Drive Letters Changed When installing on new Motherboard

[TheOtherDoug]

I have been struggling with issues due to a stupid setup but things are improving. Had to replace an oder MB (ATI KV7 w/AGP). Replaced with Biostar (GA-MA69-S3H)W/PCIE Had an OEM version of WinXP-Pro SP1. Created a slipstream bootable CD anticipating issues. Almost but didn't install on a NEW HD as I was certain I wouldn't be able to load SATA drivers onto old drive. Hoping for the option of a "repair install" I was able to get the new SATA drivers to load when booting with the CD. Didn't get the option of a repair but had the option of leaving the C: partition of my boot drive unchanged.

Now my drive letters are mixed up.

I also have 2 windows folders on my C: drive. One is apparently the original install C:\Windows and the other is C:\Windows.0

BTW I get prompted for which Windows to start each time I boot up but as expected only the most recent one will open.

3 questions:

1: Is it possible to manually install any drivers into the original windows to make it bootable?

2: If not, should I delete or rename the original windows folder to prevent any programs from installing files into that folder?

3: Is it ok to rename the drives in Disc management to the old configuration? I am thinking that many of the programs I had installed on D: are not wanting to open because of the drive letter issue.

Thanks and never mind telling me what a moron i was for not getting a better backup of everything first....the old system would only run for a short period when there was a lot of disc activity or any major graphics useage. No excuse though should have been more dilligent.

 

[cjelec]

You can change the drive letters in windows,

1) Click Start
2) Right click My Computer
3) Select Manage from the menu
4) Click on the 'Disk Management' item from the list on the left side (May need to open the Storage section)
5) You will see a list of drives

Using this utility you can change the drive letters:
1) Right click on a drive that you want to change
2) Select 'Change drive letter or paths...'
3) Click the Change button
4) Select the new drive letter
5) Click the OK button twice
6) Repeat for the other drives

Hope this helps

 

[kestrel1]

It's not a good idea to have two OS's on the same drive. This can cause problems. I would suggest that you backup all the data you want to keep & do a clean install of XP. Some may say that I am going over the top, but I have had first hand experiance when someone did a similar thing to a works laptop. I had to pick up the pieces.

 

[burtsbees]

You can also delete the one OS boot flag, so that it won't ask you every time.

Burt

 

[kestrel1]

You could, but this would be bad practice.

 

[TheOtherDoug]

So I do have an unused 160GB SATA drive sitting here. Here's the plan. Stick that one in and load windows on it....

Should I leave the other 2 HD's disconnected initially?

Is it ok to use the slipstreamed SP2 disk or should I start over with my OEM SP1 disk?

When I re-install it looks like I will need to re-install ALL programs...correct?

Should I send them ALL do a different physical drive or another partition on the primary drive...or let them go where they want to go?

If I want C: to be just for the OS how much space should I leave for it with reasonable headroom?

What is the simplest method to protect all programs so that windows can be re-installed without having to re-install everything else?


Thanks to all for your quick replies.

 

[kestrel1]

You should be OK with your slipstreamed SP2 CD, but your CD key may not work. Possibly best to use your SP1 CD then upgrade to SP2, unless you don't mind doing it twice if you try the SP2 CD & it doesn't work.
When you say about having just the OS on the C: partition, I assume you also mean all programs as well. It all depends on the amount of data that you think you may be keeping. If you have a large amount of data I would slit a 160gb drive in to two partitions. One of 50gb for your OS & programs, the rest for your data.
You shouldn't need to leave the other HDD's disconnected, but make sure that the drive you are installing to is the first bootable HDD.

 

[TheOtherDoug]

Actually I was thinking of installing all programs on a second partition....would I still need to re-install them all if I had to re-do windows at a later date?

Just thinking ahead....best method for installing software and/or backing up without needing to reload everything.

 

[kestrel1]

Yes you would need to re-install them. It is not a good idea to keep the programs on another partition. What you could do, once you have re-installed everything & are happy with the setup, make an image of the drive, so if you need to re-install all you would need to do is reload the image. This works much quicker. Use Acronis True Image, Norton ghost or similiar program to achieve this.