self renaming hard drive?

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whiskeykid

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Oct 10, 2007
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I just reinstalled Xp on a newer Build of low cost computer , after months of stable use I couldn't boot to desktop at all , Checked all hardware and reinstalled xp onto spare blank drive and got to desktop fine so i put my origonal 300 gig drive back in , carefully removed the " C " partition and reinstalled xp , boot up worked to desktop and when I looked for and found the other untouched partition "D" I found the windows folders from the origonal troubled install !
I had kept all latest driver install files on "D" drive partition and somehow the drive letters got switched? The fresh install of xp was only recognized operating system in bios so I had no dual boot problems . To find out if there really was an operating system from origonal c partition I tryed disk management software from fresh install to deleate partition of what was at that time called " D " and it did so with out mentioning that you can't format a xp install without the install disk .So I am at a loss to understand how the drive letters got switched and XP install corrupted for boot up .Of course a virus could change letters And was running AVG free at time ,zone alarm free
 
What?

Try some Parted Magic live disk, boot off it and make whatever disk / partition you need active and repartition / reformat the other disk...hope i got it correctly???
 
I'm confused too.

maybe you deleted the "D:" partition, which then became the C: partition at reinstall, which then caused the original C: partition to become D:.


whiskeykid said:
To find out if there really was an operating system from origonal c partition I tryed disk management software from fresh install to deleate partition of what was at that time called " D " and it did so with out mentioning that you can't format a xp install without the install disk .
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uhhh... what? what software mentions you can't format a non-boot partition without an OS install disk?
 
I'll download this parted magic cd for the next time , Maybe I can work it out if reacurres , thanx
 
j-sta said:
I'm confused too.

maybe you deleted the "D:" partition, which then became the C: partition at reinstall, which then caused the original C: partition to become D:.

and I had a witness who confirmed that we were not deleating D drive but the C drive ,there can be no mistake there




uhhh... what? what software mentions you can't format a non-boot partition without an OS install disk?
Click to expand...

Software was disk management found after clicking computer management icon in fresh install of Xp -----and what bothered me was it should have been a boot partition, had been for months and then one day wouldn't boot, only one beep and at windows logo just before desktop it reboots .I could stop the reboot in bios but not get to desktop
 
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There is nothing on the drives that say "Hey I'm C, and this is D". It's all maintained in the registry.

So when you plugged your second drive in, Windows setup saw that drive as a secondary drive and assigned it as D: when it did it's drive scan. What you nuked and reinstalled to was actually your temporary installation on the spare drive.


EDIT: On a second read, it appears you had two partitions on your main hard drive? Well, what I said above still applies. drive letters are assigned by the OS, not the BIOS. and it's hardly ever consistant when you're installing to different partitions. Winodws gernerally tries to name it's system partition (where it's own \Windows folder resides) "C:" unless there are other drives detected before the hard drive is partitioned (e.g. a multicard reader could get C, D, E, F, and G if you're booting from the install disk and installing to a completely blank drive).
 
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Common mistake people make thinking that drive letters are somehow always related to physical drives. Confuses a lot of people when they try to dual-boot two versions of Windows for the first time and their drive letters are reversed.

Drive letters are done within Windows and that is all.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
criccio said:
Common mistake people make thinking that drive letters are somehow always related to physical drives. Confuses a lot of people when they try to dual-boot two versions of Windows for the first time and their drive letters are reversed.

Drive letters are done within Windows and that is all.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
Click to expand...

