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Computer Drive Letters

(26 posts) (9 voices)

Started 14 years ago by SeniorCitizen
Latest reply from pavid

SeniorCitizen
Member

Through the forum members I've learned:

A Drive = Floppy Disk
B Drive = used to be the large 5-1/4 Disk
C Drive = the Computer
D Drive = CD-ROM & for DVDs (my words: sliding drawer, silver record holder)

Then if you use a USB-Drive the next letter would be E, then F, then G, etc. as assigned by the computer. Understandable. However ...

I have 2 USB "holes" in front of my computer. I labeled them "E" and "F". Works for me because "E" is "Everyday" and "F" is finances. And I ALWAYS put the USB thing into the one lettered "E" first.

Yesterday my E-Drive became F, and my F-Drive became G. But not before losing both letters. How I got them back well, to be honest, I am clueless.

Question: Is there any way for me to make it so that what I have labeled "E-Drive" will ALWAYS be "E"?

Also, might as well toss this in. I have a something with a long wire. One end has a single plug to be put into the USB-Drive. The other end is a 2"x2-1/2" little black box with four (4) places to plug in other USB plugs. Name on box reads "HAWKING Technolgoy". IF I plug this into my letter "E" drive, and use ALL 4 holes, should the lettering system then be F, G, H & I? Tried it but it was at the time when I had (once again) lost my USB drives.

Last: I use Windows 2000 and my puter is 'ancient'. Will this limit me as to the number of USB things I can plug into it?

Posted 14 years ago #
copmom
Member

Good morning Happy! I can't answer all of your questions.. but, yes, that little box with 4 plugs will just add letters to anything you plug into that. So, you are correct in your thinking!

Another thing.. when you unplug things from the USB holes (like a digital camera for example).. there's a little icon on the bottom right of my screen that says "safely remove hardware'. Whenever you plug something into your USB plugs they are hardware. If you need to remove something, (like the camera), click on that 'safely remove' first before unplugging.

Posted 14 years ago #
SeniorCitizen
Member

Mornin', copmom. Yes, I use that icon on the lower right of my puter when I remove a Flashy. Curiously, do you know WHY this has to be done?

Posted 14 years ago #
RosnSC
Member

"Then if you use a USB-Drive..."

By that, I am assuming you mean a 'jump drive, aka flash drive'?

"I have 2 USB "holes" in front of my computer."

Those are called USB ports.

"Yesterday my E-Drive became F, and my F-Drive became G. But not before losing both letters. How I got them back well, to be honest, I am clueless."

Putting the same USB device into the same drive, the letters normally wouldn't get changed around, but putting a different device in there would...even if it's just a different jump drive.

"I have a something with a long wire. One end has a single plug to be put into the USB-Drive. The other end is a 2"x2-1/2" little black box with four (4) places to plug in other USB plugs."

That sounds to me like a type of network/USB hub; I found one similar to yours, here http://www.hawkingtech.com/products/productlist.php?CatID=28&FamID=104&ProdID=364. It says UH204-4-Port USB 2.0 Hub. You can use one USB port to allow multiple USB devices to be used on your computer. I have never used one of those such hubs, but I believe you would get the different letters/system, as you described. It's like that on the computer, so it is likely the same with the hub.

I'm not a computer expert, but I don't think the age or that you are running Windows 2000 would be what limits how many USB items you can use, but more like how many USB ports you have available to use.

Posted 14 years ago #
SeniorCitizen
Member

RosnSC, I will (hopefully) start referring to the 2 "holes" in front of my computer as "USB ports". Beneath them I just magic-markered my computer with 'USB Ports.'

Have had a mental block on many words used for a computer. Recently learned difference between drive and driveR. You wrote about a jump drive; never saw that word before. And you used the word "Hub". Saw this before but never knew what it meant.

I have many PNY USB Flash Drives. I luv them! Unforunately for me, I'm finding it very difficult to not refer to them as "Flashies". Please give me time to learn this new vocabulary. Thanks!

PS -- and just so you know, I hard copy all the info forum members provide. So helpful!

