[Webslinger64]

Several months ago I was given a fairly nice computer to replace my really, really old one. At the time, I reformatted the hard drive and installed Windows XP. However, after doing all that work I discovered the hard drive was now identified as drive F: rather than drive C:, which I believe should be the standard/default designation. I chose not to reformat and install a second time hoping the drive F: designation wouldn't cause any problems. Well, it has caused problems with some applications that I frequently use and it's been a headache all along. Thus my desire to reformat and install again.
With that in mind, I am wondering if there is anything I should do to prevent the same thing from happening with this upcoming reformat/install. I'm not sure why the hard drive showed up as F: in the first place and am wondering if it was something I did or just an unusual glitch. I want to prevent this same issue from happening again. Any ideas?

Thanks!

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Follow the tutorial here and ensure that the drive selected is C

[Essexboy]

Follow the tutorial here and ensure that the drive selected is C

[Webslinger64]

Follow the tutorial here and ensure that the drive selected is C

Thanks for the reply. It's great to have instructions like that so readily available. I will follow them. One observation however, I just noticed when I click on 'My Computer' and review the various drives, I see under the category, "Devices with Removable Storage", there is a C: drive but it is for a removable disk. Am I o.k. to go ahead and reformat and install Windows XP as planned, or do I need to do something to remove the C: designation from the removable drive and assign it to the hard drive?

[Essexboy]

OK that may be a USB drive - if you have one connected remove it before you start

[Alzeimer]

The only reason that it does not assign the C:\ is if there is already a partition under that letter and it is not the partition you choose to install your OS on.

If you are using a recovery CD then your options are limited to change the partionning of your hard drive.

If you are using a regular CD install make sure when you get to the screen of choosing where you want to install your XP that if the c: is used by a partition you do not want to use then you will have to first delete that partition and the one you wanted to choose (hopefully you will not have data on it) and then create a new partition that includes the 2 previous partition. You should then have the XP installing itself on C:\.

If you have not yet formated your hard drive and can still enter windows, I would suggest to go to DISK MANAGEMENT and change the drive letter of the C: drive (to any letter) and so liberating C: for when you will install your OS. By default when a new partition is created the installation procedure will give the first free letter to the new partition. By doing that you would still keep the old c: partition but now renamed ?: and save any data on it.

If you have no partition on your hard drive or no other Hard drives then I do not know why it is giving you the letter F: to install XP.
-------------------------------------------------


Saw your new post after I did mine.

Do as Essexboy says and remove any USB drive prior to starting your installation and you should have no problem.

Edited by Alzeimer, 18 December 2010 - 05:34 PM.

[Webslinger64]

OK that may be a USB drive - if you have one connected remove it before you start

OK, so my hard drive is not partitioned. When I open up My Computer this is what I see:

Hard Disk Drives
Local Disk (F:)

Devices with Removable Storage
3 1/2 Floppy (A:)
DVD-RAM Drive (E:)
Removable Disk (C:)
Removable Disk (H:)

When you say there may be a USB drive that I need to disconnect, I'm not sure what you mean exactly. The drives I can see on the front of the computer are the DVD-RAM Drive, connection ports/terminals for USB cables (I plug my cell phone and MP3 player into those to charge them), and what I think is a Memory Card Reader that I've never used (I can see 'USB2.0 High Speed' on the front of that drive). I actually don't see a Floppy Drive, so I don't know why that shows up under 'My Computer'.
Is it the USB2.0 High Speed drive you want me to disconnect? Remember there's a C: and H: removable drives. Not sure which one this is. Do I need to disconnect C: and H: removable drives? I'm also not sure what drives the C: and H: are referring to. Seems to me there's too many drive letters under My Computer versus the actual drives I see installed.

[Webslinger64]

Duped my last post by mistake

Edited by konakula29er, 18 December 2010 - 07:42 PM.

[Alzeimer]

Make sure your Cell Phone and MP3 (Those are usually considered Removable Disks) player are not connected to your computer and see if you still see the Removable Disk C; & H: in My Computer.

If you still see them then it may be like you said your Card Reader, if that is the case you will have to open your computer and unplug the card reader from the motherboard and then go check again to see if you still see any Removable Disks.

If you are uncomfortable opening your PC and unplugging your Card Reader from the motherboard try as I said in previous post and go into your Disk Management and change the drive letter of the Removable Disk that is name C: (change to any letter) and reboot to make sure the change as been accepted.

Once you do not see any disks under the letter C: it is time to do your installation, but be sure that when you choose the location where to install XP (should have only one option) that it is call C: and not still F:, if not you will have to delete that partition and then create a new one this should give the new partition the letter C:

Edited by Alzeimer, 18 December 2010 - 09:12 PM.

[Webslinger64]

Make sure your Cell Phone and MP3 (Those are usually considered Removable Disks) player are not connected to your computer and see if you still see the Removable Disk C; & H: in My Computer.

If you still see them then it may be like you said your Card Reader, if that is the case you will have to open your computer and unplug the card reader from the motherboard and then go check again to see if you still see any Removable Disks.

If you are uncomfortable opening your PC and unplugging your Card Reader from the motherboard try as I said in previous post and go into your Disk Management and change the drive letter of the Removable Disk that is name C: (change to any letter) and reboot to make sure the change as been accepted.

Once you do not see any disks under the letter C: it is time to do your installation, but be sure that when you choose the location where to install XP (should have only one option) that it is call C: and not still F:, if not you will have to delete that partition and then create a new one this should give the new partition the letter C:

Opened up the computer this morning and disconnected the IDE and power cable to the memory card reader. Noticed the card reader had two slots for inserting memory cards, one wider than the other. Am guessing that accounted for the two removable drives I was finding under My Computer as C: and H:
Restarted computer and checked My Computer, both C: and H: removable drive designations are gone.
I hope that means I can now try to reformat and install XP. Do you agree?

Thanks for the help.

Edited by konakula29er, 19 December 2010 - 08:42 AM.

[Alzeimer]

Yes you can now install your XP OS, just remember to not plug your card reader until you are done installing your XP OS, just in case it reassigns the same drive letter to them.

Once finish installing turn off the computer and replug your card reader, reboot and windows will install the driver for it and assign new drive letters to them.

Also make sure to delete the current partition (because it will still be call F:\) and create a new one, by deleting it it erases the drive letter and reassigns a new one (which will be C:\

Edited by Alzeimer, 19 December 2010 - 08:39 AM.

[Webslinger64]

Thank you very much for the assistance

[Alzeimer]

Thank you very much for the assistance

Hope everything will work well and your system will work smoothly after.

[apple13140]

Actually all your problem and the complex procedure can be solved easily by one partition utility that is Partition Assistant. It is the one that you want to and can help you solve some other complex partition operations such as extend system partition later on.

[Webslinger64]

Thx for the suggestion. That sounds interesting and something I might look into in the future. I was able to successfully reformat and install the OS. Had disconnected the memory card reader and that did the trick. Hard Drive now shows up as C: and no problems with any software apps.

[apple13140]

The detail information about this free Partition manager.
And the download website at:
http://download.cnet...4-75118871.html