Swapping Drive Letter Designations - Cable Select

In all of my machines, I have the CD-R/DVD in the top bay, and the CD-
R/DVD-R in the bottom bay, and Windows Explorer reports these drives
as D and E, or E and F, etc. In other words, the top bay (the CD
burner, if you will) is one letter, and the lower bay (DVD burner, if
you will) is the following letter in the alphabet. Just an
idiosyncrasy of mine.

I just installed a Sony CD-R/DVD in the top bay, and a Lite-On CD-R/
DVD-R in the lower bay of an E510 running WMCE. These drives are
connected to the IDE motherboard connector. I used the original
(Dell) IDE cable select cable, and the drives are both jumpered cable
select. The Lite-On is on the first cable connector, and the Sony is
on the second, or last, cable connector. I had to do it this way due
to the bay locations and the length of the IDE cable.

Windows Explorer reports:
the (bottom drive) Lite-On as DVD-RW Drive (D
the Sony (top drive) as DVD/CD-RW Drive (E

I was hoping to see the drive letters just the opposite, but I suppose
this is a function of the location of the drives on a cable select
setup. Yes?

My burning applications report the drives the same as Windows
Explorer.

At any rate, I'd like to swap the drive letter designations on these
drives, as reported in Windows Explorer, but I don't know if this will
cause problems with applications, especially CD and DVD burning
programs.

Any comments?

Thanks

"Boris" <boris-badenough@excite.com> wrote in message
news:1175838330.810077.4780@q75g2000hsh.googlegrou ps.com...
> In all of my machines, I have the CD-R/DVD in the top bay, and the CD-
> R/DVD-R in the bottom bay, and Windows Explorer reports these drives
> as D and E, or E and F, etc. In other words, the top bay (the CD
> burner, if you will) is one letter, and the lower bay (DVD burner, if
> you will) is the following letter in the alphabet. Just an
> idiosyncrasy of mine.
>
> I just installed a Sony CD-R/DVD in the top bay, and a Lite-On CD-R/
> DVD-R in the lower bay of an E510 running WMCE. These drives are
> connected to the IDE motherboard connector. I used the original
> (Dell) IDE cable select cable, and the drives are both jumpered cable
> select. The Lite-On is on the first cable connector, and the Sony is
> on the second, or last, cable connector. I had to do it this way due
> to the bay locations and the length of the IDE cable.
>
> Windows Explorer reports:
> the (bottom drive) Lite-On as DVD-RW Drive (D
> the Sony (top drive) as DVD/CD-RW Drive (E
>
> I was hoping to see the drive letters just the opposite, but I suppose
> this is a function of the location of the drives on a cable select
> setup. Yes?
>
> My burning applications report the drives the same as Windows
> Explorer.
>
> At any rate, I'd like to swap the drive letter designations on these
> drives, as reported in Windows Explorer, but I don't know if this will
> cause problems with applications, especially CD and DVD burning
> programs.
>
> Any comments?
>
> Thanks
>

You can just swap them in disk management. Won't matter.

On Fri, 6 Apr 2007 07:06:17 -0400, "Tom Scales" <tjscales@gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>"Boris" <boris-badenough@excite.com> wrote in message
>news:1175838330.810077.4780@q75g2000hsh.googlegro ups.com...
>> In all of my machines, I have the CD-R/DVD in the top bay, and the CD-
>> R/DVD-R in the bottom bay, and Windows Explorer reports these drives
>> as D and E, or E and F, etc. In other words, the top bay (the CD
>> burner, if you will) is one letter, and the lower bay (DVD burner, if
>> you will) is the following letter in the alphabet. Just an
>> idiosyncrasy of mine.
>>
>> I just installed a Sony CD-R/DVD in the top bay, and a Lite-On CD-R/
>> DVD-R in the lower bay of an E510 running WMCE. These drives are
>> connected to the IDE motherboard connector. I used the original
>> (Dell) IDE cable select cable, and the drives are both jumpered cable
>> select. The Lite-On is on the first cable connector, and the Sony is
>> on the second, or last, cable connector. I had to do it this way due
>> to the bay locations and the length of the IDE cable.
>>
>> Windows Explorer reports:
>> the (bottom drive) Lite-On as DVD-RW Drive (D
>> the Sony (top drive) as DVD/CD-RW Drive (E
>>
>> I was hoping to see the drive letters just the opposite, but I suppose
>> this is a function of the location of the drives on a cable select
>> setup. Yes?
>>
>> My burning applications report the drives the same as Windows
>> Explorer.
>>
>> At any rate, I'd like to swap the drive letter designations on these
>> drives, as reported in Windows Explorer, but I don't know if this will
>> cause problems with applications, especially CD and DVD burning
>> programs.
>>
>> Any comments?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>
>You can just swap them in disk management. Won't matter.

