[SOLVED] hard drive renamed to I after clean install

jester1 · 04-30-2008, 12:31 PM

After having a few problems with my pc,basically it was running like a bag of spanners i decided to use kill disk and kill my drive and,i did a clean install of winxp pro with service pack 2 and let it go about it`s buisness,once it had completed the set up and i got my pc back to running like a new one,i noticed that the hard drive had been renamed to I drive and not C drive,i also noticed that one of my removable disks had been renamed to C,but more puzzeling was that the I drive which should have been C drive was only showing a capacity of 122gb,before i started the drive was a 250 gb drive,so were as my other 178gb gone?and why did it rename it I?
My hard drive is a WDC WD2500JD-OOHBBO
My opreating system is winxp pro,
I have 5 removable disks-named c,d,e,f, and j
A dvd-rw drive named G
A dvd drive named H
Ant help would be most welcome,because i am totally confused to why this should happen.
JESTER1

**simpswr** · 04-30-2008, 01:01 PM

Hello and welcome to the forum

When an XP install sees other attrached drives, including zip and flash drives, it assigns C; to the first one and moves down the list to a unused letter ( in your case I ). This is a little hickup and the only way around it is to reinstall with all other drives disconnected.

This time around, look closely at the screen that is after the "Press F8 to accept" prompt, where you can delete partitions to see what it shows . . delete all of the partitions, then create new one(s) the size you want going forward.

After the installation, you can reconnect the flash and other drives.

When you get to the partitioning screen, post back and tell us what you see

jester1 · 04-30-2008, 01:44 PM

are we talking about a complete re-install or just a repair?so i may have to start all over again?will i be-able to reinstall a bought copy of norton 2008,will it accept the serial number again?
JESTER1
Thank you for your quick responce RICH

**simpswr** · 04-30-2008, 02:02 PM

Yes . . it will have to be a clean install.

If you copy the install KEY for Norton ( pardon the language ) you should be able to install it again. Some chance you will have to call Symantec to activate, but it should go quickly

jester1 · 04-30-2008, 02:15 PM

thank you i will let you know how i go on
JESTER1
should i use kill disk?

**simpswr** · 04-30-2008, 03:16 PM

No need for KillDisk . . just boot from the XP install cd and delete all the partitions on C:, then create new one(s)

jester1 · 05-04-2008, 12:23 PM

did the clean install,unplugged my card readers and everything went back to normall,but i still can only see 130gb showing on my c-drive,i know that the unallocated space is still on my c-drive but i`m not sure how to get it back using partition magic,having never used this program i`m not sure what i should do,any help would be most appreciated.
JESTER 1

**Deleted090308** · 05-04-2008, 12:42 PM

Were you using an XP disc without service packs to install?
Support for HDDs larger than 137GB was included with SP 1.

You should be able to resize the XP partition in Partition Magic (if the BIOS supports HDDs > 137GB).

jester1 · 05-04-2008, 12:52 PM

i installed xp pro first and then installed sp2 after windows completed the set up,and then i went onto the windows update and downloaded all the available updates that they threw at me.
when i open up partition magic can i just click on the "resize this partion tab "and then click ok and then restart my pc,or do i have to name the partition to a different letter?
JESTER1

**simpswr** · 05-04-2008, 01:01 PM

No need for Partition Magic . . go to Disk Managemen . . Right click on the unallocated partition, select initialize, then make a partition of the full balance and format it . . you should then be able to use it for storage.

Right click on My Computer . . select Manage . . Disk Management

Look on the right panels for the drive and partitions

jester1 · 05-04-2008, 01:06 PM

when i right click on the unallocated space i only get 3 options.
new partition,
properties,
and help
JESTER1

**simpswr** · 05-04-2008, 01:19 PM

New Partition . .

**Deleted090308** · 05-04-2008, 01:20 PM

Just resize the partition in Partition Magic - you don't have to change the drive letter or restart.

jester1 · 05-04-2008, 01:22 PM

primary,or extended partition,sorry about all the questions,but has you can probably gather i`m not right good at things like this
JESTER1

**Deleted090308** · 05-04-2008, 01:24 PM

Primary, then format the new partition.

jester1 · 05-04-2008, 01:32 PM

i have 104.90gb unallocated,and the maximum size on the disk is showing me i have
107413 mb,does that sound about right,has i understand it,it will always tell me in mb`s and not gb`s
JESTER 1
just remembered that 1024 mb is = to 1 gb
so when i worked it out what it told me in mb`s was = to 104.90 gb

jester1 · 05-04-2008, 01:45 PM

than you both for your help,i have assigned the letter "k" to my new partition and formatting it,i can now use this for all my storage,
JESTER1

**simpswr** · 05-04-2008, 01:48 PM

You can mark this thread as solved by clicking on the Thread Tools link in your first post . .

04-30-2008, 12:31 PM	#1 (permalink)
jester1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 9 OS: win xp pro service pack2	[SOLVED] hard drive renamed to I after clean install After having a few problems with my pc,basically it was running like a bag of spanners i decided to use kill disk and kill my drive and,i did a clean install of winxp pro with service pack 2 and let it go about it`s buisness,once it had completed the set up and i got my pc back to running like a new one,i noticed that the hard drive had been renamed to I drive and not C drive,i also noticed that one of my removable disks had been renamed to C,but more puzzeling was that the I drive which should have been C drive was only showing a capacity of 122gb,before i started the drive was a 250 gb drive,so were as my other 178gb gone?and why did it rename it I? My hard drive is a WDC WD2500JD-OOHBBO My opreating system is winxp pro, I have 5 removable disks-named c,d,e,f, and j A dvd-rw drive named G A dvd drive named H Ant help would be most welcome,because i am totally confused to why this should happen. JESTER1 Last edited by jester1; 04-30-2008 at 12:41 PM.

