, cdrw=drive e, and cdr-
drive f. After editing, I get duplicates of the 80gb and
each of the cdroms in this registry key. My computer and
device manager only show the correct drives in the proper
position. What can I do? Please help....Ray
Click to expand...

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Kurt, thanks for replying. My new 80gb is now the c: drive
and the 40gb is now the d: drive. However, the 80gb also
shows up as g: drive. I have done what you requested,
except through the registry (renaming drives) but the 80
still shows up at the end of the list also.

Ray



-----Original Message-----
Uh..... if you want the 80gig to be the C drive put your Win2k on it
and boot from it. For it is said, "Thou shalt boot from C and the
drive thou bootest from shall BE C {unless you have the ram to run
Knoppix OS from CD in which case you're surfing the net off A:} else
thou pissest off Winders".

The rest of it you're making needlessly complex.
Open Admin tools/Computer management/Disk management.
Right click the drive you want to change and select "Change drive
letter and path". Then change it. The drive letters in use are
already greyed out or not listed. Start with your D drive and change
it to Z {temporarily} then you have the D drive letter option
available to change the drive you actually want to become D.
In this way you can change all your drive letters to what you want
them to be except for the silly notion of your 40gig C drive coming up
as D drive.

I recently installed a new 80gb WD hd in addition to an
existing 40gb hd on a Win2000Pro machine (stand alone).
The new (80) drive was assigned the next available letter
which was "G". I read in the MSFT Knowledgebase article
223188 that editing the registry under mounted devices
that I could rename the drives to the proper sequence. I
wanted 80gb=drive c, 40gb-drive d, cdrw=drive e, and cdr-
drive f. After editing, I get duplicates of the 80gb and
each of the cdroms in this registry key. My computer and
device manager only show the correct drives in the proper
position. What can I do? Please help....Ray
Click to expand...

