How to label a new hard drive or partition and assign a drive letter?

When you have installed a new hard drive, in order for your computer to recognize it you may need to label the drive by assigning a drive letter to it. So for example if you have installed a second hard drive into your computer, it may need to be labeled so it can be used and show up in my computer with all the other drives. This also applies to a partition of a hard drive. See What is the difference between a partition and a hard drive?

As you can see from the screenshot below I have one hard drive in this computer that is split into 4 sections or partitions. I have c:, a new volume, e:, and 9mb of unallocated space. Now I have created that new volume because I deleted a partition. But now it is not recognized when I open my computer and I cannot store files on it. Therefore I have to assign a drive letter to it which will label it and make it useable.

How to open disk management:

1. Go to the start menu.
2. Right click on my computer or computer for Windows Vista.
3. Choose manage from the menu.
4. Then click on  computer management.
5. Choose Disk Management in the left side menu. Then you see all your drives listed in the right side.

How to assign a drive letter to a partition or new hard drive?

1. Go to disk management as per instructions listed above.
2. Right click on the volume that has no drive letter next to it. In this example it isNew Volume.
3. A menu will appear. Choose Change drive letter and paths..

1. A change drive letter and paths for new volume box will appear.
2. Press on Add.

1. Another box will appear. Put a check next to Assign the following drive letter:
2. Then choose a drive letter from the drop down menu. I have chosen D: See screenshot below.
3. Now press ok.
4. Your choice will now appear in the first box. Press ok.

Now when you will see your partition or hard drive with a letter next to it. Now it will be ready to use. It will show up in my computer as a drive to store files on. See screenshot below.

Here is my newly labeled partition with its new drive letter showing up in my computer.

Notes on assigning a drive letter to a new volume:

• The same applies for a newly installed hard drive and a new partition. They both have to be labeled or assigned a drive letter for them to work in Windows.
• You can also change the drive letter of a hard drive or partition but it is only worth changing if it is new. If you have already got files or programs on the volume then it might confuse your computer if you change drive letters. Delete, merge, create, and rename a hard drive partition without formatting Windows

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How to repair a Windows XP installation without formatting your computer and loosing your files

Repairing an installation of Windows XP will not wipe all of your files like formatting will. Formatting Windows XP cleans your computer of absolutely everything that you had on your computer, and therefore this fact alone makes repairing  a good option to try when fixing an error. If you suspect that there is a problem with the Windows system files you can simply try to repair it before resorting to formatting.

What you will need to Repair a Windows XP installation:

1. An original Windows XP cd. The one you originally installed. (Not an OEM)
2. A COA sticker with a serial number that matches your installation.

How to Repair a Windows XP installation without formatting your computer:

1. First you must put your Windows XP CD in the drive.
2. Then restart your computer.
3. When it says press any key to boot from cd, Press any key on the keyboard. (Go to step 6)
4. If it doesn’t ask you this then restart your computer again.
5. Go into the BIOS settings of your PC, usually by pressing the F1, F2, F10, or maybe the delete key. If you are not sure watch the screen at startup and it will say “To enter setup press…….”. You have to be quick and press it. If you miss it restart again. Once you are in the bios you have to change the boot options. You have to make your cd rom the first boot option. Save and exit.
6. A blue screen will appear and you are on your way..

1. Press Enter to setup Windows XP now. Do not choose to Repair yet.
2. If there is a copy of Windows XP on your computer setup will find it.
3. See below where it says C:\windows “Microsoft Windows XP Professional” Make sure this is selected. It may say Windows XP home also.

1. Now choose to Repair the selected Windows XP installation by pressing the letter R on the keyboard.
2. Now windows will seem to run through the usual setup process, however a lot quicker. Don’t panic because it will not wipe your files if you have chosen to repair.
3. At some point you will have to enter the serial number and restart the computer.
4. When you login again your files will still be there but the Windows errors you had will not.

Notes:

• This article relates to an original Windows XP cd. If you use an OEM Version of Xp it may actually format your entire computer and you will loose all of your data.

