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COMPUTER BITS BY JASON COLE Relocating your CD-ROM drive Windows 95 works well but how do you correct the problem of adding a new hard disc drive that wants to live where the CD-ROM currently lives? Hard disc drives (HDDs) have dramatically increased in size in the last couple of years, while prices have gone the other way. The only problem is that when you buy your new HDD, it generally becomes the secondary or D: drive while the older unit is kept as the C: drive (so that you don’t have to reinstall the operating system). This is fine except that your CD-ROM is now assigned the next drive letter along the chain which is E:. Of course, if the CD-ROM had been assigned a higher drive letter such as R: in the first place, then all would be well. It would retain its drive assignment when extra hard disc drives were added and the problem simply would not arise. But why is it a problem if your CDROM is shuffled from D: to E: when a new HDD is added? The answer is that Fig.1: right click My Computer, then click Properties and select the Device Manager tab to bring up this dialog box. 80  Silicon Chip any program that was originally installed from the CD-ROM, and which refers back to the CD-ROM while it is running, will no longer work. When it’s time to load that wonderful game called “LightHouse” (or whatever), it will go to the drive assignment where it thinks the CD-ROM is and find the new hard disc drive instead. And that means no fancy graphics or anything else. In short, “it ain’t gonna work mate”. One way to correct this problem is to reinstall all the CD-ROM based software. However, this might not work out too well. Any patches will also have to be reinstalled and this can be time consuming and troublesome with some of the older software packages. A more elegant way to solve the Fig.2: double-click the CD-ROM option so that it expands to show the currently installed CD-ROM drive. Fig.3 (left): selecting the CD-ROM drive, then clicking Properties and selecting the Settings tab brings up this dialog box. The current drive assignment is shown towards the bottom and you can change it by clicking the down arrows and selecting a new assignment (eg, R:). Fig.4: you launch the Registry Editor by clicking Start, Run and typing regedit on the Open line. problem is to change all pointers to the old D: drive to the new CD-ROM assignment. This is done by delving into the subterranean depths of the Registry. Now I know that I have warned about the dangers of delving into the Registry in the past but there are times when it is neces­sary. Back it up Now remember, the Registry is really, really important to the correct operation of Windows 95. For this reason, make a backup of it first so that you can restore it if you make a mistake. The Computer Bits column in the September 1997 issue tells you how to make Registry backups. Also, make sure Windows 95 is working correctly in the first place. It’s pointless fixing the brakes if the wheels are square! Before starting, I have found that it’s best if the CD-ROM is changed to another drive assignment before you install the second hard disc drive. To do this in Windows 95, just follow these simple steps: (1). Right click on My Computer (on the desktop) and select Properties to bring up the Systems Properties box. (2) Click the Device Manager tab to bring up the dialog box shown in Fig.5 (below): this is the window that appears when you launch the Registry Editor. Be sure to back the registry up first before making any changes, as the registry is vital to the operation of Windows 95. November 1997  81 Fig.6: you can search for all occurrences of D: in the Registry by pressing CTRL F to bring up the Find dialog box. Fig.1, then Double click on the CDROM option. The CD-ROM option will expand to show your currently installed CD-ROM (Fig.2). (3) Click once on your CD-ROM and then click the Properties button. A new box will open and you should now click the Settings tab to bring up a box similar to that shown in Fig.3. (4) Towards the bottom of this box, you will see a section which shows the current CD-ROM drive assignment and just below that some settings for reserving a drive letter. At this stage, the latter will probably have no assignment selected. To select an assignment, click on NORBITON SYSTEMS NS_PC101 card for XT/AT/PCs allows access to 48 I/O lines. There are 5 groups (0 to 4) available on a de-facto industrial standard 50-way ribbon cable used in STEbus and VMEbus 19" rack mount control systems. The board uses 2 x 8255 ICs. Multiple boards can be used if more I/O lines are required. NS_LED PCB gives visual access to five groups (0 to 4) of the NS_PC1OX. There is a total of 40 status LEDs. The board offers a 25-way “D” type female socket. The lines are driven by 74244 ICs & configured as a parallel printer port. This socket gives access to printer port kits, eg, stepper motors, LCDs, direct digital synthesis. NS_16_8 PCB is a system conditioning card with 16 optically isolated inputs set-up for either 12V or 24V operation. The board provides 8 single pole, double throw relays with 10 Amp contact rating. For brochure write to: Reply Paid 68 82  Silicon Chip the Start Drive Letter down arrow. A list of available assignments will now appear. Select a new assignment (R: is always a good drive