Why is the primary drive on a Windows computer always C?

According to Tech Unwrapped , let's find out why the letters A and B do not exist on Windows computers. In fact, these letters have not completely disappeared because if you remember the past, they were used at some point.

Hard drive partitions in Windows always start with the letter C

Specifically, the letters A and B were reserved for old floppy disks because early computer models like the IBM PC from 1981 with the DOS operating system did not even recognize hard drives. It only had two spaces to add floppy disks, which were assigned the letters A and B to differentiate.

In 1983, when the IBM XT appeared, Microsoft needed to add a new letter to its system because this computer model was the first computer to have a hard drive, although it was only 10 MB. Therefore, C began to be used.

The convenience of storing directly on the computer as well as the capacity of these things has increased, which has not changed the floppy drive with a capacity of only 1.44 MB. Therefore, their use has become less and less, causing this drive to gradually fade into oblivion. However, the letters A and B are always blank and the letter C is used out of pure habit. In fact, Microsoft itself does not know when to change it because somewhere in the world, there is still a PC using floppy disks. So it is impossible to shuffle the letters now, especially since many paths have been designed with programs that look for C like root, so changing them would create a huge and unnecessary chaos.

This only applies to Windows, other systems like MacOS or Linux are independent and their configurations are not based on Microsoft's letter. Furthermore, Apple points this out on its website because doing it on a Mac is fine, but it would be problematic to change or delete the letter assigned to a Mac OS X partition while running Microsoft Windows.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/tai-sao-o-dia-chinh-tren-may-tinh-windows-luon-la-c-185230614011809117.htm