Resolved Reinstall of XP

Hi All -
I am about to install XP Pro (currently I have XP Home) and I have a question:

My system has 2 drives each with 2 partions:

Disc 1: C:/J: and Disc 0: D:/X: (C: and D: were set up by my PC supplier, XP is in the C: partition).

I would like to create C:/J: on Disc 0 and D:/X: on disc 1. Will the installation give me the option to chose D0 for C:\SYSTEM, and if so will it object that there is already a C: on D1? Similar question applies if/when I create the X: partion.

 

What is on the other partitions and on the other disc? Are you sure you have 2 different physical disc's?

 

Yes I definitely have 2 physical discs. The primary partition on phys. disc 0 (D is for general backup (photos, documents etc.) and partition X: is used to hold back-ups of my XP System. The primary partition on phys. disc 1 is my XP system, and Partition J: is used for general short-term storage.

It has occurred to me that I would be happy if I could change the designation of 'disc 0' to 'disc 2', and stick with disc 1 as C:/J: partitions. This would be easier than loading XP onto the current 'disc 0' and re-allocatiing D:/X: to the current disc 1.

How do these numbers get allocated and can they be changed easily? Are they set during XP installation - if so, presumably I could re-label the current disc 0 as disc 2 during install.

This all may seem a bit academic - it just offends my sense of order that my XP System is on disc 1 and not disc 0!!

 

Hi Tony,

Just a thought ... how about swapping the data cables from one hard drive to the other? Drive 1 should now become drive 0, and vice versa. You'll probably have to reset the BIOS so that the computer looks at the proper drive to boot from ... otherwise, it probably will tell you that it can't find an OS.

 

Thanks Jim - that sounds like the perfect solution. I shall give it a whirl and let you know what happens.

 

Reinstall of XP (Change hard disc designations)

Thank you Jim for your brilliantly simple solution! I did indeed have to change the BIOS priority, but I now have exactly what I was after - my 'system' disc is now '0' and the other (data) disc is '1'. Floreat (Latin!) WindowsBBS!

Note to Moderator - this thread should perhaps be re-labelled 'Change disc designation' or similar, as 'reinstall XP' is why I started down this path, but is really a side issue.

 

Hi Tony,

You're welcome ... sometimes the simplest solutions are the least obvious.