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Thread ID: 70765 2006-07-15 09:26:00 Help, all drive letters changed! Vince (406) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
471145 2006-07-16 22:43:00 There are 2 primary and 1 extended on each drive. Drive 0 has 1 logical + unalocated, and Drive 1 has 3 logical.

If I can get C:\ back to its home base then I will be OK. pressf1.pcworld.co.nz

Sorry. I am confused about a few things.

Have a read here:-
pcguide.com
It may help you to understand more about partitions and drive letter assignments.

I don't know how you finished up with two primary PARTITIONS on each drive.
Within a PARTITION you can have one or more logical DRIVES.
Sweep (90)
471146 2006-07-17 06:01:00 Was this on an empty hard drive? I must be thick because I really don't understand exactly what you did to get in this situation. :confused:

Mabe I was not as clear as I should have been; trying to hard to be concise. :)

The C partition was the only partition on the original HD. I added a second HD so I could use Ghost to backup each disc to the other. I then moved all Progran files and everything that didn,t run, to the second HD. I Ghosted everything left on C partition to HD 2 and partitioned HD 1. When that was finished all the drive letters had been re assigned!

I didn't do anything to make that happen, I swear, :horrified but there may have been an omittion that I am unaware of.
Vince (406)
471147 2006-07-17 06:20:00 The drive letters were reassigned because they aren't permanently allocated in the partitioning process. There aren't any drive letters until Windows has booted. Partition tables (hardware) don't know about them. They are a Windows (software) thing. The partition/disk which contains Windows, the one which boots, defaults to "C:". D: would usually be the first partition in the other physical drive. Then things start to get interesting. ;) Graham L (2)
471148 2006-07-17 07:00:00 Sorry . I am confused about a few things .

Have a read here:-
. com/ref/hdd/file/partLetter-c . html" target="_blank">pcguide . com
It may help you to understand more about partitions and drive letter assignments .

I don't know how you finished up with two primary PARTITIONS on each drive .
Within a PARTITION you can have one or more logical DRIVES .

Yea, I'm confused to . :waughh:
I don't remember why I put two primary on disc 2, but it seemed like the right thing from my reading . With disc 1 I just repeated the same thing . Information overload got to me before I learned as much as I would have liked .

That link goes straight to a page I wish I had found earlier . I found the following paragraph is usefull .

"This happens because the operating system assigns drive letters using a specific sequence when the PC is booted . Drive letters are not permanently assigned to the drive, so adding new hard disk volumes can interrupt the previous order the next time the machine is started . "

It dosn't explain why disc 1 has partitions D & H, and disc 2 has C, I, E, F and G . There was another partition before C on disc 2 but when I saw the size of the new C I panicked and deleted it . Bad moment that .

The first Primary on disc 1 is a FAT with system recovery stuff on it and has no drive letter . It remains unchanged .

You can see why I tried so hard to be concise in my first post .
Vince (406)
471149 2006-07-17 19:22:00 I am pleased to announce that all the hassle with the partitions is sorted. :)

I backed up the new C:\ that had all my program files, then I went back to DOS and deleted the partition. When I restarted C was back where it belonged and so were the other partitions. I have reformated the programs partition, restored all the files and now everything is as before. :thumbs:

I have learned a couple of things along the way, like you can have two instances of Windows installed at once! and Ghost will overwrite Windows, or even it's own installation!!

Most of all though, I have learned - a little more - that panicking when things don't go the way I would like does not help. :)
Vince (406)
471150 2006-07-18 02:47:00 ...It dosn't explain why disc 1 has partitions D & H, and disc 2 has C, I, E, F and G.But I did. :cool:

There is no harm in having several primary partitions. The original partioning system allowed up to four partitions, primary or extended, on a disk Extended ones were invented to make it possible to have more than four total. Only one primary partition can be "active" (bootable) at any time, so there's no confusion.

There is no harm in panicking. It's very therapeutic. But do it away from the computer. :badpc: Only come back when you have calmed down. That way you do less damage.
Graham L (2)
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