Create, delete, move partition operations, as well as hiding/unhiding a
partition and direct letter change may result in problems running appli-
cations, opening files (as some shortcuts become unusable) or booting
an operating system.
Therefore performing partition operations, you must be careful and
remember that each operating system works differently with partition
letters. Each OS has its own partition letter assignment rules.
Windows 95/95OSR2/98/Me
Windows 95 (original) assigns partition letters
automatically
in the fixed
order, according to these rules:
•
Partition
letters start from C: and continue until Z:. C: partition is
considered system, i.e. used for OS startup.
Note that this OS cannot recognize all partitions, but only 1 (FAT12), 4, 6
(FAT16)
types
. File system type is determined not by partition type, but by
its contents. Partitions of other types are passed (no letters are assigned to
them).
•
The first
primary active
partition found on the 1st hard disk is as-
signed C:. If there’s no such partition, C: is assigned to the first
suitable primary partition.
•
Similar and consecutively, one of
primary
partitions from other
hard disks are considered. They are assigned D:, E:, etc. (If there
is no suitable partition found on the first disk, then C:, D:, etc. are
assigned.)
•
Next, all suitable
logical
partitions are considered in the sequence
order on the first, second, third, etc. hard disks. They are assigned
E:, F:, G:, etc., for example.
•
Finally, in order letters are assigned to
all remaining
suitable
pri-
mary partitions
of the first, second, third, etc. disks.
Windows 95OSR2/98/ME partition letter assignment order is almost the
same as in original Windows 95, with the following exceptions:
•
Additional
type
11 (FAT32), 12 (FAT32 LBA) and 13 (FAT16 LBA)
partitions are considered. This is tied to FAT32 and high-capacity
hard disk support.
Partition operations in the mentioned operating systems may result in
problems running applications, opening files, etc., if letter assignment
change.
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