adding 2n HD effects drive letters

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

"lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C868CAE2-378A-494E-9B54-D916D41E165D@microsoft.com...
>I want to add a 2nd sata hd (200g) in xpsp2 w/ media center...... I have in
> my system now one sata,dvdrw,dvdrom,card reader. My question is when i add
> the 2nd HD what effect will it have on the drive letters that are already
> in
> use? Will the letters change and if so, how will this effect
> applications/programs that points to them now.
>
> Lakkdon

Normally it will just take the next available drive letter. You can give it
whatever letter you want through Drive Management.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

I want to make the 2nd drive as D: but this would change all the other
letters one letterup (except C  and confuse apps./programs/windows apps.
that are already pointing to these letters. Example;when ripping in media
player, it nows that the dvdrom is drive D: So if the 2nd drive takes D: and
rom is moved to letter E: will it know that rom has moved to E:
This is what i am affraid might happen not just in media player but other
apps. as well. Will this be a probem.
"D.Currie" wrote:

>
> "lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C868CAE2-378A-494E-9B54-D916D41E165D@microsoft.com...
> >I want to add a 2nd sata hd (200g) in xpsp2 w/ media center...... I have in
> > my system now one sata,dvdrw,dvdrom,card reader. My question is when i add
> > the 2nd HD what effect will it have on the drive letters that are already
> > in
> > use? Will the letters change and if so, how will this effect
> > applications/programs that points to them now.
> >
> > Lakkdon
>
> Normally it will just take the next available drive letter. You can give it
> whatever letter you want through Drive Management.
>
>
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Not sure, but if you install as slave it will take d: (the next one to c:
 ; But then, I am not sure how SATA is treated - might not be slave but...
S(erial) ATA. For ex., if you install in RAID0 you don't get a new drive
letter at all since both RAID0 disks will be "seen" as one.
Just plug it and see what youy get  

Michael
"lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C868CAE2-378A-494E-9B54-D916D41E165D@microsoft.com...
>I want to add a 2nd sata hd (200g) in xpsp2 w/ media center...... I have in
> my system now one sata,dvdrw,dvdrom,card reader. My question is when i add
> the 2nd HD what effect will it have on the drive letters that are already
> in
> use? Will the letters change and if so, how will this effect
> applications/programs that points to them now.
>
> Lakkdon

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Well,
if your apps are coded correctly, the CD and/or DVD drives should have
relative addresses (%CDDrive%) or such; Xp reassigns drive letters for
removable devices on every boot - or even hot. Of course, you might have
other "drive emulation" settings in BIOS where a DVD drive might be
installed as Floppy Drive, harddrive, forced drive. Needless to say, those
BIOS settings do not always work as desired.
My guess is that your CD/DVD drives will be identified correctly. Maker sure
you install the new harddrive correctly in BIOS.
Michael

"lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:21A99F29-3DC5-41FF-8107-EBD91F098EB7@microsoft.com...
>I want to make the 2nd drive as D: but this would change all the other
> letters one letterup (except C  and confuse apps./programs/windows apps.
> that are already pointing to these letters. Example;when ripping in media
> player, it nows that the dvdrom is drive D: So if the 2nd drive takes D:
> and
> rom is moved to letter E: will it know that rom has moved to E:
> This is what i am affraid might happen not just in media player but other
> apps. as well. Will this be a probem.
> "D.Currie" wrote:
>
>>
>> "lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:C868CAE2-378A-494E-9B54-D916D41E165D@microsoft.com...
>> >I want to add a 2nd sata hd (200g) in xpsp2 w/ media center...... I have
>> >in
>> > my system now one sata,dvdrw,dvdrom,card reader. My question is when i
>> > add
>> > the 2nd HD what effect will it have on the drive letters that are
>> > already
>> > in
>> > use? Will the letters change and if so, how will this effect
>> > applications/programs that points to them now.
>> >
>> > Lakkdon
>>
>> Normally it will just take the next available drive letter. You can give
>> it
>> whatever letter you want through Drive Management.
>>
>>
>>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

On a FAT32 system the new drive's primary partition will become drive D:.
(The rule is primary partitions before extended.) To avoid this the whole
drive would have to be set up as an extended partition.

Don't know about NTFS but my guess is it would become D:

"lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:21A99F29-3DC5-41FF-8107-EBD91F098EB7@microsoft.com...
>I want to make the 2nd drive as D: but this would change all the other
> letters one letterup (except C  and confuse apps./programs/windows apps.
> that are already pointing to these letters. Example;when ripping in media
> player, it nows that the dvdrom is drive D: So if the 2nd drive takes D:
> and
> rom is moved to letter E: will it know that rom has moved to E:
> This is what i am affraid might happen not just in media player but other
> apps. as well. Will this be a probem.
> "D.Currie" wrote:
>
>>
>> "lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:C868CAE2-378A-494E-9B54-D916D41E165D@microsoft.com...
>> >I want to add a 2nd sata hd (200g) in xpsp2 w/ media center...... I have
>> >in
>> > my system now one sata,dvdrw,dvdrom,card reader. My question is when i
>> > add
>> > the 2nd HD what effect will it have on the drive letters that are
>> > already
>> > in
>> > use? Will the letters change and if so, how will this effect
>> > applications/programs that points to them now.
>> >
>> > Lakkdon
>>
>> Normally it will just take the next available drive letter. You can give
>> it
>> whatever letter you want through Drive Management.
>>
>>
>>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

In news:udcoHeXiFHA.3656@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl,
Jerry <NoSpamChiefZeke@MSN.com> typed:

> On a FAT32 system the new drive's primary partition will become
> drive
> D:. (The rule is primary partitions before extended.) To avoid
> this
> the whole drive would have to be set up as an extended
> partition.