Posted 14 years ago #
RosnSC
Member

Flash drives and jump drives are one and the same; just different names...(chuckle). My oldest son calls them 'bugs'....lol. Those 'holes', or ports - I used to call them jacks, until I learned the correct word. 'Course now, someone will inevitably come along and say that 'jacks' is correct, too....lol.

I'm telling you, it's plumb amazing what 'you' can learn from other people on the Internet, this forum's members being one great source of info/help! :D

Posted 14 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

Linda,

To get back to your question (you're being hijacked! :) ), the reason you have to "safely remove" something plugged into a USB port is to protect it. If the system is WRITING to a drive as you are removing it, you can scramble the data on it. By doing the "Safely Remove" operation, you are telling the system to shut down all operations to it. In fact, for "flashies", you'll see the letter disappear from Windows Explorer to say that it has been "disconnected" and is now safe to unplug.

Diane

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

More accurate description of drive letters:

A: is the floppy drive (if you have one)
B: is the big floppy drive (no one has it)
C: is the first partition of your hard drive (or more accurately, first partition of the first hard drive)
The hard drives and their partitions take up a whole bunch of drive letters.
Next is whatever other internal storage device, usually CD drive, ZIP drives, or card readers.
The rest are for whichever plug and play storage devices that are plugged in.

Posted 14 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

If you don't have 2 floppy drives, A and B point to the same drive. Under the circumstances, they have about as much use now as the "SysRq" button on your keyboard!

Posted 14 years ago #
Anonymous
Unregistered

I still use PrtSc SysRq Key all the time & A Floppy have a box full of B floppys & the drives as well some new still in box may need one day, I think it's good to keep.

Posted 14 years ago #
RosnSC
Member

"A Drive = Floppy Disk
B Drive = used to be the large 5-1/4 Disk"

You know, come to think of it, when we got our first home computers they didn't come with B drives, but just the A drives. I do recall using a word processor at my kids elementary school that used a big floppy disk. The attendance clerk had it, and said it was a Mecc/h Writer, or something to that effect. I used it when I wanted to type up a newsletter, or a banner, for my then-Sunday School class. The newer computers we have, now, don't even have A drives. 'Course, with the capacity flash/jump drives have, who really needs something that only holds 1.44 MB of info, unless you already have the floppies with info on them, and would need those and the A drive to use them, that is?

"To get back to your question (you're being hijacked! :)"

She was?...by whom....<asks Sue, a bit confused>...lol?

Posted 14 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

Hotdoge3, I know the "PrtScrn/SysRq" is used. My statement referred to the "SysRq" part of the key! I always wondered if it was a single key form of ctrl-s/ctrl-q but it doesn't seem to work that way.

I've seen PCs with only one floppy drive and you could call it by either A or B and it was happy.

I once worked with a strange little machine (made by Tektronix) that was a dual floppy (5 1/4") and no hard drive (they had a hard drive version but my boss decided we didn't need it - I could flip floppies around to compile my programs). I got an update once on 8" floppy. I called them and asked what I was supposed to do, fold it? They laughed and told me it belonged to another Tektronix in the company that did use 8". I found out who and walked it down the hall to them. They laughed at my idea of folding, too. I then had to wait for my correct update to be mailed. This was way before the internet and with only dual floppy drive, there was no way I could have done it anyway! :)

Posted 14 years ago #
SeniorCitizen
Member

You folks are sure making me work hard to learn! What with GMMAN talking "partitions" huh. what's that?) and RosnSC with "jump drive", and Dragonlair & hotdoge3 with "PrtScrn & SysRq Key". You you you you you thread hijackers! LOL

Dragonlair: AGAIN you made me chuckle! Never heard of an 8" floppy but I, too, might consider folding it in half so it could fit. LOL.

Question: Is there any way for me to make it so that what I have labeled "E-Drive" will ALWAYS be "E"? (added: if I ALWYAS leave the same Flashy in the same USB Port?)

Posted 14 years ago #
pavid
gamer extraordinaire & knowledgeable computer nerd who likes to argue, but is still a very nice guy

Hi Linda,

The story of drive letters is not as simple as it seems. The A and B drives are reserved by the system as you have discovered. C is generally used to mean the first active partition on the first active hard drive designated as hard drive 0 (zero).

