Almost all of us have now accepted the “C” drive as the default Windows installation location. In fact, all the new programs are by default installed on this drive. But have you ever wondered why the local drive names start from C and not the letter A? Also, does Windows allow you to change these drive names? Let’s find out.
What About A and B Drives?
Back in time when floppies used to be the primary source of storage on computers instead of hard disks, the letters A and B were assigned to the first floppy disk and the second floppy disk, respectively.
Similar to how the local drives are labeled today: C for the drive containing the OS, and consecutive letters referencing the drives that contain user data, the A drive (first floppy) was used to boot the PC and the B drive (second floppy) was for storing user data.
Hard disk made its debut later on but didn’t immediately render floppy disks obsolete. Instead of replacing floppies with hard disks on their computers, users started using both in conjunction. And as obvious, the next drive letter “C” got assigned to the additional storage disk, i.e., the hard disk.
Years later, when hard disks completely replaced floppy disks because of their portability, speed, and storage capacities, manufacturers stopped including floppy drives in computers. But still, the drive names A and B were kept reserved for floppies to ensure backward compatibility.
Earlier, Windows wasn’t a standalone operating system like it is now, and instead was a program that ran on DOS. When hard drives became the norm, Windows used the label C for its installation drive.
Modern computers don’t use floppy disks but even now, this convention is followed by automatically assigning the hard drive label C to the main installation drive. The reason behind this is most of the software is written with the C drive hardcoded as the primary OS drive and changing the Windows drive labeling might affect how programs run on your computer.
Can You Use A and B Drives for Hard Disks?
If you still use floppy disks on your PC, you won’t be able to use those labels for logical hard disk partitions. But that’s highly unlikely that your computer has a floppy disk drive.
In modern computers, logical hard disk partitions don’t get the label A and B by default, even if you use up all the available labels (up to Z). Windows users can manually change their local drive label to A and B, however, keep in mind that Windows doesn’t index those drives as they were originally meant for removable disks like floppies.
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Windows Has Come a Long Way!
Long before Windows even existed, DOS used to power computers and gave users an interface they could use to interact with computers. Initially, Windows was an interface manager that required MS-DOS to run, but later, it was revamped into a standalone operating system independent of MS-DOS.
Most of the development at that time was to compete with the rival companies. Fast forward to the present, Microsoft’s own operating systems are fighting it out in the battle to become the best OS for the users.
Take Windows 10 and 11 for example. While there are many reasons to choose Windows 10 over 11, the latter consists of the latest features and brings a whole new style of desktop computing to the table.
