Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

I have a new external hard drive.
I have no problem connect, but it only takes driver ID as computer E drive.
However, I already have had another device that use driver E as its ID.

I would like to change this new hard drive ID from E to other say G or H.
The driver company say it is Windows do this change.

Can anyone tell me how to change driver ID?

Thanks

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

It's not the drive that gets assigned a letter, it's the partition(s) on the drive. Windows 98 has a fixed method for assigning hard drive letters. Only time you can assign letters is when the drive is a "removable" drive (though that doesn't include floppy drives.) CD drives, memory cards, DVD drives, etc.

In other words, the company was wrong regarding Windows 98. In Windows 2000 or XP, you *can* reassign hard drive partition letters, but not in Win95/98/98SE/ME

What kind of drive was E:\ before?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Terry" <Terry@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:66FACF54-7F0C-443B-B9CD-2435F513A2D1@microsoft.com...
> I have a new external hard drive.
> I have no problem connect, but it only takes driver ID as computer E drive.
> However, I already have had another device that use driver E as its ID.
>
> I would like to change this new hard drive ID from E to other say G or H.
> The driver company say it is Windows do this change.
>
> Can anyone tell me how to change driver ID?
>
> Thanks

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

See if this freeware will work for your situation --
Letter Assigner - Freeware:
http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/

"Letter Assigner allows to assign in the system ( with a few non-significant
exceptions ). It gives the users of Microsoft ® Windows ® 95, Windows ® 98 and
Windows ® ME the freedom to choose drive letters.

"Letter Assigner remembers drives by their serial numbers or by the labels, which
provides protection against letter changes after repartitioning or connecting new
drives. "
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/communiti [...] fault.mspx


"Terry" <Terry@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:66FACF54-7F0C-443B-B9CD-2435F513A2D1@microsoft.com...
> I have a new external hard drive.
> I have no problem connect, but it only takes driver ID as computer E drive.
> However, I already have had another device that use driver E as its ID.
>
> I would like to change this new hard drive ID from E to other say G or H.
> The driver company say it is Windows do this change.
>
> Can anyone tell me how to change driver ID?
>
> Thanks

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Hmmm... Gonna have to give that one a try. Almost sounds too good to be true, <g>.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> wrote in message newsmwTNdFSFHA.996@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> See if this freeware will work for your situation --
> Letter Assigner - Freeware:
> http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/
>
> "Letter Assigner allows to assign in the system ( with a few non-significant
> exceptions ). It gives the users of Microsoft ® Windows ® 95, Windows ® 98 and
> Windows ® ME the freedom to choose drive letters.
>
> "Letter Assigner remembers drives by their serial numbers or by the labels, which
> provides protection against letter changes after repartitioning or connecting new
> drives. "
> --
> Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
> http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
> http://www.microsoft.com/communiti [...] fault.mspx
>
>
> "Terry" <Terry@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:66FACF54-7F0C-443B-B9CD-2435F513A2D1@microsoft.com...
> > I have a new external hard drive.
> > I have no problem connect, but it only takes driver ID as computer E drive.
> > However, I already have had another device that use driver E as its ID.
> >
> > I would like to change this new hard drive ID from E to other say G or H.
> > The driver company say it is Windows do this change.
> >
> > Can anyone tell me how to change driver ID?
> >
> > Thanks
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

The new hard drive is removable I can disconncet through "safely remove".
So if this is what you mean removable, what should I do?

te E:\ before is another hard drive that cannot be remove.
I want to transfre some file from old one to new, and if both want to be E:\
what is the point to get new one.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

> It's not the drive that gets assigned a letter, it's the partition(s) on the drive.
> Windows 98 has a fixed method for assigning hard drive letters. Only time
> you can assign letters is when the drive is a "removable" drive (though that
> doesn't include floppy drives.) CD drives, memory cards, DVD drives, etc.
>
> In other words, the company was wrong regarding Windows 98. In Windows
> 2000 or XP, you *can* reassign hard drive partition letters, but not in
> Win95/98/98SE/ME
>
> What kind of drive was E:\ before

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

A drive is a "removable" drive if the media can be removed: CDROM, DVD, flash card reader, USB stick. A hard drive is never a removable drive, regardless of whether or not it's a USB drive that can be "removed". Remember, Windows 98 was developed when USB hard drives didn't exist.

