reinstalling Windows XP on E510

Question

Hi- I have a Dimension E510, with 250GB SATA hard drive, internal DVD-RW drive, stock PSU, front flash card reader, GeForce 7600GT, Soundblaster 2zs platinum, and several external USB peripherals (including the stock mouse and keyboard.) Most of which has no bearing on my question, but I could be missing something.

Three weeks ago, I reinstalled Windows XP on my computer- the restore process did not work, so I took the long route. My question is- why did Windows assign the hard drive the letter "H" instead of the prior "C"? It isn't causing any trouble, but it does seem funny. So, I thought I would ask, so when I next reinstall Windows (I know it will happen- might take a year or so, but...) can I get it back to the standard "C" designation.

Thanks!

Bob

sandanbob · Answer

bweed6- I had unhooked all peripherals (except mouse and keyboard) prior to the reinstallation. If you think it is important, I can list them. Thanks!

bweed6 · Answer

you mentioned 'several usb peripherals'. did you disconnect said peripherals when you did the re-install? it's possible your drive assignment is incorrect due to an external device being connected during the re-install.  as a general rule, when you re-load the OS or do a PC restore, you want to disconnect everything from the system except mouse, keyboard and monitor.

bweed6 · Answer

if you're certain the preipherals were not connected when you did your reinstall then they should not be a consideration. you didn't mention: is there anything assigned to C: ? if not you may be able to change the drive letter assignment by these steps here ~

Right click [My Computer]
Click [Manage] to open the Computer Management Console
In the top or lower right pane, right click the disk you want to change.
Fixed drives appear in the top and bottom pane. Removable drives appear in the bottom pane unless they have media inserted in which case they appear in both the upper and lower pane.
Select [Change Drive Letter and Path]
Click [Change]
Select the new letter from the drop down list box and click [OK]

shesagordie · Answer

sandanbob

The only procedure for changing the H: / boot drive [volume] assigned letter to C: /, is to reinstall windows XP. Running the boot drive as H: / should not hurt anything, except for the aggro, of having to look at it.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307844

Which drive was assigned C: /?

If you reinstall XP, try disabling the front flash card reader, maybe this is acting the same as a Zip drive does, when reinstalling XP.

Bev.

shesagordie · Answer

sandanbob   Bob.   Thank's for heads up.   Bev.

sandanbob · Answer

Thank you to both of you- turns out it called each of the slots on the flash reader a drive (C:-F:) and made the DVD-RW drive G:, and the hard drive H:. So, next time I install Windows, I will unhook the flash reader before starting, and reattach it after.

Have a great day!

Bob

Storage, Drives & Media

reinstalling Windows XP on E510

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