No, regardless of what file system you use, you can easily change
the drive letter of any drive but C: in Computer Management |
Disk Management.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup


> Don't know about NTFS but my guess is it would become D:
>
> "lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:21A99F29-3DC5-41FF-8107-EBD91F098EB7@microsoft.com...
>> I want to make the 2nd drive as D: but this would change all
>> the
>> other letters one letterup (except C  and confuse
>> apps./programs/windows apps. that are already pointing to
>> these
>> letters. Example;when ripping in media player, it nows that
>> the
>> dvdrom is drive D: So if the 2nd drive takes D: and
>> rom is moved to letter E: will it know that rom has moved to
>> E:
>> This is what i am affraid might happen not just in media
>> player but
>> other apps. as well. Will this be a probem.
>> "D.Currie" wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> "lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>>> message
>>> news:C868CAE2-378A-494E-9B54-D916D41E165D@microsoft.com...
>>>> I want to add a 2nd sata hd (200g) in xpsp2 w/ media
>>>> center......
>>>> I have in
>>>> my system now one sata,dvdrw,dvdrom,card reader. My question
>>>> is
>>>> when i add
>>>> the 2nd HD what effect will it have on the drive letters
>>>> that are
>>>> already
>>>> in
>>>> use? Will the letters change and if so, how will this effect
>>>> applications/programs that points to them now.
>>>>
>>>> Lakkdon
>>>
>>> Normally it will just take the next available drive letter.
>>> You can
>>> give it
>>> whatever letter you want through Drive Management.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

This is exactly why I custom-name all my drives. My DVD drives are all V and
my writable drives are W and back when I had a zip drive I named it Z. In
the same manner, my shared server drive is S on all the computers that
access it, and my media files are on a shared drive called M.

Whether you plan will cause you any issues or not depends on whether or not
your programs see the CD drive letters as a constant, or whether they are
able to dynamically find the drive, no matter what letter you assign to it.

If you want to name the new drive D, go ahead and do so, and see if your
programs work the way you want. If you have problems, you then have the
choice of either fixing the programs pointing to the CD or renaming the hard
drive.

If it was me, I'd do it the easy way and name the hard drive something else
based on what I'd me storing there.

"lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:21A99F29-3DC5-41FF-8107-EBD91F098EB7@microsoft.com...
>I want to make the 2nd drive as D: but this would change all the other
> letters one letterup (except C  and confuse apps./programs/windows apps.
> that are already pointing to these letters. Example;when ripping in media
> player, it nows that the dvdrom is drive D: So if the 2nd drive takes D:
> and
> rom is moved to letter E: will it know that rom has moved to E:
> This is what i am affraid might happen not just in media player but other
> apps. as well. Will this be a probem.
> "D.Currie" wrote:
>
>>
>> "lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:C868CAE2-378A-494E-9B54-D916D41E165D@microsoft.com...
>> >I want to add a 2nd sata hd (200g) in xpsp2 w/ media center...... I have
>> >in
>> > my system now one sata,dvdrw,dvdrom,card reader. My question is when i
>> > add
>> > the 2nd HD what effect will it have on the drive letters that are
>> > already
>> > in
>> > use? Will the letters change and if so, how will this effect
>> > applications/programs that points to them now.
>> >
>> > Lakkdon
>>
>> Normally it will just take the next available drive letter. You can give
>> it
>> whatever letter you want through Drive Management.
>>
>>
>>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Well, i have decided that i will just let the 2nd HD take the next available
letters after my other devices (primary C:, dvdrw D:, dvdrom E:, card reader
f: thru I  since i do plan on partitioning this drive based on what i will
be saving which will be audio, pix, video stuff. Maybe assigning letters
similar to what you have Currie.
I'll let u guys now how things worsk out.
Thanks

"D.Currie" wrote:

> This is exactly why I custom-name all my drives. My DVD drives are all V and
> my writable drives are W and back when I had a zip drive I named it Z. In
> the same manner, my shared server drive is S on all the computers that
> access it, and my media files are on a shared drive called M.
>
> Whether you plan will cause you any issues or not depends on whether or not
> your programs see the CD drive letters as a constant, or whether they are
> able to dynamically find the drive, no matter what letter you assign to it.
>
> If you want to name the new drive D, go ahead and do so, and see if your
> programs work the way you want. If you have problems, you then have the
> choice of either fixing the programs pointing to the CD or renaming the hard
> drive.
>
> If it was me, I'd do it the easy way and name the hard drive something else
> based on what I'd me storing there.
>
> "lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:21A99F29-3DC5-41FF-8107-EBD91F098EB7@microsoft.com...
> >I want to make the 2nd drive as D: but this would change all the other
> > letters one letterup (except C  and confuse apps./programs/windows apps.
> > that are already pointing to these letters. Example;when ripping in media
> > player, it nows that the dvdrom is drive D: So if the 2nd drive takes D:
> > and
> > rom is moved to letter E: will it know that rom has moved to E:
> > This is what i am affraid might happen not just in media player but other
> > apps. as well. Will this be a probem.
> > "D.Currie" wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> "lakkdon" <lakkdon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:C868CAE2-378A-494E-9B54-D916D41E165D@microsoft.com...
> >> >I want to add a 2nd sata hd (200g) in xpsp2 w/ media center...... I have
> >> >in
> >> > my system now one sata,dvdrw,dvdrom,card reader. My question is when i
> >> > add
> >> > the 2nd HD what effect will it have on the drive letters that are
> >> > already
> >> > in
> >> > use? Will the letters change and if so, how will this effect
> >> > applications/programs that points to them now.
> >> >
> >> > Lakkdon
> >>
> >> Normally it will just take the next available drive letter. You can give
> >> it
> >> whatever letter you want through Drive Management.
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>