Understood. Too bad his post wasn't.
 
number69 said:
Understood. Too bad his post wasn't.
Click to expand...
yes origonaly one hard drive -2 partitions C and D on it . after months of C being " Windows " install, the system wouldn't boot. So I unplugged hard drive and plugged second hard drive to test if there was hardware problem or not .
It worked fine to install xp so I unplugged second hard drive, replugged first and reinstalled to the C drive partition [Not!] the D drive partition that I intended to reuse the latest drivers I downloaded and stored on the D drive for this purpose. On entering what was labeled D drive I found the "documents and setting" and the "windows" folders all from first install! This could only happen if windows had renamed C TO D but from an experience years ago I thought you could tell if you renamed a drive as name was more than just letter tho I forget what it was .Looking in my computer it seemed like it all went according to plan till I looked for stored data on d drive .Was able to deleate patition of D and format so now it is running well but anomaly of this experience is troubling .
I am wondering if was a virus renaming hard drive partitions or something?
Sorry I don't communicate well as am self taught in assembling computers because I game a bit with a few friends but don't grok the tech speak so good and clairity is everything .thanks for trying to resolve this mystery
 
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This is not a virus issue. Drive letters are not and have never been consistent across OS installations.

I have two operating systems on one drive. Windows XP and Windows 7. Windows XP sees it's own partition as C:, and the other partition ad D:. Windows 7 sees them reversed.

What happened is tha tyou didn't actually look to see which partition was which when you blew away one of them to reinstall Windows. You cannot rely on drive letters. There is nothing in the system BIOS or on the hard drive partition information that says "This is C, and that is D:" They are set by the Windows' setup routine as it finds drive and partitions.

I have another system that Windows got installed to H: because the hard drive in it was completely empty when it did it's drive scan. It found a media card reader and labeled it as drives D, E, F, and G. C went to the DVD drive. So when I created a partiition, the first available letter was H:.

It sounds like at some point in the past Windows XP was installed to the second partition and labeled it C: and the first partition got labeled D:. When you did your recent reinstall, setup went through and labeled the drive as it found them which incidentally reversed the letters from what you were accustomed.
 
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ryan_975 said:
It sounds like at some point in the past Windows XP was installed to the second partition and labeled it C: and the first partition got labeled D:. When you did your recent reinstall, setup went through and labeled the drive as it found them which incidentally reversed the letters from what you were accustomed.
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that's what I believe happend, as I had stated above.

what was thought to be the "C" drive that was wiped, was actually the "D" drive in the original install. So when it got wiped and XP reinstalled, it called this new boot partition the C: drive.
 
this sounds about the same issue as mine right now.

so I just got back from vacation with 16GB of pictures and every time I look for a picture, my thumbnails loads very slowly (approx 1 min).

mucked around my BIOS, loaded Ace-a-Rue suggestion

Good: Thumbnails now loads uber-fast
Bad: It also cleared all my recent programs....FF3 bookmarks...forgot create a restore point
Good: Got tons more space on my HD....
-----------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE!!!


Now, about the cleared files which resulted in increased HD space...for some reason, the BIOS updated, switch my partitions around.

I didn't actually gain any HD space.

what happened was that, I have one HD, formatted with C with WinXPPRO and basic programs

the D has all the Program, Apps, download back ups, games

So when it got switched, I thought my D drive lost my programs and gained HD space.

Is there a way to switch them back without affecting the Registry so much?

here you can see the that the partitions and what's in them, and the conflicting space available:



advance thanks
 
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I don't think I have a good answer to my confusion yet but Operator error is always the first and last thing to check on and I can't rule it out compleatly .

ryan_975 said:
This is not a virus issue. Drive letters are not and have never been consistent across OS installations.
Thankyou for clearing that posibility up

I have two operating systems on one drive. Windows XP and Windows 7. Windows XP sees it's own partition as C:, and the other partition ad D:. Windows 7 sees them reversed.