The rule for lettering drives in Win9x is as follows:

A & B are reserved for floppy drives.
C:\ is *always* the partition where the OS loads from.
Next come remaining Primary partitions on the Primary IDE/Master drive (except Extended, if present.)
After that come remaining Primary partitions on the Primary IDE/Slave drive, the one marked Active, if any, being first.
And so forth for all hard drives. Secondary Master, Secondary Slave, then USB drives, all in the order in which they load.
After all the Primary Partitions come Extended Volumes (partitions inside an Extended Partition), again lettered in the order in which they load.

(To be honest, I can't recall for sure if Primary Slave loads before Secondary Master.)

It would appear that your current E:\ drive is an Extended Volume, and your USB drive is a Primary partition. Besides trying Glen's suggestion for a drive lettering assignment utility, you could easily push your USB drive to the end by repartitioning it and making the entire drive an Extended partition, then partitioning the Extended space into Volumes. They would then load last of all hard drive partitions, before removable drives.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Terry" <Terry@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:4EA99489-05EA-45EA-8358-9C60185D279A@microsoft.com...
> The new hard drive is removable I can disconncet through "safely remove".
> So if this is what you mean removable, what should I do?
>
> te E:\ before is another hard drive that cannot be remove.
> I want to transfre some file from old one to new, and if both want to be E:\
> what is the point to get new one.
>
> "Gary S. Terhune" wrote:
>
> > It's not the drive that gets assigned a letter, it's the partition(s) on the drive.
> > Windows 98 has a fixed method for assigning hard drive letters. Only time
> > you can assign letters is when the drive is a "removable" drive (though that
> > doesn't include floppy drives.) CD drives, memory cards, DVD drives, etc.
> >
> > In other words, the company was wrong regarding Windows 98. In Windows
> > 2000 or XP, you *can* reassign hard drive partition letters, but not in
> > Win95/98/98SE/ME
> >
> > What kind of drive was E:\ before

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

"Gary S. Terhune" <grystnews@mvps.org> wrote in message news$NzgDHSFHA.576@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...

>The rule for lettering drives in Win9x is as follows:
>
>A & B are reserved for floppy drives.
>C:\ is *always* the partition where the OS loads from.
>
>Next come remaining Primary partitions on the Primary IDE/Master drive
>(except Extended, if present.) After that come remaining Primary
>partitions on the Primary IDE/Slave drive, the one marked Active, if
>any, being first. And so forth for all hard drives. Secondary Master,
>Secondary Slave, then USB drives, all in the order in which they load.
>After all the Primary Partitions come Extended Volumes (partitions
>inside an Extended Partition), again lettered in the order in which
>they load.

Actually, it goes like this for 9x, (and is the default for NT, before
it does its reassignment.)

Active primary on HD0 (C
First physical primary(s) on HD1, HD2, HD3
All logicals within the extended in order. (HD0, HD1, etc..)
Then remaining primarys (HD0, HD1, etc...)


>(To be honest, I can't recall for sure if Primary Slave loads before
>Secondary Master.)

From memory..me niether .. I know that the primary master is HD0
(aka by the BIOS; 0x80) Assuming all fixed disks, I *think* the
primary slave is HD1 (0x81), and the secondary master 0x82.. but
I'd have to look it up to be certain..