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Bait for spammers:
root@localhost
postmaster@localhost
admin@localhost
abuse@localhost
postmaster@[127.0.0.1]
~~~~~~
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I had to...
.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Kurt, thanks for replying. My new 80gb is now the c: drive
and the 40gb is now the d: drive. However, the 80gb also
shows up as g: drive. I have done what you requested,
except through the registry (renaming drives) but the 80
still shows up at the end of the list also.

Ray
Click to expand...

If the 40GB drive is the system drive (with Windows on it) change it back to
C:, and make the 80GB drive the D: drive. Delete the 80GB drive at the end of
the list. Reboot. You should see the drives in "normal order" -- with the
CD-drives after the D: drive.

I advise against using the Registry Editor to change drive names. Use Disk
Management instead (Start Up --> Settings --> Control Panel -->
Administrative Tools --> Computer Management --> Disk Management)

As Kurt said, do NOT make the W2K drive anything other than C:. It's not a
fatal problem if you do so, but there are a variety of consequences that are
too much hassle, for my taste anyway

Now, if you decide to partition the 80GB drive (something that I recommend -
the MS obsession with One Humungous Partition is a bad idea, for a variety of
reasons), W2K will assign "drive letters" as it usually does. Use Disk
Management to change the drive letters into whatever order you want.

Personally, I just leave the drive letters alone. I give each "drive" a
volume label, and that's enough to remind me what's on each drive.

Footnote: Strictly speaking, the "drive letters" are "volume letters" or
"partition letters." The drives are HD0, HD1, etc, depending on where they
are on the controller cables. BIOS queries each drive for type and partition
information (if applicable), and passes this information on to Windows, which
the assigns "drive letters" according to a standard scheme (one also used by
other OSs.) Just thought you might like to know. :-)

HTH&GL
 
Wolf, thanks for replyng. I got totally frustrated and
reverted everything back to its original place using
GoBack. Now, my 40gb is drive c: (disk 1) and my 80gb is
drive g: (disk 0). Drive g: is my system (boot)drive and
drive c: is a (pagefile). Both are NTFS. I tried to change
the c: drive designation in the administrator folder but
it won't let me because it's the system drive. Now what?
 
The problem was - "me". When I assigned new letters I was
using lower case. When I did that, the drive would be
duplicated with the uppercase letter as well as the
lowercase letter! I renamed them with uppercase and
deleted the extra drives and all is fine now. Thanks
everyone.
 
Wolf, thanks for replyng. I got totally frustrated and
reverted everything back to its original place using
GoBack. Now, my 40gb is drive c: (disk 1) and my 80gb is
drive g: (disk 0). Drive g: is my system (boot)drive and
drive c: is a (pagefile). Both are NTFS. I tried to change
the c: drive designation in the administrator folder but
it won't let me because it's the system drive. Now what?
Click to expand...

I thunk you said that G: is the boot drive???? There's something wierd here.
It looks like one of two things: a boot problem - you have the bootloader on
one drive, and the system itself on another. That would IMO require a
complete reinstall, but I would hope someone else can provide better advice.

Or you have a cabling problem, since C; should be on HD0

Note that BIOS looks for boot information on HD0 -- but it will boot from
whatever partition (drive) it's directed to boot from. The Master Boot Record
resides on HD0, and it directs BIOS to a boot partition, or a boot manager.

Here's the pattern that should work and give you the correct drive letter
designations, assuming the boot information and the system are on the same
drive.

--> 80GB drive: master on primary controller --> HD0 --> C:

--> 40GB drive: slave on primary controller --> HD1 --> D:

--> CD drives: master and slave on secondary controller --> E: and F: (These
will also be HD0 and HD1, but on the 2ndy controller, which is OK, since BIOS
keeps that straight.)

To achieve this, I would disconnect the 40GB and CD drives completely and
connect the 80GB as listed above. Make sure it is at the end of the cable,
and that its jumper is set to Master or Single Drive, as directed by the mfr.
Reboot. The drive should now show as C:. (Footnote) If it doesn't boot, then
you know that the requisite boot info is on the missing 40GB drive. In that
case, there will be an error message about a missing file, or the BSOD. In
that case, boot from the install CD, and repair the installation.

If the machine boots, power down and connect the 40GB drive, first setting
the 80GB drive to Master. It should be between the 80GB drive and the
controller, and its jumper should be set to Slave. Reboot. You should now see
the drives as C: and D: in proper order.

Power down and connect the CD drives, one at a time, reinstalling drivers if
necessary. You should now see the drives properly designated and in proper
order.

Footnote: If the drive still doesn't show as C:. try using DM to set it as
C:, and while you're at it, delete any other drives still showing. You want
W2K to detect and install the missing drives when you add them. If this
doesn't work, and the drive is still not C: on the next reboot, you've got
problems I can't diagnose, let alone help you with.

HTH&GL


--
Best Wishes,
Wolf Kirchmeir, Blind River ON
"Not that brains are everything --
you'll also need a skull to put them in." (Nancy Franklin, 1997)
<just one w and plain ca for correct address>
 
The problem was - "me". When I assigned new letters I was
using lower case. When I did that, the drive would be
duplicated with the uppercase letter as well as the
lowercase letter! I renamed them with uppercase and
deleted the extra drives and all is fine now. Thanks
everyone.
Click to expand...

Now that's good news - and a new one on me. I thought the lower case letters
were just your typos.

:-)



--
Best Wishes,
Wolf Kirchmeir, Blind River ON
"Not that brains are everything --
you'll also need a skull to put them in." (Nancy Franklin, 1997)
<just one w and plain ca for correct address>
 
How odd.....
I've never typed in a drive letter. Always used the drop down list of
available drive letters and never had a problem. I had no idea that
upper and lower case would matter typing the drive letter in as I've
never done it that way. Glad you got it nailed down!


The problem was - "me". When I assigned new letters I was
using lower case. When I did that, the drive would be
duplicated with the uppercase letter as well as the
lowercase letter! I renamed them with uppercase and
deleted the extra drives and all is fine now. Thanks
everyone.
Click to expand...

~~~~~~
Bait for spammers:
root@localhost
postmaster@localhost
admin@localhost
abuse@localhost
postmaster@[127.0.0.1]
~~~~~~
Remove "spamless" to email me.
The spam was just getting overwhelming.
I had to...
 
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