Let's discuss hard drives versus partitions first. You already know what a hard drive is but you may not know that until an operating system such as windows is installed the computer only knows the hard drive as hard drive 0(zero). Hard drive 0(unless I say otherwise this will be the number 0) is the first drive enumerated by the BIOS. It is usually the first drive installed in the system but this does not always have to be the case. If you are technically inclined, it is possible to designate another drive installed at a later time as hard drive 0 but for now let's just stick with the first drive ever installed in the system being known as hard drive 0. The next drive to be installed would be known to the computer as hard drive 1 and so on. The reason for the first drive being known as hard drive 0 derives from the binary system and the need in the dim, dark past to be as economical as possible with system resources. Suffice it to say that 2 hard drives can be designated by a single bit using 0 and 1 and 4 hard drives can be designated by 2 bits and so on. For now just accept this as I have presented it. You can go further into hard drive history using Google if you would like to know more about it. If you are not confused now, you will be when I try to explain partitions.

So far you now know that a single hard drive in a computer will be known to the computer as hard drive 0. Unfortunately, in the Windows world (and probably in most other operating systems, though I can't say for sure), this hard drive cannot be used until it is formatted. Formatting a hard disk allows the operating to system to lay out a pattern on the disk that allows the operating system to access the hard disk and record or read information on it. Formatting takes up space on the hard disk. This is why a hard disk reports less space than you actually bought. How much less depends on the operating system, and the choice of formatting style. For now, just accept that you will never see the full space that you bought available for use. A thorough examination of this is beyond the scope of this post and my knowledge. Once more, Google can help you research this topic if you wish.

So now we know that hard drive 0 needs to be formatted so that you can actually use it and the formatting will take up space on the hard disk which results in the hard disk space available being reported as less than what you thought you bought. Oh great, just great, the only disk in my computer is known as disk 0 and can't be used until I format it which causes the disk to be smaller than what I purchased. What a rip! LOL

During the formatting process it is possible but not necessary to break the hard disk into smaller portions known as partitions. Each partition can have special properties which affect the way each partition is used and the way the computer assigns letters to it. If a partition is designated as active it can be used to install an operating system, record data, etc. If it is a primary partition it can be used to boot up the computer to a usable state. There are other properties for partitions but lets stick with just primary and active for now. Suffice it to say that partition properties affect the way that smaller bit is used by the computer. As before, Google can be your friend.

Now we know that the only hard disk in a system is known to the computer as hard disk 0 and it will be reported smaller than actually purchased once it is formatted. It can't be used until it is formatted but once that's done you can break it into smaller bits called partitions that can have a bunch of different properties that affect the way the computer uses that smaller bit including the ability to assign letters to it. Pheeww! this is getting really complicated!

Generally speaking, when you buy a computer containing only one disk and one partition, that partition will be known as the C drive. If you ask the company to do so, it might break the hard disk into smaller bits or you can choose to do this yourself using special software (programs) after you have the computer up and running. Each partition is assigned a letter sequentially and that is generally though inaccurately known as a drive letter. The computer itself doesn't really care what the letter is. It knows each disk by a number and each partition as a number. So, it assigns the first hard drive it finds the number 0 and the first partition on that disk as partition 0. By convention this combination is known as Drive C. Ergo, hard disk 0, partition 0 is actually known as Drive C (usually).

Left to the computer, it reserves 2 letters for floppy drives, A and B. Then comes C which is the first bootable partition it finds. Next it assigns letters for the CD and DVD drives if you have them, then after that each device it finds such as USB ports (flashie holes), extra hard drives and partitions and so on are assigned letters depending on the order it finds them. This order can change depending on the presence or absence of a device or if you change it by hand using the operating system software or software that you can get from websites.

For now, I am going to stop to allow you to think about what I have written and the implications that this creates and because I'm not feeling well at the moment. Feel free to pose questions that I or others will attempt to answer.

