WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.200 You're probably reminded of how Windows usually lives on your C drive every time you open up File 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:11.120 Explorer to search for that super important word document. But why does the most important drive 00:00:11.120 --> 00:00:16.480 on your computer get assigned to the third letter of the alphabet? Is Microsoft tacitly admitting 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:22.400 that Windows is an average operating system? Come on, Microsoft would never do that. The answer 00:00:22.400 --> 00:00:27.520 goes all the way back to the early days of personal computing when DOS was the big time 00:00:27.520 --> 00:00:33.440 operating system of the day. You see, early PCs often did not come with hard drives in them. 00:00:33.440 --> 00:00:38.240 Those were expensive back then, so instead, users would often run their operating systems and other 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:44.880 programs directly off of floppy disks. This included DOS, which by default assigned the letters A and 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:51.280 B to the floppy drives. Many early computers like the original IBM PC from 1981 were often configured 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:56.160 with two floppy drives, so this letter assignment scheme made sense. So once hard drives started 00:00:56.160 --> 00:01:00.560 becoming more commonplace later in the same decade, operating systems started to assign 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:06.560 the next letter that wasn't reserved for floppy drives, C. And while early versions of DOS actually 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:12.960 would still assign C to a third floppy drive if the system had that many, later versions always 00:01:12.960 --> 00:01:18.480 reserved C for an actual hard drive. But because Windows was originally based on DOS, 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:23.680 Windows continued the tradition of assigning the letter C to the main hard drive. By the time we 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:28.880 got Windows XP in 2001, which was the first non-DOS Windows for home users, the convention of 00:01:28.880 --> 00:01:34.800 using A for floppy drive and C for the main hard drive was firmly cemented, even though PCs don't 00:01:34.800 --> 00:01:39.680 come with floppy drives anymore and it's getting harder and harder to find computer cases that even 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:45.280 have floppy drive bays. Windows has stuck with assigning C to the system drive since there 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:50.240 hasn't been much reason to break from the convention. And many third-party programs are written 00:01:50.240 --> 00:01:56.480 assuming that C is the location of the Windows install, making changing the paradigm even more 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:03.200 icky. Okay, so what about the other letters? After C, Windows assigns remaining letters in order 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:09.200 to any other attached stored devices. Unless we're talking network drives, in which case Windows will 00:02:09.200 --> 00:02:15.760 actually start with Z, or Z for you Americans, and work its way backwards. But let's say this 00:02:15.760 --> 00:02:20.480 doesn't sit particularly well with you. And being the logical computer enthusiast you are, 00:02:20.480 --> 00:02:25.120 you want to use the letter A for your main system drive. Makes sense, I won't hold that against 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:29.360 you. There's actually nothing stopping you from doing this on your own. If you open up Windows 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:33.440 Disk Management, you can change the letter of your system drive by right clicking on it, 00:02:33.440 --> 00:02:37.920 picking the change drive letter and paths option, and just selecting an available drive 00:02:37.920 --> 00:02:42.960 letter from the drop-down menu. Be aware, though, that doing this could break programs that are 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:47.120 already installed on your computer that are looking for C, as we previously mentioned. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:52.960 If you really don't want to use C for your system a better, but still not perfect way to do this, 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:58.400 is to assign your desired letter to an empty partition first, then install Windows to that 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:04.080 partition. Of course, it would be nice if Windows setup would just straight up ask you what letter 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:09.040 you'd like for your drive to have when you first start using your PC. But quite honestly, 00:03:09.040 --> 00:03:13.360 not that many people have been clamoring for Microsoft to stop using the letter C, 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:17.520 so that particular Windows Quirk is probably here to stay. But you could also just rename 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:22.000 your second drive, the A drive, for those ultra important A tier files that you want to keep in 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:27.360 one place. Makes it a lot easier to find them. So guys, if you liked this video, hit like, hit 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:31.040 subscribe, and be sure to hit us up in the comments section with your suggestions for 00:03:31.040 --> 00:03:33.040 topics that we should cover in the future.