I concur with Tom. No big deal.

On Apr 6, 4:06 am, "Tom Scales" <tjsca...@gmail.com> wrote:
> "Boris" <boris-badeno...@excite.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1175838330.810077.4780@q75g2000hsh.googlegrou ps.com...
>
>
>
> > In all of my machines, I have the CD-R/DVD in the top bay, and the CD-
> > R/DVD-R in the bottom bay, and Windows Explorer reports these drives
> > as D and E, or E and F, etc. In other words, the top bay (the CD
> > burner, if you will) is one letter, and the lower bay (DVD burner, if
> > you will) is the following letter in the alphabet. Just an
> > idiosyncrasy of mine.
>
> > I just installed a Sony CD-R/DVD in the top bay, and a Lite-On CD-R/
> > DVD-R in the lower bay of an E510 running WMCE. These drives are
> > connected to the IDE motherboard connector. I used the original
> > (Dell) IDE cable select cable, and the drives are both jumpered cable
> > select. The Lite-On is on the first cable connector, and the Sony is
> > on the second, or last, cable connector. I had to do it this way due
> > to the bay locations and the length of the IDE cable.
>
> > Windows Explorer reports:
> > the (bottom drive) Lite-On as DVD-RW Drive (D
> > the Sony (top drive) as DVD/CD-RW Drive (E
>
> > I was hoping to see the drive letters just the opposite, but I suppose
> > this is a function of the location of the drives on a cable select
> > setup. Yes?
>
> > My burning applications report the drives the same as Windows
> > Explorer.
>
> > At any rate, I'd like to swap the drive letter designations on these
> > drives, as reported in Windows Explorer, but I don't know if this will
> > cause problems with applications, especially CD and DVD burning
> > programs.
>
> > Any comments?
>
> > Thanks
>
> You can just swap them in disk management. Won't matter.

Many thanks, and I'll do just that. One more question...if at some
point I set the BIOS to boot from CD, which of the two optical drives
will the BIOS look to? The first one on the cable select cable, or
the first drive letter that represents an optical drive?

Thanks again

"Boris" <boris-badenough@excite.com> wrote in message
news:1175872689.863380.17730@o5g2000hsb.googlegrou ps.com...
> On Apr 6, 4:06 am, "Tom Scales" <tjsca...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> "Boris" <boris-badeno...@excite.com> wrote in message
>>
>> news:1175838330.810077.4780@q75g2000hsh.googlegrou ps.com...
>>
>>
>>
>> > In all of my machines, I have the CD-R/DVD in the top bay, and the CD-
>> > R/DVD-R in the bottom bay, and Windows Explorer reports these drives
>> > as D and E, or E and F, etc. In other words, the top bay (the CD
>> > burner, if you will) is one letter, and the lower bay (DVD burner, if
>> > you will) is the following letter in the alphabet. Just an
>> > idiosyncrasy of mine.
>>
>> > I just installed a Sony CD-R/DVD in the top bay, and a Lite-On CD-R/
>> > DVD-R in the lower bay of an E510 running WMCE. These drives are
>> > connected to the IDE motherboard connector. I used the original
>> > (Dell) IDE cable select cable, and the drives are both jumpered cable
>> > select. The Lite-On is on the first cable connector, and the Sony is
>> > on the second, or last, cable connector. I had to do it this way due
>> > to the bay locations and the length of the IDE cable.
>>
>> > Windows Explorer reports:
>> > the (bottom drive) Lite-On as DVD-RW Drive (D
>> > the Sony (top drive) as DVD/CD-RW Drive (E
>>
>> > I was hoping to see the drive letters just the opposite, but I suppose
>> > this is a function of the location of the drives on a cable select
>> > setup. Yes?
>>
>> > My burning applications report the drives the same as Windows
>> > Explorer.
>>
>> > At any rate, I'd like to swap the drive letter designations on these
>> > drives, as reported in Windows Explorer, but I don't know if this will
>> > cause problems with applications, especially CD and DVD burning
>> > programs.
>>
>> > Any comments?
>>
>> > Thanks
>>
>> You can just swap them in disk management. Won't matter.
>
> Many thanks, and I'll do just that. One more question...if at some
> point I set the BIOS to boot from CD, which of the two optical drives
> will the BIOS look to? The first one on the cable select cable, or
> the first drive letter that represents an optical drive?
>
> Thanks again
>

It will likely boot from the one that is on the end of the cable.