A slave hard drive is not assigned a drive letter in Windows 2000/XP

image Why is my slave drive not assigned a drive letter after either moving it from one system to another system or installing Windows 2000/XP?

Problem:
A slave drive is recognized in Disk Management, but it is not assigned a drive letter after Windows 2000/XP installation or moving it from one system to another system, with both systems running Windows 2000/XP.

Cause:
Proper steps were not taken to move the drive from one system to another.

Affected Products:
All EIDE drives in Windows 2000/XP.

Resolution:
The information below is provided as is without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. Western Digital will not be liable to you for any damages, including any loss of profit or savings, arising out of the use or inability to use the information contained in this document.
The following information appears in the Microsoft Windows help file for Disk Management. It has been modified for formatting purposes only.

Before you disconnect the disks, make sure the status of the volumes on the disks is Healthy. If the status is not Healthy, you should repair the volumes before you move the disks.
Turn the computer off, remove the physical disks, and then install the physical disks on the other computer. Restart the computer that contains the disks you moved.

Using Disk Management:
To open Disk Management, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel
  2. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
  3. In the console tree under Storage, click Disk Management.

Once Disk Management is open, follow these steps:

  1. Click Action, and then click Rescan Disks.
  2. Right-click any disk marked Foreign, click Import Foreign Disks, and then follow the instructions on your screen.

Notes: You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.