A question about CD/DVD drives

[Archer 007]

I have a DVD drive and a CD-RW on my computer. The DVD is in the first slot and is what programmes try to read the data from by default. How do I make the files read from the CD-RW drive by default?

 

[nihilistic]

If the pins on your hard drive are set to automatic, then swap their positions on the IDE tape. Otherwise, set the CDRW to a "master" position. Be careful though. Every IDE tape can only have at most one master and at most one slave.

 

[Archer 007]

Is there anyway to do it without having to tinker around inside?
Most programmes just realize that the disk is the CD-RW and read it from there. One programme (Civ 3) however does not.

 

[CrackedCrystal]

You can change the drive letters in software with Windows. Note though this will not have them swapped if you boot with a boot disk or any other operating system

For windows 95,98,ME
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;121244

For windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307844

EDIT: If it is only Civ3 you are worried about, you could either try to find the registry entry that stores the CD information. Or, more safly, just unintall Civ3, then re-install it on the new drive. Just remember to save your games first.

 

[Archer 007]

I didnt think of changing the drive letters. Thanks for the help! I have Windows 98, so i can do that.

 

[nihilistic]

Originally posted by archer_007
Is there anyway to do it without having to tinker around inside?
Most programmes just realize that the disk is the CD-RW and read it from there. One programme (Civ 3) however does not.

Oh, so it's for a game.

I've experienced this too with Warcraft 3. I usually make an image of my cdrom on my hard drive and play the game from a virtual drive. However, it seems like every time I want to play, I have to unmount the cd from the virtual drive and mount it again. I suggest you try taking the cd out and then putting it back into the cdrw tray and see if civ will start up from there. Either that, or get some utility that can copy an image of the cd onto your hd.

 

[Archer 007]

I did as CrackedCrystal suggested, and it worked very well. Havent had problems with any programmes so far.