Posted 14 years ago #
RosnSC
Member

SeniorCitizen/Linda: "Question: Is there any way for me to make it so that what I have labeled "E-Drive" will ALWAYS be "E"? (added: if I ALWYAS leave the same Flashy in the same USB Port?)

RosnSC/Sue: Answer: "Putting the same USB device into the same drive, the letters normally wouldn't get changed around", so if you ALWAYS leave that same "flashy" in the same USB Port, then you should always see* the letter E for that "flashy". *You would see that when you go to My Computer, where you would see all your drives, removable and non-removable.

Posted 14 years ago #
SeniorCitizen
Member

pavid: please do not misunderstand what I'm about to write. I think I luv you! You are an intelligent, giving, kind person to write what you did for my benefit. And, of course, the benefit of others. It took me quite some time to read it so I can only imagine how much thought, and time, you put into what you wrote. To be honest, all of it did not remain in my mind. I will hard-copy it and add it to my 'computer bible' and read it again and again and I'm sure I will grasp your vivid explanation. GOTD forum members have helped me in my quest to learn, but your writing above blew my sox off. Totally! Not only do you know a lot about computers, you are an excellent writer. I am indebted to you, pavid.

RosnSC: You wrote "Putting the same USB device into the same drive, the letters normally wouldn't get changed around". Sounds logical, and that's what I thought. But it's not happening here. I have 1 Flashy labeled "LAM" that I use Everyday. Have another Flashy labled "$", for Finances. If both USB Ports are empty, and I put the the "F"inances Flashy in what I labeled "F", it shows as "E". So I remove it (using the removal thing, of course) and put it in what I labeled "F" USB port. It STILL shows it's in the "E" port. Then, to make matters worse, the other day I put in my Everyday Flashy and my Financial Flashy and the computer indicated they were in the "F" port and "G" port. Huh? What happened to "E". ... I hope what I've written makes sense to you and Sue. And thanks for telling me that I could see the ports that are being used in My Computer. Did not know that. Guess what I'll do in the future is NOT remove the "E" (Everyday) Flashy so whatever I put in the other USB Port should be "F".

THANK YOU pavid and RosnSC and Sue. (THANK YOU would be in bold letters but don't know how to make them bold yet, so just use your imagination!) ... Healthy, good weekend to all GOTD members and mods and admins. You're one heckuva crew!

Posted 14 years ago #
RosnSC
Member

Linda, like all the rest of us, you have a lot to learn and a lot of freshly given info to process/absorb...lol. You will, indeed, get it all; it will all make more sense as you go along. Meanwhile, you are most welcome. :)

RosnSC/Sue - one and the same...(chuckle)

Posted 14 years ago #
pavid
gamer extraordinaire & knowledgeable computer nerd who likes to argue, but is still a very nice guy

Hi Linda,

There is more to come but I am still feeling horrible. I haven't forgotten your questions and do have answers for you but I can't think straight at the moment.

Posted 14 years ago #
BuBBy
Teh adnim

So now we know that hard drive 0 needs to be formatted so that you can actually use it and the formatting will take up space on the hard disk which results in the hard disk space available being reported as less than what you thought you bought. Oh great, just great, the only disk in my computer is known as disk 0 and can't be used until I format it which causes the disk to be smaller than what I purchased. What a rip! LOL

Formatting doesn't reduce the total capacity of a drive. The "reduction" in drive space is due to the different ways hard disk size/space is reported.

Explained here: http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/hddsize.php

Posted 14 years ago #
SeniorCitizen
Member

BuBBy -- Just checked the link you provided. I read "As most people are aware, computers are digital devices and therefore all data is in binary format. This is base 2, as opposed to base 10 that we are used to." Cute, real cute. LOL! Nope, didn't know computers are *digital devices*, am clueless what "binary format" means, and the only *base* I know of is first, second and third. (Saved the link to review later on)

But will guess binary has to do with numbers, and the Registry. With the help of the forum members I now have all my Registry WORDS on a database. For many days have been happily reviewing it, line by line. There's got to be a gazillion trillion numbers! (Not playing with Registry at all, just so everyone knows). This continues to be a learning experience for me and I enjoy it much.

When I digest all of pavid's words maybe (just maybe) I'll tackle binary, etc.