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Ahh... So Active partitions (or first Primary on drive if no Active) get enumerated first. Makes sense, I guess.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Bill Blanton" <bblanton@REMOVEmagicnet.net> wrote in message news:eilKKkHSFHA.3088@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>
> "Gary S. Terhune" <grystnews@mvps.org> wrote in message news$NzgDHSFHA.576@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>
> >The rule for lettering drives in Win9x is as follows:
> >
> >A & B are reserved for floppy drives.
> >C:\ is *always* the partition where the OS loads from.
> >
> >Next come remaining Primary partitions on the Primary IDE/Master drive
> >(except Extended, if present.) After that come remaining Primary
> >partitions on the Primary IDE/Slave drive, the one marked Active, if
> >any, being first. And so forth for all hard drives. Secondary Master,
> >Secondary Slave, then USB drives, all in the order in which they load.
> >After all the Primary Partitions come Extended Volumes (partitions
> >inside an Extended Partition), again lettered in the order in which
> >they load.
>
> Actually, it goes like this for 9x, (and is the default for NT, before
> it does its reassignment.)
>
> Active primary on HD0 (C
> First physical primary(s) on HD1, HD2, HD3
> All logicals within the extended in order. (HD0, HD1, etc..)
> Then remaining primarys (HD0, HD1, etc...)
>
>
> >(To be honest, I can't recall for sure if Primary Slave loads before
> >Secondary Master.)
>
> From memory..me niether .. I know that the primary master is HD0
> (aka by the BIOS; 0x80) Assuming all fixed disks, I *think* the
> primary slave is HD1 (0x81), and the secondary master 0x82.. but
> I'd have to look it up to be certain..
>
>
>
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

I guess you could say the "active" partition on HD0 getting C: is
just a consequence of "itself" being loaded as the system drive.

After that, whether there are others "active" or not shouldn't matter.
(but iirc it may cause some flakiness in ordering to have more than one
active.) You could have a visible primary (for example) on HD0 that
precedes the active partition, but it won't get enumerated until
after all ext/logicals. Being "active" is the one exception to the
rules.



"Gary S. Terhune" <grystnews@mvps.org> wrote in message newsg9RE6HSFHA.3088@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
Ahh... So Active partitions (or first Primary on drive if no Active) get enumerated first. Makes sense, I guess.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Bill Blanton" <bblanton@REMOVEmagicnet.net> wrote in message news:eilKKkHSFHA.3088@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>
> "Gary S. Terhune" <grystnews@mvps.org> wrote in message news$NzgDHSFHA.576@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>
> >The rule for lettering drives in Win9x is as follows:
> >
> >A & B are reserved for floppy drives.
> >C:\ is *always* the partition where the OS loads from.
> >
> >Next come remaining Primary partitions on the Primary IDE/Master drive
> >(except Extended, if present.) After that come remaining Primary
> >partitions on the Primary IDE/Slave drive, the one marked Active, if
> >any, being first. And so forth for all hard drives. Secondary Master,
> >Secondary Slave, then USB drives, all in the order in which they load.
> >After all the Primary Partitions come Extended Volumes (partitions
> >inside an Extended Partition), again lettered in the order in which
> >they load.
>
> Actually, it goes like this for 9x, (and is the default for NT, before
> it does its reassignment.)
>
> Active primary on HD0 (C
> First physical primary(s) on HD1, HD2, HD3
> All logicals within the extended in order. (HD0, HD1, etc..)
> Then remaining primarys (HD0, HD1, etc...)
>
>
> >(To be honest, I can't recall for sure if Primary Slave loads before
> >Secondary Master.)
>
> From memory..me niether .. I know that the primary master is HD0
> (aka by the BIOS; 0x80) Assuming all fixed disks, I *think* the
> primary slave is HD1 (0x81), and the secondary master 0x82.. but
> I'd have to look it up to be certain..
>
>
>
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Order in Which MS-DOS and Windows Assign Drive Letters:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=51978

<paste>

3. Regardless of whether a second floppy disk drive is present, MS-DOS then assigns
the drive letter C to the primary MS-DOS partition on the first physical hard disk,
and then goes on to check for a second hard disk.

