Boot drive is E: , Storage drive is C: - how to switch them?

[pol II]

I made a boo boo when installing the OS (Windows XP SP2) on my boot drive, 74gig Raptor. Reading Mechbgone's tutorial (after the fact):

mech's other tips for Windows installation

Windows Vista & XP: before you start, unplug all extra hard drives, if you have more than one. Also unplug all USB drives, including memory-card readers. This ensures that drive letter C: is available for your main hard drive.

Well I installed with both my main drive, the 74gig Raptor, and my storage drive, a 250gig Seagate. Now, Windows has labeled the storage drive as "C", and the main drive as "E". How can I switch these? And for that matter, what happened with the assignation of a "D" drive? Thanks for hepling.

System:
e6550
Intel DP35DP mobo
2 x 1gig Corsair VS
8800gt
74gid Raptor
250gig seagate
Ben-q 1640

 

[robisbell]

well, I've installed and reinstalled XP with a 2nd drive connected. and I've never had an issue of like you or mech's talking abut, I've installed XP with dual drive setups over 60 times since xp has come out and never had that issue.

I'd check to see what they are jumpered as if they are ide, and which one is in the primary plug, and which is set up as the 1st drive in BIOS, if they are sata.

 

[pol II]

Okay, thanks. They are both SATA. The Raptor (containing OS) is in SATA port 0, and the Seagate is in SATA port 1. IN Boot device priority in BIOS, the raptor is first, and the seagate is second. It seems like everything is set up just fine, hmm.

Also, I unplugged the seagate (non-OS), and rebooted using only the raptor; it is still labeled as "E:". So I just plugged the seagate back in now.

 

[robisbell]

boot up with both, go into disk management which under comuter management and change the c: to f: and see if you can change e: to c:, if not, then you'll have to wipe the drive completely and reformat and reload.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: pol II
I made a boo boo when installing the OS (Windows XP SP2) on my boot drive, 74gig Raptor. Reading Mechbgone's tutorial (after the fact):

mech's other tips for Windows installation

Windows Vista & XP: before you start, unplug all extra hard drives, if you have more than one. Also unplug all USB drives, including memory-card readers. This ensures that drive letter C: is available for your main hard drive.

Well I installed with both my main drive, the 74gig Raptor, and my storage drive, a 250gig Seagate. Now, Windows has labeled the storage drive as "C", and the main drive as "E". How can I switch these? And for that matter, what happened with the assignation of a "D" drive? Thanks for hepling.

System:
e6550
Intel DP35DP mobo
2 x 1gig Corsair VS
8800gt
74gid Raptor
250gig seagate
Ben-q 1640

Your BIOS is set so that the drive C: is marked as the first drive the BIOS presents to Windows, hence causing this issue. You won't be able to easily change the drive letters around. If this is that much of an issue for you (why?) then I suggest a reinstall... after you make sure of where you're installing (to).

 

[pol II]

Thanks guys. I renamed the secondary drive to "F", and the boot drive remains as "E", as robisbell suggested. It is an issue for me insofar as I like my boot drive to be labeled as a letter in the alphabet preceding storage drives. Its not a big enough issue to reinstall though, just to make it read "C:".

 

[robisbell]

when you do, fdisk the drive and redo the partition and unless there's something you've omitted, windows should see it as C:

when you tried to change E to C it would not let you, I am going to assume from your post?

 

[pol II]

Originally posted by: robisbell
when you do, fdisk the drive and redo the partition and unless there's something you've omitted, windows should see it as C:

when you tried to change E to C it would not let you, I am going to assume from your post?

That's right, it wouldn't let me.

Everything is cool now; as long as the drives appear as boot and storage, from left to right as I see it in My Computer, things are dandy. Thanks again for your help.

 

[robisbell]

well, let us know if we can do anything else, I'm concerned that the drives E and not C, but if you're okay with it, that's what matters.