For more information on how DOS and Windows 9x/Me assign drive letters, read How are drive letters assigned in Windows 9x/Me and DOS?
In Windows NT/2000/XP, drive letters can be manually assigned using Disk Administrator or PartitionMagic. Why can’t I create more than four primary partitions? This is a limitation of the Master Boot Record. The Master Boot Record has the capacity to define up to four partition table entries, one of which can be an extended partition. The IBM Boot Manager and other diagnostic partition types also take “slots” or entries within the Master Boot Record. When performing an operation in PartitionMagic (resize, move, and so forth), I see a black rectangle on the screen and the computer beeps. Why? The black rectangle and beeping noise are caused when virus or boot-sector protection is enabled in your BIOS. You may also see an Error 58 message along with the black rectangle. Disable the virus or boot-sector protection, and you should have no problem using PartitionMagic to partition your hard drive.
Related Questions
- Sometimes Windows Assigns Different Drive Letters to My USB Devices. How Do I Instruct Windows To Always Assign the Same Drive Letter?
- For more information on how DOS and Windows 9x/Me assign drive letters, read How are drive letters assigned in Windows 9x/Me and DOS?
- Does Paragon HFS for Windows assign drive letters to HFS+ partitions?