letter assign­ ment for a CD-ROM drive) and the End Drive Letter will automati­cally select R: as well. (5) Click OK to close the dialog box and save the new as­signment, then click OK on the Device Manager box to close it. You will now be prompted to reset your computer so that the new changes will work. Let’s hack the Registry Now that we’ve assigned a new drive letter to the CD-ROM, let’s KITS & CARDS NS_DC_DC is a step down converter with an input range 11 to 35V DC and an output of 5 volts DC at 5 Amps, with an output ripple of approx 150mV. There is an IN/OUT 50-way connector isolating the 5V and 12V+ &12V- rails of the PC power supply. This segregates PC’s power when working on prototypes. NSDC_DC1 module used with NS_DC_DC & NSDC_DC4 converters is a 5V to 12V(+/-) step- up converter. The board utilises 743 switch mode IC with 2 x 12V regulators, with output ripple of approx 200mV. NS_UTIL1 prototyping board has 1580 bread board holes access to any 3 groups (0 to 4) on the 50-way cable pinout. Power is available from the 50-way cable format 5 volts at 2 Amps & 12V+ 12V- at 1 Amp. There is provision for array resistors with either a ground or positive common connection. NORBITON SYSTEMS PO Box 687 Rockingham WA 6968 open the Registry Editor. There is no shortcut to the Registry Editor on the Taskbar, so we must launch it using the Run command. To do this, click the Start button, select Run, type Regedit and press return (Fig.4) The Registry Editor will load and you see a window just like that shown in Fig.5. Now select (highlight) My Computer and press Ctrl F for the search engine. A window like that shown in Fig.6 will pop up and you should then type in D: and click the Find Next button. It will now go through the Registry and find any occurrence of D:. Be careful, because it will also find other values that match this criterion such as Dword: It is wise not to set the search up so that it only matches the whole string because it can miss some setup options. Search­ing for D: should locate both D: and D:/, as well as D:/progra~1 and so on. This sounds easy and it actually is. All you really have to do is think about what you are changing. In order to make the actual changes, you utilise the right click option Protect Your Valuable Issues Silicon Chip Binders REAL VALUE AT $11.95 PLUS P &P ★  Heavy board covers with 2-tone green vinyl covering ★  Each binder holds up to 14 issues ★ SILICON CHIP logo printed in gold-coloured lettering on spine & cover Price: $A11.95 plus $A3 p&p each (NZ $A8 p&p). Just fill in & mail the handy order form in this issue; or fax (02) 9979 6503; or ring (02) 9979 5644 & quote your credit card number. Fig.7: each time you find an old drive assignment (ie, D:), right click on the name and then click Modify so that you can make the necessary changes to the Data. on the mouse. Each time you find an old drive as­signment, you right click on the Name and then left click on Modify so that you can make the necessary changes to the Data. To change the Name (should that also be incorrect), you select the Rename option – see Fig.7. Do not make any other changes except to the drive assign­ment, as changing the path will cause problems that can only be corrected by reinstalling the affected software. Once you have made the necessary changes, click the Find Next button (or press F3) to automatically search for the next occurrence of D:. Once all the changes have been made, you can then check for any missed assignments by highlighting “My Comput­er” and pressing F3 to initiate a complete new search from the top. This may take a while to do as the Registry can be quite large. When all is done, check it out by loading your favourite CD-ROM based game and see if it works. Most programs should run fine but remember to check out your System.ini and Win. ini files for programs that were written for Windows 3.x and edit any path entries accordingly. You should also inspect any .ini files that are specific to those programs and edit these if necessary. If a program still refuses to work, then reinstall it and everything should be OK. Saved game points should still be there as will all your important documents. The changes we have made only affect the programs themselves SC and not your saved data. Tip: Send Files Straight To The Recycle Bin; Do Not Click “Yes” To Confirm Sick of clicking “yes” in the confirmation box that pops up each time you press the delete key or drag files to the Recycle Bin? Then turn it off. To do this, right-click the Recycle Bin and click Proper­ties from the resulting drop-down menu to bring up the dialog box shown in Fig.8. Now clear the “Display Delete Confirmation Box” option and click OK to close the box. Now when you delete files, they will go straight to the Recycle Bin. Don’t worry about deleting the wrong stuff because it is all in the Recycle Bin and can be retrieved if necessary until the bin is cleared. You will still be prompted if you want to delete an appli­ cations (*.exe) file, however. This is because application files are considered more important than others. By the way, you can also use the Recycle Bin Properties dialog box to set the maximum size of the Recycle Bin (as a percentage of disc size). If you have two hard disc drives, you can either use the same percentage for both or set them independently. November 1997  83