Where does the letter “C:” on the main hard drive come from on Windows ?

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If you use Windows, you probably already know this: traditionally, the operating system associates the letter C with the main hard drive. If you have a second hard drive or a second partition, the letter D will be associated with it. And if there is a third disk or a third drive, Windows will use the letter E, and so on.

But do you know why the letter C is always assigned to the main hard drive ?

Some might think that this is related to the fact that Windows is programmed using the C programming language. However, there is no connection between the letter C on the main hard drive and the name of this programming language. According to an article republished by Gizmodo, this letter comes from old PCs. At the time, hard drives were not common and systems instead ran on floppy disks.

So the main drive was drive A. And on some machines, there was a second drive which was drive B. Then, when hard drives became the norm, they took the letter C, since the first two letters of the alphabet were already taken. And today, although floppy disk drives have all but disappeared (although some essential systems still use this medium), Windows continues to assign the letter C to the main hard drive that usually contains the operating system.

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Why You Shouldn't Touch These Letters ?

In any case, it is not recommended to touch the letters that Windows assigns to the hard drives and drives of your computer. Indeed, according to a Lenovo help page, this can cause malfunctions. “Windows allows you to change the hard drive letter. However, it is not recommended to change the letter of your system hard drive or startup disk, as this can affect the operation of some installed applications,” we read on this page.

And regarding the C drive, here is what the manufacturer writes: “[…] you cannot change the drive letter of your system disk (usually C 🙂 while your system is running. This could cause system instability or even prevent Windows from starting.”Lenovo's help page also confirms that while the letter C is reserved for the primary hard drive, the letters A and B are indeed reserved for floppy drives.

• On Windows PCs, the letter C is automatically assigned to the primary drive
• Some might think this has something to do with the C programming language
• But in reality, it's because on older PCs, the first two letters of the alphabet were already taken by floppy drives

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