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How to shrink a partition on your hard drive

If you have your hard drive partitioned and want to change the size of the partitions or the amount of partitions you have on your computer, you can. It is still going to wipe your data but if you backup your files to the main partition just while you are shrinking the other partition then you can move it all back after.

How to shrink a partition?

In this tutorial I have 3 partitions on my hard drive. The first is C: drive, then D: drive, and finally E: drive. You can see this in the screenshot below. The first thing I am going to do is shrink E: drive. Now we must open the disk management tool in Windows XP and Windows Vista.

If I shrink a partition will the files be lost or wiped clean?

Yes. Be warned that you must backup any data or files that your partition has on it. If you leave files on there and decide to shrink the partition they will be lost. For example if I shrink partition E: everything on it will be lost.

How to open disk management to shrink a partition?

1. Go to the start menu.
2. Right click on my computer or computer for Windows Vista.
3. Choose manage from the menu.
4. Choose storage.
5. Then click on  computer management.
6. Choose Disk Management in the left side menu. Then you see all your drives listed in the right side.

 When you open disk management you will see the partitions I have on my computer. Now to continue to shrink drive E:

1. Right click on Drive E: as shown in the screenshot below.
2. Choose Shrink Volume from the menu.

Now a box will appear. It will automatically choose the size to shrink the partition by.

change the size of the shrink by changing the amount in the box that is highlighted blue.

When you are happy with your size press Shrink.

Now see the screenshot below. My E: partition was 116mb and now it is 58.27mb. The data and files that was on there is gone. And now I have 58.17gb of free space. To use this free space we need to right click on that area and choose to create a new volume. We can also extend E: back out to 116mb by using the free space.

Notes on shrinking a partition

• You can experiment with any of your partitions but not C: drive.
• You cannot shrink C: drive unless you use another program like partition magic.
• You can shrink any other partitions but you will still loose the files on it.

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What is the difference between a partition and a hard drive?

People often get confused when it comes to distinguishing between a partition and a hard drive because on the actual computer, viewing them through the Windows Operating system, they look exactly the same. You might have one hard drive that is partitioned into four sections, however in my computer it will appear as four hard drives all labeled with their own drive letter. This is quite deceiving to the unsuspecting newbie as it may appear that there are more hard drives that there actually is.

As you can see from the screen shot below, my main hard drive has been partitioned into 3 sections. C: drive, D: drive, and E: drive. This was a 500GB hard drive that now looks like three separate hard drives which are in fact partitions. If there were no partitions C: drive would be 500GB. But C: drive is only using 116GB of the 500GB that was available.

You can also see J: drive and H: drive look like more hard drives or partitions but are infact an external 250GB hard drive connected to my computer. It has two partitions.

Therefore when viewing my hard drives and partitions in my computer, you cannot tell the difference between a partition and a hard drive.

What is a hard drive or hard disk drive?

A hard drive or hard disk drive is a physical computer component that is used to store your computers files and data. The hard drive needs to be attached to the motherboard for a computer to function. You can install more than one hard drive into a computer or even have an external hard drive connected.

 

What is a partition?

A partition cannot exist without a hard disk drive. You can divide your hard drive into sections which are called partitions. A hard drive volume can have as many partitions as you like, however it can become confusing. I like to have 3 main partitions, one for the operating system, one for the files, and one for backup. 

Why should you partition your hard drive into sections?

Here are some reasons why it is good to partition a hard drive:

• You need to have at least one small partition on a hard drive to install Windows.
• You can save all your files on a separate partition and still format C: drive without touching the files.
• It helps organize files into sections.

How can you tell the difference between a partition and a hard drive?

You cannot tell the difference between a partition and a hard drive in my computer but you can in your computers disk management section.

How to find disk management?

1. Go to the Start Menu, choose control panel.
2. Then Double click on the Administrative Tools.
3. Then click on  computer management.
4. Choose Disk Management in the left side menu. Then you see all your drives listed in the right side.

