# B: drive in computers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2002, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694 "2002-04-15T05:21:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/21 "2002-04-16T01:42:09Z")
I have a Pentium 100 Mhz I use just for scanning that has a 5.25 floppy B drive. I keep it because it works well with the scsi scanning card and has a B drive in case I ever need one. I haven’t used it since at least 94 ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/22 "2002-04-16T04:50:30Z")
My first non-64 computer was a 486 with a 5.25 as the A drive and a 3.5 as the B drive, running W3.1. A few years later I bought a CD-ROM drive but had trouble installing it myself so I took it to the local computer shop; they offered me a deal to install the CD-ROM, upgrade the motherboard/processor to a P120 and the OS to W95, and add a second hard drive. When I got it back it still had the 5.25 as the A drive. I later switched the A and B drives myself, since I was having trouble trying to use a 5.25 disk to boot. I finally bought a whole new system last year, but I still have the old beast sitting there waiting for me to get around to copying the last of my old data files to the new system. I haven’t used the 5.25 drive on it in years, although I have a box of disks with old programs and files laying around somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/23 "2002-04-16T05:14:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LurkMeister \* > \*\*I haven’t used the 5.25 drive on it in years, although I have a box of disks with old programs and files laying around somewhere. \*\* If you plan to use those files at all, I suggest you copy them ASAP. The magnetic charge on 5.25" disks will fade in time and you may find you’ve already lost some or all your data. You should copy them to newer media now or write them off. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/24 "2002-04-16T06:43:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hari Seldon \* > The most common OS in those days was CP/M (control program for microprocessors) and it certainly used drive letters. If you wanted to copy from drive A to drive B, you said something like > PIP B: A:filename > (I am not real sure of the syntax, but I am sure that the target came before the source.) I believe that PIP stood for peripheral interchange program, anyway, something like that. When Tim Paterson, working for Seattle Computing, wrote the first version of what was to become IBM-DOS, AKA MSDOS, he changed it to the more logical > copy a:filename b: That’s Seattle Engineering, and what Tim Paterson wrote was QDOS. And there was no MS-DOS in those days, until the clones started appearing. But using drive letters are such an obsolete idea that had its roots in the primitive microcomputers of 1970’s. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/25 "2002-04-16T07:26:44Z")
I havs an abacus with the letters A B C D down the side. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/26 "2002-04-16T15:29:12Z")
My computer still has a 5.25" B: drive. When most people see it, they assume I have 2 CD drives (“so, is one a burner?”). Last time I used it was about a year ago to play _Bards Tale_. In fact, it is one of the few remaining original parts still in the computer from when I first built it in 1991 (the others being the A: drive and a few miscellaneous cables). ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/27 "2002-04-16T15:31:53Z")
Windows has a nice feature where you can assign drive letters anyway you want. It should be under system properties, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/28 "2002-04-16T17:40:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*Letters for disk drives is _sooooooooooooo_ Microsoft… 😉 \*\* Technically, the drive letter concept dates back to at least as far as IBM’s old VM operating system. I wonder which came first? ---
**Author:** ![kingtrw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/958977/32.png) [@kingtrw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingtrw)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/29 "2002-04-16T17:50:19Z")
I have an original IBM XT PC which I love. Its got two 5&1/4 inch drives, one internal and one external, a 2MB hardrive, a 720K memory expansion card, a nice clickity-clickity keyboard, a beast of a green monochrome screen, and a MASSIVE EXTERNAL DRIVE. The cartridges hold I cant remember how much (I can’t find them) but they are large and fit into a huge external drive, which has a fan in it to float the actual disk itself inside the cartridge. Its the only computer in the house (I have about 6 now) that works perfectly. I still go back to it when my linux box narks me, and play flight simulator 3.0 or write basic programs. I’m not even old. I got it from my dad. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/30 "2002-04-16T18:14:02Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Jonathan Woodall_ > Technically, the drive letter concept dates back to at least as far as IBM’s old VM operating system. I wonder which came first? Yes, but “Lettered drives are _soooooooooooooooooooooo_ IBM VM” doesn’t have the same resonance to it, y’know? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tourbot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@tourbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tourbot)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/31 "2002-04-16T19:57:58Z")
Additional mostly useless information: if you boot from a Windows bootable CD (win98 CD for example) your floppy drive will be map to the B: drive. > [@](#): > > Right now, 26 devices seem to be enough for all forseeable needs. Well, then count this as unforseen: Anal-retentive IT administrators that demand a network drive mapping to every volume on every server. If we add one more server, my boss is going to need a new alphabet. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/32 "2002-04-16T20:26:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GusNSpot \* > \*\*I havs an abacus with the letters > > A > > B > > C > > D > > down the side. > > 😉 \*\* Given the way some early systems managed drives, a more appropriate remark might be that you have a ouija board with letters on it. > [@](#): > > Well, then count this as unforseen: Anal-retentive IT administrators that demand a network drive mapping to every volume on every server. If we add one more server, my boss is going to need a new alphabet. If you’re on Win2K, you can create something called “NTFS junction points” which allow you to mount new volumes under an existing NTFS folder structure and get around the 26 drive limitation (essentially, it’s a symbolic link facility): > **[Microsoft Support](https://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3BEN-US%3Bq205524)** ---
**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/33 "2002-04-17T06:03:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, then count this as unforseen: Anal-retentive IT administrators that demand a network drive mapping to every volume on every server. These people are idiots, and should not be listened to. Unfortunately, some people work at companies where the IT admins actually restrict user permissions enough to force the users to use their network drive mappings. This is a peeve of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/34 "2002-04-17T12:09:47Z")
Then again, many users just muck around without us sitting on them. So it goes both ways 😛 ---
**Author:** ![richardb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/96bed5/32.png) [@richardb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richardb)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694/35 "2002-04-22T01:03:00Z")
FYI: The newest Zip Disk drivers now assign the Zip Drive letter to the earliest unused drive letter. Whereas the Zip Drive used to be drive D: on this machine, with the newest driver installed (and no hardware changed) it now assigns the Zip Drive to B:. Off Topic, but if you are interested why I installed a new Zip drive: it’s because the Zip 250 disks formatted on other machines were not being read by this machine. Turns out I needed the newest driver, plus the Zip disks had to be formatted using the Iomega formatting software, not the Windows formatting software. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-drive-in-computers/103694.md?page=1)