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I recently upgraded my D: data drive to a larger one, like so:

  • installed the new drive as E:
  • copied all the files from D:\ to E:\ using robocopy
  • powered off the PC, removed the D: drive permanently

However, I can't change the E: drive back to D: -- that is, when I try to change the letter in Disk Manager the letter D: simply doesn't show up as available.

Why not, and how do I fix this?

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Have you rebooted since removing D:? – Traveling Tech Guy Oct 16 '11 at 22:56
yes, I had to reboot to remove D otherwise it'd be a live drive removal.. I guess that's allowed? I'm not ballsy enough to rip a drive out while the system is running! – Jeff Atwood♦ Oct 17 '11 at 21:44
Nothing to do with ballsy - don't yank out components from a running machine. You may lose data, or worse, short something out – Traveling Tech Guy Oct 17 '11 at 22:43
@TravelingTechGuy, I think Jeff was being facetious. – Bobson Nov 21 '11 at 2:09
Since he deleted my answer, I assumed he was in some sort of mood :) – Traveling Tech Guy Nov 21 '11 at 6:58
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1 Answer

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For some reason, Windows likes to reserve drive letters it previously saw.

This information is stored in the registry at

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

enter image description here

Simply delete the registry key of the unused drive letter at \DosDevices\D: , then restart, and you'll be able to re-use the desired drive letter.

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Next time, assign E to D. Windows will say it won't reassign them until you reboot. When you reboot, it will do its thing. – surfasb Oct 16 '11 at 23:12
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