4. If a second physical hard disk is found, and a primary partition exists on the
second physical drive, the primary MS-DOS partition on the second physical hard
drive is assigned the letter D. MS-DOS version 5.0, which supports up to eight
physical drives, will continue to search for more physical hard disk drives at this
point. For example, if a third physical hard disk is found, and a primary partition
exists on the third physical drive, the primary MS-DOS partition on the third
physical hard drive is assigned the letter E.

5. MS-DOS returns to the first physical hard disk drive and assigns drive letters to
any additional logical drives (in extended MS-DOS partitions) on that drive in
sequence.

6. MS-DOS repeats this process for the second physical hard disk drive, if present.
MS-DOS 5.0 will repeat this process for up to eight physical hard drives, if
present. After all logical drives (in extended MS-DOS partitions) have been assigned
drive letters, MS-DOS 5.0 returns to the first physical drive and assigns drive
letters to any other primary MS-DOS partitions that exist, then searches other
physical drives for additional primary MS-DOS partitions. This support for multiple
primary MS-DOS partitions was added to version 5.0 for backward compatibility with
the previous OEM MS-DOS versions that support multiple primary partitions.

</paste>
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/communiti [...] fault.mspx


"Bill Blanton" <bblanton@REMOVEmagicnet.net> wrote in message
news:eilKKkHSFHA.3088@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>
> "Gary S. Terhune" <grystnews@mvps.org> wrote in message
news$NzgDHSFHA.576@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>
> >The rule for lettering drives in Win9x is as follows:
> >
> >A & B are reserved for floppy drives.
> >C:\ is *always* the partition where the OS loads from.
> >
> >Next come remaining Primary partitions on the Primary IDE/Master drive
> >(except Extended, if present.) After that come remaining Primary
> >partitions on the Primary IDE/Slave drive, the one marked Active, if
> >any, being first. And so forth for all hard drives. Secondary Master,
> >Secondary Slave, then USB drives, all in the order in which they load.
> >After all the Primary Partitions come Extended Volumes (partitions
> >inside an Extended Partition), again lettered in the order in which
> >they load.
>
> Actually, it goes like this for 9x, (and is the default for NT, before
> it does its reassignment.)
>
> Active primary on HD0 (C
> First physical primary(s) on HD1, HD2, HD3
> All logicals within the extended in order. (HD0, HD1, etc..)
> Then remaining primarys (HD0, HD1, etc...)
>
>
> >(To be honest, I can't recall for sure if Primary Slave loads before
> >Secondary Master.)
>
> From memory..me niether .. I know that the primary master is HD0
> (aka by the BIOS; 0x80) Assuming all fixed disks, I *think* the
> primary slave is HD1 (0x81), and the secondary master 0x82.. but
> I'd have to look it up to be certain..
>
>
>
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

OK, that does it. When I go to rebuild this system in June, I'm going to figure it out for myself, <g>. Put four Primary partitions on each of my four internal drives, see what happens. (Can't play too much with the external drives, since they'll have my backups.)

