here's the scenerio: i have 2 hard drives. On the first one i was trying to setup a dual boot with 2 partitions (one for 98se, one for 2000pro.) on the second hard drive, i have one single partition. when i create the partitions on the first drive (primary master), partition 1 is C:, partition 2 is D:. Then when i partition the second hard drive, THAT partition becomes the new D:, making the second partition on the first hard drive E:. So, here's how it is: first hdd: C:, E: and 2nd hdd: D:, WHY IS THIS! why cant it just be C:, D:, and E:? this is a small problem, but its seriously annoying me to death! any help is well appreciated!
Thanks

John Lawrence

Because the OS assigns drive letters at boot.

In general, C for the first primary DOS partition; D for the second pri DOS [that's your slave].

I have a similiar rig. In w2k you can assign drive letters. But not in w98.

If you decide to assign drive letters in w2k, proceed with caution. Things can get very confused, very fast.

And if you change the drive letter for the partition which w2k is running on, you'll probably wish you had not.

M2

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

Because you set the first partition of the second hard drive as an active partition Windows is assigning it D:.

If you were to reformat it and not set it as an Active partition then Windows will assign the first hard drive's partitions as C: and D: and the other hard drive's single partition as E:.

So, Active partitions are assigned drive letters in a higher priority than non-active partitions. The second priority is assigned by the IDE connection.

Bryan

Hi Bryan,

I assume you're correct about the assignment vis-a-vis active.

But I believe the tool needed is fdisk, not format.

M2

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

I don't thing it has anything to do with whether the drives are active or otherwise. Primary partitions are allocated drive letters in order.

If the second partition on the first drive is an and extended partition, then it would get shoved down after all primary partitions.

You can put windows on an extended partition, but it has to boot from a primary partition.

If you partitioned the disk with Fdisk, then that would be the problem. Fdisk will only let you create one primary DOS partition on a disk. Other partitioning tools will allow you to create multiple primary partitions.

Stuart

Drive Letter Assignment

huh, thats irritating how the drive letters are shifted around like that. So, if i wanted to avoid this, could I put an extended dos partition on the second hard drive filled with a logical DOS drive, and just NOT have a primary partition? also, on the first hdd, i have a primary partition and a second extended DOS partition, will I be able to install windows 2000 on the extended partition in a logical dos drive, or will win2k object to that?

John Lawrence

AFAIK you can not create extended / logical without having a primary. Not with fdisk.

If the letter frolics bother you that much, leave the 2nd drive un-partitioned until w2k is installed. Then make 2nd drive NTFS. DOS / w9 will ignore it and you can assign the letter in w2k.

M2

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

I believe you can create an extended partition on a drive without first having a primary.

As M2 says, 98 will ignore the NTFS partition created by 2000 so you wouldn't need to worry about that shifting any drive letters.

i dont really know if this is what your saying: partition the first hard drive with 1 fat32 primary, and 1 ntfs (98 will ignore it) and the 2nd hdd fat32; that could work right?

John Lawrence

Windows should see the fat32 partition on the first drive as c: and the fat32 partition on the second drive as D: It will ignore the NTFS partition and won't assign it a drive letter. It's only when you have a third fat partition that the drive letters can be confusing.

Since we're only talking about 2 fat partitions, the above should be true regardless of whether you partition the second hard drive as a primary or extended partition. The only thing I'm not sure about is if an extended partition on the second drive will cause it's drive letter to come after the cdrom's letter. I don't think it will but I'm not sure.

Just to be sure, once you create the extended partition you need to create logical drive(s) within it before any drive letters get assigned.

Having 2000 on the second partition will necessitate some kind of boot loader software. I don't think that will affect the drive lettering either.

all right, thanks for your guys' help, i think this could work!

John Lawrence

Let us know how it goes.

success! looks like the setup worked.
Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it!!

John Lawrence

You're welcome. We're glad it worked out OK.