Can I reassign my drive letters?

I forgot to turn off my External CD burner and my external
Zip drive during a fdisk/reformat system install.

Now I have drive designations I don't like.

Is there a simple way to reassign my drive letters?

C: and D: are my main hard drive, G is my internal CD
burner, H is my external CD burner, E is my 100 mb zip
(internal), F is my external 250 mb zip

Seems like every time I fdkisk/format, reinstall, my drive
designators change.

I'd like to know a way to keep them the same each time.

And I fdisk/format, reinstall roughly once a month. (I'm a
fanatic about a clean machine)

My tech recommends quarterly.

And I may remind some of you that I had that weird pop-up
burned into my screen. After I'd spend like 10 hours trying
to find the popup and remove it, I calculated the time I'd
spent, and I

fdisked/formatted, and reinstalled!

Which only takes about 2 hours!

(which is why I am now asking about reassigning drive
letters. The drive letters get scrambled when I forget to
turn off my externals when I reinstall. )

TIA!

Tallahassee

"Talahasee" <Talahass@ee.Fla> wrote in message
news:dik9s1h4hbu96dmfv3rjjl3baaudharmmm@4ax.com...
> Can I reassign my drive letters?
>
> I forgot to turn off my External CD burner and my external
> Zip drive during a fdisk/reformat system install.
>
> Now I have drive designations I don't like.
>
> Is there a simple way to reassign my drive letters?
>
> C: and D: are my main hard drive, G is my internal CD
> burner, H is my external CD burner, E is my 100 mb zip
> (internal), F is my external 250 mb zip
>
> Seems like every time I fdkisk/format, reinstall, my drive
> designators change.
>
> I'd like to know a way to keep them the same each time.
>
> And I fdisk/format, reinstall roughly once a month. (I'm a
> fanatic about a clean machine)
>
> My tech recommends quarterly.
>
> And I may remind some of you that I had that weird pop-up
> burned into my screen. After I'd spend like 10 hours trying
> to find the popup and remove it, I calculated the time I'd
> spent, and I
>
> fdisked/formatted, and reinstalled!
>
> Which only takes about 2 hours!
>
> (which is why I am now asking about reassigning drive
> letters. The drive letters get scrambled when I forget to
> turn off my externals when I reinstall. )
>
> TIA!
>
> Tallahassee

You can reassign your drive letters in the Storage
Manager, by running diskmgmt.msc via Start/Run.

Reloading WinXP once every month is a waste of
time, even if it takes only two hours. You could do the
same job in half an hour of elapsed time (5 minutes of
your own time) if you used an imaging tool such as
Acronis, Ghost or DriveImage.

> And I fdisk/format, reinstall roughly once a month. (I'm a
> fanatic about a clean machine)
> My tech recommends quarterly.

Total waste of time/energy
Assuming your not visiting dubious web sites, downloading/installing dubious
stuff

> And I may remind some of you that I had that weird pop-up
> burned into my screen. After I'd spend like 10 hours trying
> to find the popup and remove it, I calculated the time I'd
> spent, and I

Perhaps you need a better AV / Firewall solution

> fdisked/formatted, and reinstalled!
> Which only takes about 2 hours!

Imaging software takes mins.

Hi,

You need to disconnect the external drives while rebuilding to avoid them
usurping drive letters. You can change any drive letter except those
assigned the system and boot partitions using the disk manager snap-in
(diskmgmt.msc).

If you were truly a fanatic about a clean machine, you wouldn't need to
reinstall once a month, but rather you would rarely if ever need to
reinstall.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"Talahasee" <Talahass@ee.Fla> wrote in message
news:dik9s1h4hbu96dmfv3rjjl3baaudharmmm@4ax.com...
> Can I reassign my drive letters?
>
> I forgot to turn off my External CD burner and my external
> Zip drive during a fdisk/reformat system install.
>
> Now I have drive designations I don't like.
>
> Is there a simple way to reassign my drive letters?
>
> C: and D: are my main hard drive, G is my internal CD
> burner, H is my external CD burner, E is my 100 mb zip
> (internal), F is my external 250 mb zip
>
> Seems like every time I fdkisk/format, reinstall, my drive
> designators change.
>
> I'd like to know a way to keep them the same each time.
>
> And I fdisk/format, reinstall roughly once a month. (I'm a
> fanatic about a clean machine)
>
> My tech recommends quarterly.
>
> And I may remind some of you that I had that weird pop-up
> burned into my screen. After I'd spend like 10 hours trying
> to find the popup and remove it, I calculated the time I'd
> spent, and I
>
> fdisked/formatted, and reinstalled!
>
> Which only takes about 2 hours!
>
> (which is why I am now asking about reassigning drive
> letters. The drive letters get scrambled when I forget to
> turn off my externals when I reinstall. )
>
> TIA!
>
> Tallahassee

Since you are a "fanatic about a clean machine", why don't you purchase an
imaging software product to create an image of your "clean" machine just
after formatting and reinstalling? This would allow you to reinstall the OS
and all programs (as well as all drive designations) from the clone saving
probably 1 - 1 1-2 hours per reinstall.