Posted 14 years ago #
pavid
gamer extraordinaire & knowledgeable computer nerd who likes to argue, but is still a very nice guy

Yes Linda, there is a Bubby and he is correct. Formatting does not reduce the actual capacity of the drive but it does in part explain why Windows reports less capacity than you purchased. There is much more to learn about that subject and Bubby has you off to a good start. I was just trying to keep things simple for you though it doesn't appear that way, does it?

The other thing that you raised is the different numbering systems. It's fairly easy to understand this if you go back to your high school years. A base 2 number can contain only 2 digits, 0 (zero) and 1. Binary as it is also known is frequently used in computers because 0 and 1 accurately represent power states (either on or off), and the magnetic poles, north (1) and south (0), which is the language of recording devices. If you are interested in how hard drives work Suite101.com has a brief article that will give you the basics and a lot to think about. Something for you to consider is that using only 1's and 0's (binary) can allow you to describe or do a lot of things accurately and reliably since you use only on or off, 1 or 0.

Octal is a base 8 number system that consists of the digits 0 through 7. The decimal system is the one that most people are familiar and can also be referred to as base 10.
The other major number system in computers is hexadecimal which uses 0 through 9 and the letters A through F and is also known as base 16 (count the number of digits and letters). Hex (hexadecimal) and binary are the two major number systems used in computers today. I threw in Octal just as a way for you to think through how numbering systems work and it was and maybe still is used in computers.

Let's work with the number 25. In binary this is 11001, in Octal it is 31, in decimal it is 25 and in hex(adecimal) it is 19. Most modern calculators with either programming or scientific functions should be capable of most of these conversions. If you want to know exactly how I got the conversions without using a calculator just ask. I won't confuse you any more on this topic as you probably will never have occasion to make use of this knowledge (though you never know).

------------------------------------------------------

Now let's pick up where I left off the last time. I showed you where drive letters come from and some of why they are needed. The next thing to tackle is how drive letters are assigned and how you can influence or change this process. For Windows 2000 and most other Windows systems, drive letters are assigned during the boot process.

The Microsoft Knowledge database tells us how drive letters are assigned in Windows 2000:

......
BASIC Disk - Drive Letter Assignment Rules
The following are the basic disk drive letter assignment rules for Windows 2000:

* Scan all fixed hard disks as they are enumerated, assign drive letters starting with any active primary partitions (if there is one), otherwise, scan the first primary partition on each drive. Assign next available letter starting with C:
* Repeat scan for all fixed hard disks and removable (JAZ, MO) disks and assign drive letters to all logical drives in an extended partition, or the removable disk(s) as enumerated. Assign next available letter starting with C:.
* Finally, repeat scan for all fixed hard disk drives, and assign drive letters to all remaining primary partitions. Assign next available letter starting with C:.
* Floppy drives. Assign letter starting with A:
* CD-ROM drives. Assign next available letter starting with D:.

---SNIP---
NOTE: In Windows 2000, all legacy FT-Sets......
---SNIP---

All assigned drive letters are "persistent" after they are assigned. This means they should remain assigned to that volume until it is either deleted or changed manually using Disk Management. This should hold true for all online volumes as you add and remove disks to the system.

The exception to this rule is that if a volume (disk) is offline, and a different new volume comes online, it may get the offline volume's drive letter. To ensure you keep your drive letter assignments intact, you must keep existing volumes online when introducing new volumes.

NOTE: Disk Management Console prohibits changing the Windows 2000 System/Boot partition drive letter.
This is by design.

Yes the above is tough reading but go through it carefully and more importantly think about it logically. Where it mentions "online" replace that with "present" and "offline" with "removed". The above quote also contains the clue to how you can solve the problem of the Flashies changing letter assignments.

The article containing the above quote was originally written before the existence of Flashies (USB drives) but since they are essentially a special kind of removable drive it is still applicable. If and/or when you are up to it, you should read the whole article as it contains or points (links) to a lot of interesting information that can help you understand the hows and whys of drive letters.

