Changing Primary Hard Drive

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Kickmedood, Dec 29, 2008.

  1. Kickmedood

    Kickmedood Private E-2

    A few months ago, my mother's computer wouldn't load up windows XP upon rebooting the computer (I'll post the setup of the computer later), so she sent it to a family friend to have it fixed.

    Unfortunately, it seemed this family friend didn't really know what he was doing, as he set our primary hard drive from the C:/ drive to the H:/ drive. Not a big deal, right? Wrong.

    Our good old C:/ drive had about 250 GB of memory on it. This new drive? 10 GB. We're constantly running out of memory, and it is extremely difficult to download/install programs because they want to install into the H:/ drive but that is impossible.

    So I guess my question is, how do I return my primary drive to C:/ (If that is the right terminology I'm using).

    Here is the setup.

    Microsoft Windows XP
    Service Pack 2

    250GB 7200RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive
    630 Intel Pentium 4 Processor
    1.0 GB SDRAM memory

    Thanks in advance.
     
  2. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    I'm a bit confused...
    :confused

    There was a 250gb hard drive. It was drive C: It is gone.
    There is now a 10gb hard drive. It is drive H:.
    Right?

    -OR-

    Drive C: was 250 gb.
    Drive H: is a 10gb drive, and has been set as the default primary drive. It is almost full.
    The current status of the 250gb hard drive is unknown.

    Where is the 250gb drive?

    Please explain the situation a bit more clearly.

    Whatever the current situation, if Windows thinks that drive H: is the default primary drive, then there is nothing you can do about it. It is impossible to change the drive letter that Windows was installed to. If you could, everything would go haywire and crash (if you need the technical reasons behind this, I'll explain it, but the "why" is not important). Your best bet is to find out where the 250gb drive went. If it's still in the PC, then your computer "expert" relative either created a 10gb partition for Windows, and a 2nd partition for everything else. There's a school of thinking that says this is a good idea. Whoever started this school of thinking should be shot. Why anyone would say "10gb is enough for a Windows install as long as everything else goes to a different drive" is beyond me. It's not only a bad idea, it makes installing programs, storing data, saving personal stuff (like music, etc) a chore because you have to make sure it goes to a different partition from Windows. DUMB.

    Anyway: lets find out what happened to the 250gb drive. Right click "My Computer" and select "Manage"; click "Disk Management" in the lower part of the left pane. The right pane will populate with info on the hard drive(s) and CD/DVD drives. Look through the list and keep an eye out for hard drives. CD/DVD drives will be plainly labeled. Once we know where the 250gb drive went (if it's still in the PC) then recommending a solid course of action will be easier. Also, at this point in the 'operation', you should seriously consider backing up anything you don't want to lose; burn it to CDs or DVDs, use an external hard drive, whatever. We will probably have to erase the hard drive and re-install Windows, so if there's stuff you need, it should be saved 'externally' somewhere.
     
  3. Kickmedood

    Kickmedood Private E-2

    Drive C is still there, I think there is a partition between the two. I am able to save things to drive C, but everything automatically installs to H. (Which is full)
     
  4. Kickmedood

    Kickmedood Private E-2

  5. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    OK... please read this thread about taking screen shots, and read this thread about how-to attach items (including screen shots) to a post. Then use the following steps to get to "Disk Management" and take a screen shot of it and post it:
    How to get to Disk Management in WinXP:
    1: Right click My Computer and select Manage
    2: Click 'Disk Management' toward the bottom of the left pane.
    3: The right pane will populate with info about all the drives in the PC; if needed, scroll down to view all the drives (take a screen shot now and save it, then attach it to a future post).

    It would also be VERY helpful if you could say which drive has the "WINDOWS" folder on it. Open drive C: and scroll down looking for a folder called WINDOWS, do the same with drive H: and post which drive has the WINDOWS folder.

    I need to see exactly which drive is which. :-D
     
  6. Kickmedood

    Kickmedood Private E-2

    Sorry if it's hard to read. I sacrificed color information for size in order to attach it to the post. :/
     

    Attached Files:

  7. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    OK... I looked at the screen shot... wow.... bizarre.... for future reference, do not let whoever worked on this PC anywhere near it in the future.

    At this point, it would probably be best to save what needs saving (burn it CD/DVD or use an external drive), then erase both partitions, and reformat the drive as a single 250gb drive, and reload Windows. I see no way to fix the problem without losing at least one partition. Regardless of how this problem is tackled, one partition must be 'stretched' to the full size of the drive. Since the PC has been in use for some time (be it a week or a year), the file assocations and drive letter assignments are 'etched in stone' and cannot be changed without wrecking mass havoc.

    :cry I wish I had better news.

    If you have a media reader hooked up (like for digital camera "film sticks") I strongly recommend that it be removed for now. It looks like there is one hooked up, and the "expert" who worked on your PC wasn't aware of the effect this can have on setting up a hard drive. Repartition (or de-partition) the drive as needed, re-install Windows, drivers, software, etc, then hook up the media reader. Windows has a way of sometimes assigning drive letters to media readers (and zip drives) before hard drives. What ends up happening is the media reader (or zip drive) starts at drive C:, the CD/DVD drives come next (usually F: and/or G: ) which makes the hard drive last (drive H: ) and it should be C:. This gets even more messed up when an "expert" decides that a small partition for Windows is a great idea, and that putting everything else on a large partition is an even better idea.

    Summary: save what you want to save (music, pictures, documents, videos). Disconnect media reader and/or zip drive (if applicable). Erase both partitions. Re-configure the drive for a single 250gb partition (after parities it will be about 232gb). Install a clean version of Windows. Install drivers/software. Connect media reader/zip drive.
     
  8. Mavericco

    Mavericco Private E-2

    Thanks for the Info... The USB Media did exactly what you said would happen. I've never experienced this before and appreciate the info! Kudos!

    Mav :major
     

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