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> wrote in message news:%23TobLuISFHA.688@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Order in Which MS-DOS and Windows Assign Drive Letters:
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=51978
>
> <paste>
>
> 3. Regardless of whether a second floppy disk drive is present, MS-DOS then assigns
> the drive letter C to the primary MS-DOS partition on the first physical hard disk,
> and then goes on to check for a second hard disk.
>
> 4. If a second physical hard disk is found, and a primary partition exists on the
> second physical drive, the primary MS-DOS partition on the second physical hard
> drive is assigned the letter D. MS-DOS version 5.0, which supports up to eight
> physical drives, will continue to search for more physical hard disk drives at this
> point. For example, if a third physical hard disk is found, and a primary partition
> exists on the third physical drive, the primary MS-DOS partition on the third
> physical hard drive is assigned the letter E.
>
> 5. MS-DOS returns to the first physical hard disk drive and assigns drive letters to
> any additional logical drives (in extended MS-DOS partitions) on that drive in
> sequence.
>
> 6. MS-DOS repeats this process for the second physical hard disk drive, if present.
> MS-DOS 5.0 will repeat this process for up to eight physical hard drives, if
> present. After all logical drives (in extended MS-DOS partitions) have been assigned
> drive letters, MS-DOS 5.0 returns to the first physical drive and assigns drive
> letters to any other primary MS-DOS partitions that exist, then searches other
> physical drives for additional primary MS-DOS partitions. This support for multiple
> primary MS-DOS partitions was added to version 5.0 for backward compatibility with
> the previous OEM MS-DOS versions that support multiple primary partitions.
>
> </paste>
> --
> Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
> http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
> http://www.microsoft.com/communiti [...] fault.mspx
>
>
> "Bill Blanton" <bblanton@REMOVEmagicnet.net> wrote in message
> news:eilKKkHSFHA.3088@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> >
> > "Gary S. Terhune" <grystnews@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news$NzgDHSFHA.576@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> >
> > >The rule for lettering drives in Win9x is as follows:
> > >
> > >A & B are reserved for floppy drives.
> > >C:\ is *always* the partition where the OS loads from.
> > >
> > >Next come remaining Primary partitions on the Primary IDE/Master drive
> > >(except Extended, if present.) After that come remaining Primary
> > >partitions on the Primary IDE/Slave drive, the one marked Active, if
> > >any, being first. And so forth for all hard drives. Secondary Master,
> > >Secondary Slave, then USB drives, all in the order in which they load.
> > >After all the Primary Partitions come Extended Volumes (partitions
> > >inside an Extended Partition), again lettered in the order in which
> > >they load.
> >
> > Actually, it goes like this for 9x, (and is the default for NT, before
> > it does its reassignment.)
> >
> > Active primary on HD0 (C
> > First physical primary(s) on HD1, HD2, HD3
> > All logicals within the extended in order. (HD0, HD1, etc..)
> > Then remaining primarys (HD0, HD1, etc...)
> >
> >
> > >(To be honest, I can't recall for sure if Primary Slave loads before
> > >Secondary Master.)
> >
> > From memory..me niether .. I know that the primary master is HD0
> > (aka by the BIOS; 0x80) Assuming all fixed disks, I *think* the
> > primary slave is HD1 (0x81), and the secondary master 0x82.. but
> > I'd have to look it up to be certain..
> >
> >
> >
> >
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Have similar Firewire drive that takes the drive letter "M". It takes
second fiddle when I plug in the video camera to recover video/pictures.
Then the firewire drive partition takes the drive letter "N". As Gary
surmised, the hard drive has an extended partition with a dos logical drive.
Hard drives etc. on an external bus, like USB or Firewire, should be taking
second fiddle to onboard connected hard drives. Irregardless the history of
when a particular hard drive is connected, internally or externally.

To answer your question about drive letter assignment, you need to go to
device manager under disk drives. (Hard drive IDs are not drive letter
assignments) Select the hard drive that is connected to the USB. Then
select "removable". This will "ungray" the drive letter assignment below
it. Then you can assign a drive letter not already assigned to other
devices. Reboot/restart the PC. I have not done this as its obvious from
the label name, so I can tell the difference from the video camera and the
Firewire drive.

To avoid confusion with multiple hard drives with multiple partitions in a
PC regarding partition types, put primaries only on the first physical hard
drive, followed by one extended partition if you still have empty space
remaining. The remaining hard drives should have extended partitions only.
The only exception would be a temporarily connected hard drive for cloning,
which windows should never "see". This has worked great for years for me.
"Terry" <Terry@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:66FACF54-7F0C-443B-B9CD-2435F513A2D1@microsoft.com...
> I have a new external hard drive.
> I have no problem connect, but it only takes driver ID as computer E
drive.
> However, I already have had another device that use driver E as its ID.
>
> I would like to change this new hard drive ID from E to other say G or H.
> The driver company say it is Windows do this change.
>
> Can anyone tell me how to change driver ID?
>
> Thanks