Recent computer problems have led me to the regrettable conclusion that the only way to get some functions back to my laptop (eg, sound, a functional device manager) is to reinstall Windows (XP Pro).
I’ve got about 5 gigs worth of photos I’ve taken over the past few months (been doing a lot of travelling), plus a bunch of music/movies/etc. So, since my parents have come to visit me this week, they brought me my external hard drive from home, so I can just copy the files I want to keep onto that, rather than spending the next six weeks burning data CDs.
Anyway, last time I had to reinstall Windows (don’t ask, it was just a few months ago), I accidentally hard the external HD plugged in when I did it. Therefore, my computer now recognizes the internal drive as E:, the external HD as C:, and the CD drive as D:. This has not in the past caused a problem.
However, I think it’s probably best to have nothing else plugged in as I reinstall Windows. If I do that, and it just slaps a default ‘drive C’ name on my internal hard drive, will I have problems when I then plug in my external drive again? I’m picturing my computer trying to get its mind around having two seperate C drives and terrible disasters ensuing, no doubt leading me to once again needing to reinstall everything.
So, in, in short: If the last time I had to reinstall XP it mapped my external drive as C:, will reinstalling it without the external drive plugged in cause problems?
Assuming you plan to do a reinstall from CD, you should not have a problem. You should change the drive letters back to a “normal” setting before you do the reinstall.
The external hadr drive should be Ok. You can just plug that into any computer and have it work. Windows itself will work since that is being reinstalled. The only potential problems I can see is if you have installed any applications since the remapping. They sometimes are sensitive to the drive letter they were installed as and will try to point back to that letter even when it isn’t correct anymore.
Should work fine.
The Operating System assigns the next available drive letter to a device when it is plugged in.
I have an external USB drive that varies between e:, f:, and g: on different computers. It will even have different drive letters on the same computer if I plugged in my USB flash drive first.
You certainly won’t have two C drives. Letters are assigned consecutively based on what’s available, and a drive isn’t tied to being a particular drive letter; it’s a dynamic process. However, as **Shagnasty **noted, any programs that are looking for files or data on a particular drive accessed through a particular drive letter will have problems.
Considering that you’re reinstalling anyway, I’d remove all external drives while doing the install, and plug them in at the end - removes the possibility that you might format the wrong drive accidentally and hose your backup.
You can also re-assign your external hard drive with a different letter prior to your reinstalling Windows. Plug the external drive in, go to Start>Settings>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Disk Management; right-click on the external drive (in your case C: ) and choose ‘Change Drive Letters and Paths…’ and assign it a new number; you can even name the drive.
You should not need to re-assign your operating system drive as, hopefully, you’ll reformat as part of the re-install process and you will be able to assign a new number at that time.
Regards,
Letter! I meant Letter!
Wench, bring me more coffee…
You all were right - everything worked, no problems. I kept the external one unplugged. After several invocations of Murphy’s Law, I ended up needing to just delete the existing partition. At some point during the process*, it became Drive C, the CD drive became D, and then when plugged in, it picked up the external as E.
*Note: The best time to start a major computer project on a bitchy machine is not 11 PM, at least not if you need to be up at a decent hour the next morning.