I'm going to stop here (the laundry is calling and I need to kill zombies), to allow you to try and digest some of what I have written thus far. In the last part of this admittedly lengthy answer to your seemingly simple question, I will tell you how to make it so that the Flashies have the drive letters you want.

As I have mentioned before, if there is anything you have questions about please don't be afraid to ask. I or others will try to answer them as simply as we can and remember there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

Posted 14 years ago #
SeniorCitizen
Member

You must be feeling better today, pavid. I'm glad. Haven't digested your previous lengthy explanations so have no more questions just yet.

Posted 14 years ago #
pavid
gamer extraordinaire & knowledgeable computer nerd who likes to argue, but is still a very nice guy

Yes Linda I was feeling better yesterday, but today is a whole nother story. I will finish tomorrow if I'm able to. :) Until then take care and have a good day.

Posted 14 years ago #
Frique
Member

Hi Linda,

I just wanted to chime in with my thoughts on partitions. When I bought my new desktop computer a few years ago, I was in the same boat you are in. I knew I wanted something that would not grow outdated in a few years (since I upgraded from a 10 or 15 year old computer with a 20 GB hard drive) so I bought the extra large 160 GB hard drive. Kind of small by today's standards, but respectable back then. After starting the computer, I discovered that I had 2 partitions on the computer. They totaled about 150 GB. My understanding is that the windows operating system used about 10 GB of my hard drive, the main partition (C) used about 110 GB and the back up partition (D) used about 40 GB. My thinking may not be right, but in my mind it works. I just think of the partition as a slice of the usable hard drive. I can cut it into smaller slices, but I like to believe that the sizes chosen by the manufacturer are the best for my needs.

My new laptop has a 120 GB hard drive that only has about 105 GB of usable space. It is split pretty much evenly between the (C) and (D) drives. I use the (C) drive for my main computer stuff and the (D) drive as storage for my recovery data. I hope that you never need to worry about that. If so, check out the Paragon Recovery software the next time it is offered here.

I am not sure if you can permanently assign a drive letter to a USB port. I know that they can be used for much more than storage. In fact, I have a mouse plugged into one of the USB ports right now. That would definitely affect the way the computer reads the ports. I think it might just assign the next letter of the alphabet to whatever storage is plugged into the computer first, although you may be able to assign a drive letter to the flashy itself. I hope this helps. Good luck and keep asking questions. I learn so much following your threads!

Frique

Posted 14 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

Not trying to hijack anything here - but a note on disk sizes and "reported" disk sizes. All reported sizes (120 GB, 160 GB ...) are UNFORMATTED sizes. There will always be some loss to formatting. If you have multiple partitions, then you have more "loss" because each "disk" has it's own overhead.

In addition, all files are saved in minimum size "clusters". For NTFS formatted disks, the minimum allocation is 4 KB. That means if you use 1 byte in a file, it will allocate 4 KB. That's actually pretty good. The old FAT-32 formatting had a minimum allocation of 32 KB!

Posted 14 years ago #
pavid
gamer extraordinaire & knowledgeable computer nerd who likes to argue, but is still a very nice guy

Hi Linda,

I am truly sorry for the rather lengthy delay. I had an answer all set for you but between health issues and doctor's appointments your answer got set on the back burner. Things are better today, so I will finally present an answer to your drive letter issue.

The problem I face in giving you an answer to your drive lettering issue comes from the age of your operating system. What I can say for certain is that, as you already know, Windows 2000 is quite old and will stop receiving support from Microsoft in July. This doesn't mean it will stop working but that it will stop receiving new updates from Microsoft Update. You might want to consider upgrading to Windows XP Service Pack 3. It might be possible that someone has a version of XP that they could donate to you.

Much of what I've written so far has been couched in generalities, mights and maybes. This is because finding exact information for Windows 2000 has proven to be difficult. Again, its age is the problem as it seems most of the sites I was able to find have either archived or deleted their Windows 2000 coverage. Nonetheless, I was able to find enough information that I believe the following will work for you.