"Talahasee" <Talahass@ee.Fla> wrote in message
news:dik9s1h4hbu96dmfv3rjjl3baaudharmmm@4ax.com...
> Can I reassign my drive letters?
>
> I forgot to turn off my External CD burner and my external
> Zip drive during a fdisk/reformat system install.
>
> Now I have drive designations I don't like.
>
> Is there a simple way to reassign my drive letters?
>
> C: and D: are my main hard drive, G is my internal CD
> burner, H is my external CD burner, E is my 100 mb zip
> (internal), F is my external 250 mb zip
>
> Seems like every time I fdkisk/format, reinstall, my drive
> designators change.
>
> I'd like to know a way to keep them the same each time.
>
> And I fdisk/format, reinstall roughly once a month. (I'm a
> fanatic about a clean machine)
>
> My tech recommends quarterly.
>
> And I may remind some of you that I had that weird pop-up
> burned into my screen. After I'd spend like 10 hours trying
> to find the popup and remove it, I calculated the time I'd
> spent, and I
>
> fdisked/formatted, and reinstalled!
>
> Which only takes about 2 hours!
>
> (which is why I am now asking about reassigning drive
> letters. The drive letters get scrambled when I forget to
> turn off my externals when I reinstall. )
>
> TIA!
>
> Tallahassee
>

Talahasee wrote:

> Can I reassign my drive letters?
>
> I forgot to turn off my External CD burner and my external
> Zip drive during a fdisk/reformat system install.
>
> Now I have drive designations I don't like.
>
> Is there a simple way to reassign my drive letters?
>
> C: and D: are my main hard drive, G is my internal CD
> burner, H is my external CD burner, E is my 100 mb zip
> (internal), F is my external 250 mb zip
>
> Seems like every time I fdkisk/format, reinstall, my drive
> designators change.
>
> I'd like to know a way to keep them the same each time.
>
> And I fdisk/format, reinstall roughly once a month. (I'm a
> fanatic about a clean machine)
>
> My tech recommends quarterly.
>
> And I may remind some of you that I had that weird pop-up
> burned into my screen. After I'd spend like 10 hours trying
> to find the popup and remove it, I calculated the time I'd
> spent, and I
>
> fdisked/formatted, and reinstalled!
>
> Which only takes about 2 hours!
>
> (which is why I am now asking about reassigning drive
> letters. The drive letters get scrambled when I forget to
> turn off my externals when I reinstall. )
>
> TIA!
>
> Tallahassee

It would be easier if you practiced safe computing. No need to
reinstall monthly or even yearly.

http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/before...ug_in.html#III
http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html


--
Rock
MS MVP Windows - Shell/User

On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 11:16:55 -0000, "DL"
<dl@spoofmail.nothere> wrote:

>> And I fdisk/format, reinstall roughly once a month. (I'm a
>> fanatic about a clean machine)
>> My tech recommends quarterly.
>
>Total waste of time/energy
>Assuming your not visiting dubious web sites, downloading/installing dubious
>stuff
>
>> And I may remind some of you that I had that weird pop-up
>> burned into my screen. After I'd spend like 10 hours trying
>> to find the popup and remove it, I calculated the time I'd
>> spent, and I
>
>Perhaps you need a better AV / Firewall solution

I don't doubt that. But doesn't some of that stuff get
through EVERYTHING?
>
>> fdisked/formatted, and reinstalled!
>> Which only takes about 2 hours!
>
>Imaging software takes mins.

Haven't learned that variation yet. And anything that's
going to cost me money is going to have to wait. Last s/w I
purchased was Spy Sweeper.

As for the "dubious" sites, I download a LOT.

I've had stuff from any number of sites-- including warez--
eat my computer.

I've been to a dozen sites in the past few months that
masqueraded as warez sites that doubled as porn sites. No
sooner had the utilities menus loaded than I got 25 porn
popups, ( which is how the aforementioned nasty popup got
burned in.)

Not that I'm a prude or anti-porn. I just like to chose when
and where and what.

At any rate...
I am constantly playing with this utility and that routine.
I don't get infected so much as I get stuff that "breaks" my
machine.

And as I've said elsewhere, I find it easier to reformat
than to spend 6 - 8 hours "troubleshooting", and THEN
reformatting.

However, I finally found some free cloning s/w which I am
about to try. This formatting once a month, while it keeps
my computer clean and user-friendly-- is a pain in the
heiny.

Thanks!

Tallahassee
>

On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 06:31:33 -0500, "Rick \"Nutcase\"
Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>You need to disconnect the external drives while rebuilding to avoid them
>usurping drive letters. You can change any drive letter except those
>assigned the system and boot partitions using the disk manager snap-in
>(diskmgmt.msc).