04-30-2008, 01:01 PM	#2 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 8,940 OS: XP, Vista	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install Hello and welcome to the forum When an XP install sees other attrached drives, including zip and flash drives, it assigns C; to the first one and moves down the list to a unused letter ( in your case I ). This is a little hickup and the only way around it is to reinstall with all other drives disconnected. This time around, look closely at the screen that is after the "*Press F8 to accept" prompt, where you can delete partitions to see what it shows . . delete all of the partitions, then create new one(s) the size you want going forward. After the installation, you can reconnect the flash and other drives. When you get to the partitioning screen, post back and tell us what you see __________________ Rich* MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help \| How to Post a Screen shot \| PC running slow?] Last edited by simpswr; 04-30-2008 at 01:02 PM.

04-30-2008, 01:44 PM	#3 (permalink)
jester1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 9 OS: win xp pro service pack2	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install are we talking about a complete re-install or just a repair?so i may have to start all over again?will i be-able to reinstall a bought copy of norton 2008,will it accept the serial number again? JESTER1 Thank you for your quick responce RICH Last edited by jester1; 04-30-2008 at 01:51 PM.

04-30-2008, 02:02 PM	#4 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 8,940 OS: XP, Vista	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install Yes . . it will have to be a clean install. If you copy the install KEY for Norton ( pardon the language ) you should be able to install it again. Some chance you will have to call Symantec to activate, but it should go quickly __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help \| How to Post a Screen shot \| PC running slow?]

04-30-2008, 02:15 PM	#5 (permalink)
jester1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 9 OS: win xp pro service pack2	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install thank you i will let you know how i go on JESTER1 should i use kill disk? Last edited by jester1; 04-30-2008 at 02:26 PM.

04-30-2008, 03:16 PM	#6 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 8,940 OS: XP, Vista	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install No need for KillDisk . . just boot from the XP install cd and delete all the partitions on C:, then create new one(s) __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help \| How to Post a Screen shot \| PC running slow?]

05-04-2008, 12:23 PM	#7 (permalink)
jester1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 9 OS: win xp pro service pack2	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install did the clean install,unplugged my card readers and everything went back to normall,but i still can only see 130gb showing on my c-drive,i know that the unallocated space is still on my c-drive but i`m not sure how to get it back using partition magic,having never used this program i`m not sure what i should do,any help would be most appreciated. JESTER 1

05-04-2008, 12:42 PM	#8 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install Were you using an XP disc without service packs to install? Support for HDDs larger than 137GB was included with SP 1. You should be able to resize the XP partition in Partition Magic (if the BIOS supports HDDs > 137GB).

05-04-2008, 12:52 PM	#9 (permalink)
jester1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 9 OS: win xp pro service pack2	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install i installed xp pro first and then installed sp2 after windows completed the set up,and then i went onto the windows update and downloaded all the available updates that they threw at me. when i open up partition magic can i just click on the "resize this partion tab "and then click ok and then restart my pc,or do i have to name the partition to a different letter? JESTER1

05-04-2008, 01:01 PM	#10 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 8,940 OS: XP, Vista	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install No need for Partition Magic . . go to Disk Managemen . . Right click on the unallocated partition, select initialize, then make a partition of the full balance and format it . . you should then be able to use it for storage. Right click on *My Computer* . . select *Manage* . . *Disk Management* Look on the right panels for the drive and partitions __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help \| How to Post a Screen shot \| PC running slow?]

05-04-2008, 01:06 PM	#11 (permalink)
jester1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 9 OS: win xp pro service pack2	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install when i right click on the unallocated space i only get 3 options. new partition, properties, and help JESTER1

05-04-2008, 01:19 PM	#12 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 8,940 OS: XP, Vista	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install New Partition . . __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help \| How to Post a Screen shot \| PC running slow?]

05-04-2008, 01:20 PM	#13 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install Just resize the partition in Partition Magic - you don't have to change the drive letter or restart.

05-04-2008, 01:22 PM	#14 (permalink)
jester1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 9 OS: win xp pro service pack2	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install primary,or extended partition,sorry about all the questions,but has you can probably gather i`m not right good at things like this JESTER1

05-04-2008, 01:24 PM	#15 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install Primary, then format the new partition.

05-04-2008, 01:32 PM	#16 (permalink)
jester1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 9 OS: win xp pro service pack2	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install i have 104.90gb unallocated,and the maximum size on the disk is showing me i have 107413 mb,does that sound about right,has i understand it,it will always tell me in mb`s and not gb`s JESTER 1 just remembered that 1024 mb is = to 1 gb so when i worked it out what it told me in mb`s was = to 104.90 gb Last edited by jester1; 05-04-2008 at 01:37 PM.

05-04-2008, 01:45 PM	#17 (permalink)
jester1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 9 OS: win xp pro service pack2	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install than you both for your help,i have assigned the letter "k" to my new partition and formatting it,i can now use this for all my storage, JESTER1

05-04-2008, 01:48 PM	#18 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 8,940 OS: XP, Vista	Re: hard drive renamed to I after clean install You can mark this thread as solved by clicking on the *Thread Tools* link in your first post . . __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help \| How to Post a Screen shot \| PC running slow?]