The one thing I was not able to find was screen shots of the process I am about to describe to you. I don't use nor have I ever used Windows 2000 so you are going to have to use common sense, what you do know, and trial and error to work through the following process. The one thing I can say for sure is that you will not hurt system as long as you leave the C drive letter alone. This warning is only applicable to Windows 2000. This drive letter is extremely important to Windows 2000. Do not ever, ever, change this drive letter. You can safely change any other drive letter, just not the C drive letter. If you heed this warning your system will remain safe and usable. So remember that the C drive must always remain the C drive and your system will be just fine, just carefully follow the steps.

Step 1
Place the Flashies that you wish to be E and F in the corresponding USB ports (holes).

Step 2
Go to your Control Panel and click on Administrative Tools then click on Computer Management (there are other ways to get to Computer Management). This article describes Computer Management and has a screen shot that will help you. Finally click on Disk Management which you will find in the Storage section of Computer Management.

Step 3
You should now see something like the screen shot in this article. The lower right hand side of the Computer Management window is where we are going to be working. Each disk that you see corresponds to a disk in your system. Flashies are considered disks as are CDs and DVDs and several other devices. Notice that each disk has a number (disk 0, disk 1, ...) just as I mentioned in a previous post and might also have a letter (C:, D:, ...) and a label such as New Volume.

Step 4
Don't click anything yet but do scroll up and down to see all your "disks". Just take a break, have a cup of tea (or coffee, yuck!), look at this screen carefully and think about what has been posted to this point.

Step 5
Now that I'm, errrr, you are rested, it's time to do some work. Click in the white space beside disk 0, your C drive. Notice how the space suddenly has slashes through it. This helps you identify which disk (or disk partition) you are looking at and about to work with.

Step 6
Now click on the flashie that you wish to be identified as E and the same thing should happen. If it didn't, try clicking on the white part again. From here to the end, I am going to assume that hatching has appeared next to the flashie that you wish to be identified as E. If that has not happened STOP and get help from someone in person! If the hatching has appeared next to the flashie that you wish to be identified as E, you can proceed.

Step 6
Right click on the hatching. A pop up menu appears and it contains several options. Never click Format unless you mean it. If you click Format and proceed you will lose all the information contained on the disk. The option that you really want to work with is called something to the effect of Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Step 8
Click on Change Drive Letter and Paths. A new pop up appears that allows you Add, Change or Remove a drive letter. Click on Change to get another pop up that allows you to change the drive letter. It will have Enter a new drive letter or... on the first line. Make sure the radio button to the left of the words Assign the following drive letter is highlighted, then set the drive letter to Z by clicking on the little down arrow next to the letter that follows the words Assign the following drive letter and clicking on Z. Finally click the OK button then OK again (if needed). You should now be back at the Computer Management window where you began.

Step 9
Repeat steps 6, 7 and 8 for the flashie that you want identified as F except use a new drive letter of Y.

Step 10
Repeat steps 6, 7, and 8 for the disk actually using letter E except use a new drive letter of W.

Step 11
Repeat steps 6, 7, and 8 for the disk actually using letter F (if that letter is in use) except use a new drive letter of V.

Step 12
Repeat steps 6, 7 and 8 for the disk now identified as Z except use a new drive letter of E.

Step 13
Repeat steps 6, 7 and 8 for the disk now identified as Y except use a new drive letter of F.

Step 14
Repeat steps 6, 7 and 8 for the disk now identified as W except use a new drive letter of G.

Step 15
Repeats steps 6, 7 and 8 for the disk now identified as V (if it is in use) except use a new drive letter of H.

Step 16
Close the Computer Management screen.

That's it. Flashies E and F should now remain E and F unless you change them. There is a possibility that this might not always be the case, but at least you now know how to get things to be the way you want them.

One last thing you might want to do is set a label for each disk. This is easily done through Disk Management. Simply right click on a disk and select properties then type a short name in the little box that is the first thing you see on the General tab. It can be anything you want such as Everyday, Financial and so on, just as long as it is short. In fact, this might be easier than changing the drive letter.

What ever you decide to do, just be careful. You can do it easily and safely as long as you take your time. As always, if you have any questions be sure to ask and remember that there is no stupid question, only stupid answers. Good luck!!!

David

Posted 14 years ago #

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