Your first remark is what I have been doing. I DID mention
that I have garbled drive letters BECAUSE this last time, I
forgot to turn off several externals.

Perhaps remedial reading is in order.

>
>If you were truly a fanatic about a clean machine, you wouldn't need to
>reinstall once a month, but rather you would rarely if ever need to
>reinstall.

This comment makes ZERO sense. You sound like someone

1 with a lot of money to buy all sorts of "protection"
software. I am a disabled retiree.

2 who doesn't play with your computer.

As I believe I mentioned, I play with my computer a LOT,
trying a wide variety of software to improve my system every
chance I get. How else does one know what new innovations
come down the pike.

3 a snob, who figures "your way" is the only way.

Spare me!

I was likely playing with computers when you were being
potty trained.

I have likely earned more in a week than you've earned in a
year.

Tallahassee

On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 06:31:33 -0500, "Rick \"Nutcase\"
Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>You need to disconnect the external drives while rebuilding to avoid them
>usurping drive letters. You can change any drive letter except those
>assigned the system and boot partitions using the disk manager snap-in
>(diskmgmt.msc).

Oh! And you didn't answer my question.

Which was: Once I have installed and gotten my computer
back up, and I have noticed that my drives have the wrong
drive designators, because I forgot to turn off my external
drives...

"How do I reassign my drive designators?"

All YOU did was tell me how they got screwed up to begin
with. which I already knew?

Do you get called "dumb ass" or "smart ass" more than 10
times a day?

Thought so!

>
>If you were truly a fanatic about a clean machine, you wouldn't need to
>reinstall once a month, but rather you would rarely if ever need to
>reinstall.

> Do you get called "dumb ass" or "smart ass" more than 10
> times a day?

I note that you have posted quite a few questions in this
newsgroup, and received lots of help from total strangers
who voluntarily gave some of their time to assist you.
Using this type of language just because you do not agree
with a certain reply tends to turn respondents off. There
was nothing offensive in Rick's response and hence no
need to reply the way you did.

Pegasus (MVP) wrote:

>> Do you get called "dumb ass" or "smart ass" more than 10
>> times a day?
>
> I note that you have posted quite a few questions in this
> newsgroup, and received lots of help from total strangers
> who voluntarily gave some of their time to assist you.
> Using this type of language just because you do not agree
> with a certain reply tends to turn respondents off. There
> was nothing offensive in Rick's response and hence no
> need to reply the way you did.


Moreover, when you insult those who try to help you, you turn *all* of us
off. You can rest assured that I won't offer you any more help in the
future.


--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

> Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
>
>>> Do you get called "dumb ass" or "smart ass" more than 10
>>> times a day?
>>
>> I note that you have posted quite a few questions in this
>> newsgroup, and received lots of help from total strangers
>> who voluntarily gave some of their time to assist you.
>> Using this type of language just because you do not agree
>> with a certain reply tends to turn respondents off. There
>> was nothing offensive in Rick's response and hence no
>> need to reply the way you did.
>
>
> Moreover, when you insult those who try to help you, you turn *all* of
> us off. You can rest assured that I won't offer you any more help in
> the future.
>
>
Absolutely spot on Ken and Pegasus. Especially when you consider that
Pegasus already answered her question (shows in my KNode as next post
after her OP) it would seem that the OP is the one who should take the
remedial reading course. Not that I care. I've plonked her.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

"Talahasee" <Talahass@ee.Fla> wrote in message
news:bi0es115rdavmc0493tp573klkg5q55bc9@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 06:31:33 -0500, "Rick \"Nutcase\"
> Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>You need to disconnect the external drives while rebuilding to avoid them
>>usurping drive letters. You can change any drive letter except those
>>assigned the system and boot partitions using the disk manager snap-in
>>(diskmgmt.msc).
>
> Oh! And you didn't answer my question.
>
> Which was: Once I have installed and gotten my computer
> back up, and I have noticed that my drives have the wrong
> drive designators, because I forgot to turn off my external
> drives...
>
> "How do I reassign my drive designators?"
>
> All YOU did was tell me how they got screwed up to begin
> with. which I already knew?
>
> Do you get called "dumb ass" or "smart ass" more than 10
> times a day?
>
> Thought so!
>

There is no justification for that tirade of abuse.

It appears the real problem is not with your computer. Try getting your help
from a psychiatric help forum in the future rather than a Windows one. It
seems that would be more helpful to you.

Best Wishes.
I hope you get your problems sorted. *ALL* of them- computer and the other
important ones.

On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 06:31:33 -0500, "Rick \"Nutcase\"
Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote:

Just saw this interesting comment.

That's like saying, "If you were really concerned about
having a clean kitchen, clean clothes, a clean car, a clean
____-, it would never get dirty to begin with."

I suppose that's logical/ rational to some...


Good luck!


Tallahassee