The Hindu Business Line : Drive Letter trouble

My PC's configuration is as follows: Pentium 4, 1.8 ghz, 256 MB DDR RAM, 40 + 80 GB hard disks, both are Samsung. I made four partitions on the 40 GB HDD and added another drive of 80 GB, which I have split into five partitions, my system has both Win 98 and Win XP in C and D drives, of 40 GB HDD respectively (I made partitions of 80 GB HDD using XP CD and installed XP in first partition of 80 GB HDD. I used one HDD at a time and later formatted it (80 GB HDD) as I wanted to use both HDDs at the same time and I can use XP from D drive of 40 GB HDD in which I had XP installed).

The first problem is that I see the drives correctly when using Win XP (40 GB has C,D,E,F and 80 GB has G,H,I,J,K.)

But in Win 98, the C drive is shown correctly but D drive in 98 is the first partition of 80 GB HDD. The others are correct, i.e. partition shown in XP — 98 are as follows c -c ,d - e, e- f , f - g , g - d , h -h , i- i, j- j and k- k. Why has the first partition in 80 GB come as D drive in 98?

The second problem is that many temporary files are formed in c:\windows folder where I have my 98 installed so I have to delete them from time to time. Why is this happening?The third problem is that if I check the properties of my computer, I can see only 224 MB RAM

instead of 256 MB. Why is this so? Please suggest solutions to these problems.

Rakesh

The reason for your G: partition (first partition of the 80 GB HDD) being shown as the D: partition in Windows 98 is because you have partitioned it as a "Primary" Partition. Since it is an active primary partition, Windows 98 will prioritise it and show it as the next primary partition to C: i.e. as D:

You should partition it as extended partition and then define logical partitions on it. There is a procedure to swap the drive letters using the registry. Here is a link if you are interested: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article02-024, but is it not advisable. It is better to do it in Windows XP. Here is the procedure.

Please start your system in Windows XP, right-click on My Computer and click on "Manage." In the console that opens, please click on the "Disk Management" node.

On the right panel, right-click on the primary partition of the 80 GB HDD, i.e. the G: partition. If the "Make Partition as Active" option is ticked, un-tick it by clicking on it, restart and see if the problem is solved. Otherwise, please boot into XP again, copy all the data in G: to any other free drive, go to Disk Management, right-click and delete the G: partition. It will now show up as un-partitioned space. Right-click on that and create an Extended Partition and then again right-click on it and create a logical partition, format it, and restore the copied data.

Regarding the temporary files, please let us know what files are formed: the extension and name conventions. Normally games, or any software for that matter, will not write temporary files directly into the Windows folder. It will use the Windows\temp folder or a temp folder in its own installation directory.

For now, please run the disk cleanup utility that you should find at

Start -{gt} Programs -{gt} Accessories -{gt} System Tools

About the memory displayed in My Computer properties, the 32 MB has been taken by your video adapter. It is a concept called "Shared Memory" by which you can allocate a part of your system RAM as Shared Memory that can be assigned to devices such as video chips to be used for their internal functioning.

Please e-mail us at eworld@thehindu.co.in if you have queries on computer usage or if you find an interesting way of using a computer.

Solution by G. Rajah

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
P's not for party

`Unfair fare'

Waste no call

Drive Letter trouble

`Bond'ing with best practices

Of pizzas and pets, cars and ICE

Quiz

Cartoon