C:\ Drive not showing in My Computer...

[Thomas Bailey]

On my DELL 4100 that has been upgraded with a PowerLeap Pent. III Chip and now with an Intel flashed BIOS all on a tree year old MB, the C:\ drive has disappeared in My Computer. The computer is working just fine. But, I have had to do a lot of adjusting as I did a repair of XP Pro about 2 months ago and getting SP2 to load was a pain. I have tried the MS  Forums for a fix, but everyone is baffled. I had the C:\ not even showing in Device Manager, when last night I tried renaming the Drive C:\ and then naming it back. That helped it show in Dev. Mngr.. So, my question is: can I safely unistall the Maxtor Ultra ATA drive from the Disk Management>Properties>Drive>properties? I hoping this will work. Ant other idea would be appreciated.

[patio]

I don't quite understand...where is XP installed to in this configuration ? ?
Is there more than one drive or just seperate partitions here ? ?

XP writes to C: on installation so i think you'll find that if you remove C: you will wind up with a machine that won't boot....

[quaxo]

Not always C:. Oddly enough, I reinstalled XP onto my computer and it put it on K, after my other partitions and my DVD drives.

Unfortunately, the only way to change the drive letter of the system drive is to reinstall. Windows won't allow you to change from what ever it is to C:, or from C: to something else.

[Thomas Bailey]

Just one drive C:.

Thanks, Patio, glad I didn't try that.

When I "read" the C: drive in Comp. Management it says it is partitioned, and I can't honestly ever remembering doing a partition. Would "repair XP Pro, off the CD have done that?

The shaded lines extend all the way across the bar for the C: drive display in Comp. Manager, does not show any partitions.

No partitions. C: is there in Comp. Manager, just not in My Comp..

quaxo, glad you mentioned that, not worth the trouble to do a reinstall now.
quaxo

[patio]

Always C:.

It can still be installed to any partition you like but it will still write to C:.
To test this you can use a utility to temporarily hide the C: partition and re-boot.
It will not load Windows.

[patio]

The other option you have Thomas which may be a good one in case you have a need for some more storage space would be to install a new HDD disconnecting the current one and do a clean install of XP and all your drivers.
You can then power down and hook up the current drive as a slave and use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard to migrate your settings.

You will have to install most programs but when you get it set as you like you can then format the current drive and use it for storage.

Other than starting over completely this is not a bad option...

[Thomas Bailey]

Patio, I have a 80 gig Maxtor OneTouch external drive already. I Use Windows LiveOne Care to do backups.
Can I install XP Pro on my external drive then, use that drive (external as a boot drive and the internal Maxtor HD as a slave, then tranfer files back to the slave (internal drive)?  Then would I change the slave back to Master drive when done? I am not sure if I'm following then pattern correctly. Is there a MS KB article on this?
Thanks again for your time.

[patio]

Unfortunately no...XP will not install to a external drive...this is by design.

[quaxo]

It is possible, I've seen people install XP to an SD card and an external USB drive on EeePCs.

Check the Eeeuser.com forums. You should find what you're looking for there.
http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewforum.php?id=13

Even though it's a forum for EeePCs, in theory it should work for just about any system.

[Thomas Bailey]

Don't have a Asus MB, have a Intel, does that make a diff.?

[patio]

I'm aware it CAN be done however it's not for the faint of heart nor for a user who only has one machine for daily tasks...

I've seen and tested at least 1/2 dozen methods from out there on the web and it fails most of the time...when it does succeed it's not exactly the most stable enviornment for an everyday user...

This is why i choose to suggest it not be tried.

[quaxo]

Don't have a Asus MB, have a Intel, does that make a diff.?

I suppose not, if done right. Like I said, it is a forum for the ASUS EeePC, but in theory it should work for most anything.

Most of the mention of the ASUS motherboard and BIOS functions in there can probably be ignored. The EeePC has a weird BIOS, and you have to switch the BIOS to a special mode when installing an OS. Things like that you can ignore. It might take some experimenting, but it's a place to start anyway.

[patio]

Does it support booting to a USB device ? ?
If not this will be an exercise in futility.

Again this is why i normally do not recommend this procedure.

[Thomas Bailey]

Thanks for the idea,  but I'll take another path.
peace.