A quick shortcut to get to disk management:

1. Go to the start menu.
2. Right click on my computer or computer for Windows Vista.
3. Choose manage from the menu.
4. Choose storage.
5. Then click on  computer management.
6. Choose Disk Management in the left side menu. Then you see all your drives listed in the right side.

 

Once you have opened the disk management window you will see your hard drives listed as Disk 0, Disk 1, and so on. Any partitions created under Disk 0 will be in the Disk 0 line. C: drive is usually the default system volume where you will boot into to start your computer and the Operating system. Disk 0 in the screenshot below is my main hard drive as explained earlier. The status of the hard drives are listed as healthy and in brackets it tells us if the drive is merely a partition or a physical hard drive.

Therefore to find out if a drive is actually a hard drive you will be looking for Disk 0 and Disk 1 and so on. If you only have one hard drive then it would be Disk 0 with the partitions listed next to it.

A Primary partition is usually the partition with the system files and the boot sector files on it. A logical drive is a partition of the main hard drive. See the legend at the bottom of the screenshot. Primary partition  =  dark blue.

 

Notes:

• An extended partition is a partition that is not formatted or assigned a drive letter.
• If your hard drive dies then you loose all the data on all the partitions it had. Therefore it may be better to have a separate hard drive for backup.

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Why should you format your computer and what does it mean?

To format your computer means that all your data will be lost. Your operating system, programs, emails, drivers, pictures, everything! All of the updates on your programs will be gone, infact the every entire program will be gone. Formatting your computer makes your computer clean and new just like the day you bought it.

But be warned! Your computer may have even less than it did when you bought it because the salesperson may have loaded it with extra software to make the sale.

When you format a computer you are actually formatting the hard drive. This is the main storage component of your computer. It is usually labeled as C drive on your computer.

I have had people ring me up after they have formatted their computer to ask me where all their files have gone? And don’t laugh because it is very common.

Reasons why you might need to format your computer:

• You have built a computer and you must format the hard drive so you can put anoperating system on it.
• You have replaced your main hard drive and the new one needs to be formatted.
• Your computer will not start at all. Sometimes formatting can wipe a problem away.
• You have a software problem that is too detailed to fix.
• You have a major virus that you cannot get rid of.

Things you will need before you format your computer:

• You will need to backup your computer files. This can be the hardest part of formatting your computer because if you forget something important it could be a disaster. Here is A list of the most important computer system files and folders to Backup
• You will need your original system discs. This will include a drivers disc and the Windows operating system disc. What are Device Drivers and why do I need them for my computer?
• You will need to know everything about formatting a computer. How to Format a Computer with Windows XP menu

Programs and data you need to restore after formatting your computer:

1. After you have installed your operating system you must install your antivirus software.
2. Install your drivers to your computer. They are usually the sound, network adapter, display or graphics, and maybe more if you have add ons.
3. Set up your internet connection. You must have a network adapter driver installed for the Ethernet cord or the wireless signal to be recognized.
4. Download updates for your antivirus and your Windows operating system.
5. Setup your email account. How to set up an Email Account in Outlook Express
6. Import settings you have saved. Restore files that you backed up before formatting your computer. Backup and restore your Email Account Settings
7. Install all other programs.

How much does a computer IT person charge to format a computer?

• Just a simple format with you supplying the original operating system disc and drivers it may cast from $100 to $400.
• If you require your computers data to be backed up it could cost extra.
• Sometimes you can get a friend to format your computer for a small fee, or even free.
• An older computer that requires more attention can also cost extra.
• If you don’t have a copy of your discs the IT persons will have to search for your computer drivers and you may have to pay for a new operating system. Anywhere from $100 and up.

Notes:

• You can also format a spare hard drive or a portable device and not effect your main operating system and data. How to format your spare hard drive or flash drive
• Keeping your computer neat and tidy helps you with the backup process. This way you know where everything is and can copy it easily. Here’s how to  Organize your Computer

As you can see, formatting your computer can be a huge and sometimes daunting task to the newbie. However the majority of the work is in the backup and restore stage. If you are organized, you can backup your files every week to a safe place. This way when you do format your computer it will be a lot easier.

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