HDD Partitioning Questions

[Eureka]

Hey,

I was wondering if you guys could help me fix this partitioning quirk. I have two hard drives, my main 120gb drive, and my bigger 250gb storage drive. Right now, I have a 20gb partition and a 100gb partition on the main drive. The 250 drive has a full partition on it. In my settings, I have IDE Main drive as the 120 and the Secondary as 250.

What I want is:
C: 20gb
D: 100gb
E: 250gb

However, what normally happens when I install windows is that it reads it as:
C: 20gb
D: 250gb
E: 100gb

I have to check the jumpering on each one and the partition types, but what could be causing it to read like that, and how do I get to read the way I want?

Yes, I know I can just change drive names in Windows, but I reformat often enough that it would help in the long run.

 

[seemingly random]

In windows, drive letters can be changed with "Disk Management' found in "Computer Management' on the start menu or by running (cmd-R) "diskmgmt.msc".

For example, if you want to swap D: and E: you would first right click the D: volume and 'remove' the drive letter. Then change the E: volume to D:. Finish up by adding a drive letter to the volume that doesn't have one.

Close all other programs before doing this. Although it's not necessary, I reboot after a drive letter change.

And, of course, any shortcuts, etc. that used these drive letters will be invalid.

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
And, of course, any shortcuts, etc. that used these drive letters will be invalid.

Partition Magic (and I asume others) have a utility that will fix that.

To the OP:
That's just he way windows does it. I just use a label name that is descriptive.

C:\ XP Boot
D:\ bla bla, bla
E:\ Storage

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: Billb2
...
To the OP:
That's just he way windows does it. I just use a label name that is descriptive.

C:\ XP Boot
D:\ bla bla, bla
E:\ Storage

This won't help with making the drive letters contiguous by drive - which is what I assume the op wants. The current order is probably there because of the order in which the volumes were created.

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
This won't help with making the drive letters contiguous by drive - which is what I assume the op wants. The current order is probably there because of the order in which the volumes were created.

It still is using the old 'dos' method of assigning letters to drives.
It does the primary partition of each hd, then goes back and does the logical partitions on each HD.
Of course, throw in a different boot loader, and things can change...

Best way to handle what the OP said, is via assigning letters in disk management.

 

[Eureka]

Well, I have been doing it through Disk Management, but I'm trying to figure out the proper setup so it reads it automatically.

So I'm looking at the Vista install screen, and its reading the drive partitions. The 20 is a Primary drive, the 100 is a Logical drive and the 250 is a Primary Drive. Would reformatting the 100 as a primary drive place it in precedent before the 250?

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
Well, I have been doing it through Disk Management, but I'm trying to figure out the proper setup so it reads it automatically.

So I'm looking at the Vista install screen, and its reading the drive partitions. The 20 is a Primary drive, the 100 is a Logical drive and the 250 is a Primary Drive. Would reformatting the 100 as a primary drive place it in precedent before the 250?

No! You don't need to reformat anything. Just right click on the volume (partition) and a menu will pop up. Select "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." Follow the instructions from the earlier post.

 

[Eureka]

Originally posted by: seemingly random

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
Well, I have been doing it through Disk Management, but I'm trying to figure out the proper setup so it reads it automatically.

So I'm looking at the Vista install screen, and its reading the drive partitions. The 20 is a Primary drive, the 100 is a Logical drive and the 250 is a Primary Drive. Would reformatting the 100 as a primary drive place it in precedent before the 250?

No! You don't need to reformat anything. Just right click on the volume (partition) and a menu will pop up. Select "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." Follow the instructions from the earlier post.

Here's the thing, I already know how to do that.

What I want is to figure it out once and for all. How do I go about getting the 250gb drive read as a secondary rather than a primary?

Rather, elixer's post is exactly what I'm talking about. Its reading the 250 partition as a primary first, then going to the 100 as a logical. If I set the 100 as a primary (can I?), would that keep it in precedence?

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius

Originally posted by: seemingly random

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
Well, I have been doing it through Disk Management, but I'm trying to figure out the proper setup so it reads it automatically.

