Drive letter assignment

Home
About
How to use software
How to use Windows
Computer Issues
Computer parts info and install instructions
How to perform tasks and other information
Troubleshooting Tools
Remote Services
Downloads
Info on Websites and/or Businesses
Contact
I have put this website up for your convenience. The website and email service is free, but if you find this site helpful and would like to make a donation, click on the donate button above. Thank you!

Drive letter assignment

Drive letters can change according to what is installed on the system. The normal layout of drive letters are as follows

Hard drives will be assigned the first set of drive letters.
- The first hard drive will get the drive letter assignment of C
- The second hard drive will get the drive letter assignment of D
- Any other hard drives will get subsequent drive letter assignments.(unless they are external hard drives. If they are external hard drives, they will probably get assigned a drive letter after the CD-ROM drives. You can change that if you want) How to change drive letter. Important information on using external hard drives and drive letters.
Partitions will change the drive letter assignments mentioned above. A hard drive can be partitioned into more than one partition. Each partition will get its own drive letter.
CD-ROM drives, USB flash drives and other devices will get drive letters after the hard drives and partitions. Another words, lets say you have two hard drives and two CD-ROM drives. They will be configured as follows
- Primary hard drive will be Drive C
- Secondary hard drive will be Drive D
- Primary CD-ROM drive will be drive E
- Secondary CD-ROM drive will be drive F

Sometimes when you install a second hard drive, it may not get the correct designation. It is suppose to take drive letter assignment of D and change the drive letter assignments for the CD-ROM drives and other devices but sometimes it don't and will take a drive letter assignment after them instead of before them. This is not a big issue but it is something that should be corrected. Click here for instructions on how to change the drive letter assignments. If you are using an external hard drive for back up purposes, you should change the drive letter to X, Y, or Z. Click here for information on this.

Zip drives and Flash card readers can alter the proper drive assignments during the install of Windows XP. This will cause problems and must be avoided. Click here for more information on this issue.

NOTE: people have a tendency to call the hard drive memory. That is not an issue until it comes time for troubleshooting a system.

Memory is for temporary storage of data. (does not get a drive letter assignments)

Hard drives are for permanent storage of data. (Gets drive letter assignment)

Contact Email: Support@upgradenrepair.com

DISCLAIMER:UpgradeNRepair (UNR), the owner, and any representatives of UpgradeNRepair (UNR) is not liable for any data loss or hardware failure because of the following procedure. The Information provided is a guide to assist the customer with an issue with their system or software. The procedures offered here may or may not harm your files. Even procedures that are not designed to harm files, can harm files, depending on the issue with the system. Because there is too many unknowns, UpgradeNRepair is unable to guarantee the safety of the files. Customer is responsible for their data and their actions. Before following the directions on this page and the pages these links are linked to, any data the customer does not want to lose will have to be saved. Saving the data is the sole responsibility of the customer. Some or all of the following procedures or information may not apply to your situation.