XP Installation, hard drive issue.

[gamesstate]

Hello

I have two hard disks in my computer, one Seagate SATA 120 GB, and another maxtor ide 80 gb

I want to install XP on the SATA because its a faster disk.
When I start to install XP I have to put the diskette with the drivers so it recognizes the disc.
My question is the following. If I have connected the IDE disk and the SATA disk and I tell windows to install itself on the sata disk, it assigns the drive letter "c" to the ide this and "d" to the sata and it installs XP on "d" drive(sata).
To avoid that(cause I read someplace that isnt a good idea to install xp on a drive letter different than "c") i unplug power from the ide disk, install xp and after its installed I plug it back in. Then XP, assigns the letter "f".

Is this normal behavior? Could this be causing any problems on my C disk?
Thanks in advance,
-Dan

 

[LloydSev]

The first IDE device on IDE0 will always be assigned C: unless otherwise changed in Windows.

first IDE1 device will be given D: unless a second master drive exists on IDE0.

Your SATA controller is technically IDE2, so it gets bumped to at LEAST D: as it is not a part of IDE0.

This is normal behavior and can not be changed unless you have a mobo that does not have IDE on it.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[wolluf]

Don't really understand this question. What you've done (disconnected IDE drive while installing XP on SATA) is perfectly normal to avoid XP not on C:. So all's well.

Are you asking about F:? (presumably you've 2 CD/DVD drives occupying D: and E:? - so when you reconnect IDE drive it gets next available - F:. You can change this in disk management (run diskmgmt.msc - change any except system drive).

btw - it doesn't matter if XP is not on C:

PS. Automatic drive letter assignments in XP are down to number of drives and partitions on each drive. If you want XP on C: its generally a good idea to install it with no other hard drives or zip drives connected, or other existing partitions on drive you are installing it on. As mentioned, you can easily reassign all drive letters except the system drive later.

 

[linney]

Overview of PNP enumeration and hard disk drive letter assignments in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;825668&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

XP System Partition is NOT drive C:
thread779-641371

 

[firewolfrl]

hey, I do this all the time...I am running a XP machine with 7 drives (one SATA 200 gig, one raid 0 (pair), and the rest IDE) I have 4 XP installs and use the boot manager XOSL

Just so you know I do agree with wolluf... but I prefer my boot drive for the moment to be drive C:

*make a floppy of the SATA drivers (third party drivers)
Sometimes you need this????

*unplug all drives except the CD drive and the drive you want drive C: (especially any zip drive)

*boot to your bios and set the bios to read HD0 as the second or third boot option (mine is set as CDROM, floppy, HD0)... you might have to set the SATA as third boot...some controllers are VERY fickle and don't recognize SATA as drive HDO

*boot and do the keystroke pattern to get into the SATA controller and see if it has indeed assigned the Harddrive as HD0 (you did not say but is your SATA controller set up for RAID???)

* This step is VERY important let the system do a complete boot (it does not matter if there is an error ....you are only letting the system see the HD0 as the active drive)
you might have to hard reboot the machine with the switch
-Before reboot put in XP CD-

*boot and start the XP CD go till you have to install windows and see if the SATA drive is recognized by the native windows install (the program will say no drives avalible)
-if this happens then reboot and restart the install cd. as soon as you see the blue screen with the F6 prompt hit F6 the wait till you get the prompt for third party drivers the hit S and follow the prompts

*continue on and go till you are doing a fresh install of windows. format the drive.

*the drive should install as drive C: now

*reconnect all the drives after install

*reboot till you see the SATA controller post. See what drive assignment the controller has assigned the drive ( HD1 or HD2 ???) *** DO NOT BOOT TO WINDOWS***

*reboot and go to the BIOS page and assign the boot order as previous noted but replacing the HD0 as the HD? As assigned in the SATA drive

* Reboot and the new SATA drive should boot to windows as drive C: and the IDE drive should be secondary