[What happened is tha tyou didn't actually look to see which partition was which when you blew away one of them to reinstall Windows. You cannot rely on drive letters. There is nothing in the system BIOS or on the hard drive partition information that says "This is C, and that is D:" They are set by the Windows' setup routine as it finds drive and partitions.]
after inserting XP disk and at the question do you want to deleat this partition? What I saw was the single hard drive with 2 partitions called C and D respectively as it had always been since purchase 6 months before, never had any other operating systems installed before . I relied on the letters to decide where to install Xp fresh and at time I had witness who observed as she had much data and music and downloadable college courses archived so I asked you agree I'm not deleating your D archive partition? she agreed and I said last chance to change your mind and have Best Buy techs recover your data for a fee and she said no to best buy and the fee and I hit deleate partition C
I have always relyed on the drive letters being what I asign them to be untill I rename or remove the partition.I have already learned to be careful as I create patitions as XP will name automatically but if I understand you the drive letter wouldn't change unless I deleated the partition or unless I renamed it and I didn't.I never saw xp change a drive letter before automatically without a choice on my part to creat a partion first and then xp rushes to gIve it a letter then

I have another system that Windows got installed to H: because the hard drive in it was completely empty when it did it's drive scan. It found a media card reader and labeled it as drives D, E, F, and G. C went to the DVD drive. So when I created a partiition, the first available letter was H:.

It sounds like at some point in the past Windows XP was installed to the second partition and labeled it C: and the first partition got labeled D:. When you did your recent reinstall, setup went through and labeled the drive as it found them which incidentally reversed the letters from what you were accustomed.
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I hate Dual booting unless needed and as I said the drive had xp fresh install on new drive and then a reinstall that went awry
 
whiskeykid said:
I don't think I have a good answer to my confusion yet but Operator error is always the first and last thing to check on and I can't rule it out compleatly .



I hate Dual booting unless needed and as I said the drive had xp fresh install on new drive and then a reinstall that went awry
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What you're not getting is that XP and XP's setup are two different things. And they both determine drive letters independently (the first via registry/boot.ini settings, the latter via a drive scanning routine that labels drives/partitions as they're found). Just because a partition is labeled C: inside the installed OS, doesn't mean that the setup routine will also label it the same. In most cases it does work out that way. But you can't rely on that behavior. Otherwise you end up in the situation you're in now. Your corrupted installation of XP saw the drive differently than the CD you ran to try and replace it. Thus, because you relied on drive letters rather than drive sizes, free space, etc, you inadvertently deleted the partition that you know as D:.
 
(the first via registry/boot.ini settings, the latter via a drive scanning routine that labels drives/partitions as they're found)

Hey thanx Ryan, I finally feel that someone isn't saying I did something I didn't and it fits the calamity I have gone thru perfect .
As you said "most cases it works out that way" , I have experienced similar problems before rarely and assumed I didn't look closely enough to catch my mistake as it happened but now I believe I probably did see the right letter I was looking for, but as you said the install disk may label the disk differently than the existing install .
A train of thought may be flawlessly logical, but yet may be incorrect compleatly.
anyone who is trained in installing an operating system would know the correct process to do so , you dissected my mistake from little data and thru my poor language skills ! A savant you must be ! Thanx a bunch and I will try to be more aware and alert in next XP reinstall .
 
whiskeykid said:
(the first via registry/boot.ini settings, the latter via a drive scanning routine that labels drives/partitions as they're found)

Hey thanx Ryan, I finally feel that someone isn't saying I did something I didn't and it fits the calamity I have gone thru perfect .
As you said "most cases it works out that way" , I have experienced similar problems before rarely and assumed I didn't look closely enough to catch my mistake as it happened but now I believe I probably did see the right letter I was looking for, but as you said the install disk may label the disk differently than the existing install .
A train of thought may be flawlessly logical, but yet may be incorrect compleatly.
anyone who is trained in installing an operating system would know the correct process to do so , you dissected my mistake from little data and thru my poor language skills ! A savant you must be ! Thanx a bunch and I will try to be more aware and alert in next XP reinstall .
Click to expand...

most of the replies did state what ryan said, just worded differently. Nobody was saying "ohh you fu$&%ed up!"
we were simply stating that a mistake was made due to the way the partition's drive letters are displayed on screen ;)
 
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