So I'm looking at the Vista install screen, and its reading the drive partitions. The 20 is a Primary drive, the 100 is a Logical drive and the 250 is a Primary Drive. Would reformatting the 100 as a primary drive place it in precedent before the 250?

No! You don't need to reformat anything. Just right click on the volume (partition) and a menu will pop up. Select "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." Follow the instructions from the earlier post.

Here's the thing, I already know how to do that.

What I want is to figure it out once and for all. How do I go about getting the 250gb drive read as a secondary rather than a primary?

Rather, elixer's post is exactly what I'm talking about. Its reading the 250 partition as a primary first, then going to the 100 as a logical. If I set the 100 as a primary (can I?), would that keep it in precedence?

You're reinstalling? I wouldn't keep that partition size scheme then. I would have a bigger system partition. Do you even need to partition a 120gb drive. Also, I would make the fastest drive the first (system) drive.

No matter what you decide, if the drive letters aren't satisfactory, you can use the above instructions to change them. Once you change them, you won't need to change them again.

 

[Eureka]

Originally posted by: seemingly random

Originally posted by: cevilgenius

Originally posted by: seemingly random

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
Well, I have been doing it through Disk Management, but I'm trying to figure out the proper setup so it reads it automatically.

So I'm looking at the Vista install screen, and its reading the drive partitions. The 20 is a Primary drive, the 100 is a Logical drive and the 250 is a Primary Drive. Would reformatting the 100 as a primary drive place it in precedent before the 250?

No! You don't need to reformat anything. Just right click on the volume (partition) and a menu will pop up. Select "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." Follow the instructions from the earlier post.

Here's the thing, I already know how to do that.

What I want is to figure it out once and for all. How do I go about getting the 250gb drive read as a secondary rather than a primary?

Rather, elixer's post is exactly what I'm talking about. Its reading the 250 partition as a primary first, then going to the 100 as a logical. If I set the 100 as a primary (can I?), would that keep it in precedence?

You're reinstalling? I wouldn't keep that partition size scheme then. I would have a bigger system partition. Do you even need to partition a 120gb drive. Also, I would make the fastest drive the first (system) drive.

No matter what you decide, if the drive letters aren't satisfactory, you can use the above instructions to change them. Once you change them, you won't need to change them again.

Well, yeah since I'm reinstalling I want to get this figured out once and for all. The whole primary-logical explanation makes sense to me.

And, don't get me wrong, while I understand your solutions, I just want to understand why the system is reading it this way, just for my own personal knowledge.

Thing is, I only have two drives, 120gb and 250gb, and they're nearly filled to the max anyway (pushing 300gb right now). So I wanna keep it partitioned so that if I do ever need to reformat again, I can only clear 20-40gb and still keep the data on the 80-100 partition.

Of course, I also think it may be time to buy a new hard drive, but I'm just cheap as hell. It looks like Hitachi 1tb drives are going for around $75. Are those any good (a WD 640gb costs the same..)?

 

[seemingly random]

I believe the wd 1tb drive can be had for $90 now. This drive (3 platter version) finally has the kinks worked out so it should be safe. I'd use the 250 as the system drive and the 120 for backup.

 

[Eureka]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
I believe the wd 1tb drive can be had for $90 now. This drive (3 platter version) finally has the kinks worked out so it should be safe. I'd use the 250 as the system drive and the 120 for backup.

What's the differences? Is the WD worth the $15 over the Hitachi?

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius

Originally posted by: seemingly random
I believe the wd 1tb drive can be had for $90 now. This drive (3 platter version) finally has the kinks worked out so it should be safe. I'd use the 250 as the system drive and the 120 for backup.

What's the differences? Is the WD worth the $15 over the Hitachi?

I don't know about hitachi so can't comment. I've had good luck with samsung.

The big drives had quite a few defects early on. I've had experience with 5 wdc 1tb 5400rpm drives. One (4 platter version) died almost immediately. I've been delaying sending it in so that it'll hopefully be replaced with a 3 platter version. I've had no problem with 5 wdc 640gb 7200rpm drives. I received a bad wdc 320gb drive about a year ago. Before that, I didn't have a problem with a drive for 15+ years.