2007-03-27 19:01:41 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Laptops & Notebooks
It was for floppy drives. Believe it or not I still have two floppy drives in one of my old computers (two different sizes) so I still have A and B drives in addition to the rest.
2007-03-27 19:05:37 · answer #1 · answered by Elizabeth E 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It dates back to when computers had no hard drive. Before the advent of hard drives, computers typically had two floppy drives, A and B. When a hard drive was added, it took the place of C. A and B are still reserved for floppy drives, and C is the default hard drive letter with all others falling in line after that. You can change the letters of and drives from C on. More and more computers are being configured without a floppy drive at all. USB flash drives have taken over the niche floppies used to fill. They have exponentially more storage capacity and are more reliable. Byte for byte, they're now far cheaper too. Will A and B be thrown back into the mix of user defined drive letters? Only time will tell.
2007-03-27 19:17:43 · answer #2 · answered by whatdoitypehere 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Earlier there used to be a 'B' drive for 5-1/4 floppies. Now a days the 5-1/4 floppies are obsolete. That's why you are not finding 'B' drives in the new computers. Soon you may not find even 'A' drives. The day will com when HD drives will occupy A drive.
2007-03-27 19:07:13 · answer #3 · answered by Suri Babu 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Originally the B drive was reserved for the second 5 1/4 floppy drive. The hard drive had not yet been invented!
2007-03-27 19:18:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Traditionally A & B drives were used for Floppy drives while C onwards went to hard discs, Optical disks , removable storage etc...
If you can get hold of an original IBM PC (compatible ) with 640 K of RAM , CGA Display 4.77 Mhz 8088 CPU & Two FDD' s you will get drive A & B on the system.
The advent of HDD's made multiple Floppies redundant.
Using Subst (on the command line ) B: can be mapped to another drive or specific path if unused.
2007-03-27 19:10:47 · answer #5 · answered by necromancer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well, from the beginning, computers had 2 drives for floppy disks: a & b
believe it or not, i have used a computer that had NO hard drive. you had to boot from one floppy drive and work on your files/programs from the other floppy drive.
the b drive has remained unused for long, and now that floppy drives are all but extinct, even the 'a' drive seems to be disappearing. hope this helps.
2007-03-27 19:15:30 · answer #6 · answered by kazi_saif 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its not that computers don't have B drives. Initially (2 decades ago) personal computers did'nt have hard discs - they were equipped with two floppy drives called drives A and B. Later, a hard disk was introduced and was labelled as C drive.
Other drives like CD drive, DVD drive, flash drive and others were labelled D, E etc. If you have a computer having two floppy drives, then they are called A drive and B drive.
Hope this solves out your query.
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2007-03-27 19:10:16 · answer #7 · answered by Techonova T 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Beause A and B drive are always meant for floppy drives.When u add another floppy drive to your system,you could see B: on your computer.
2007-03-27 20:02:05 · answer #8 · answered by Gane 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Drive names A and B are for floppy drives. Anytype (not necessarily assigned to 3.5 or 5.25) Even now, if your system has 2 Floppy drives you still have it addressed as A and B
2007-03-27 19:39:46 · answer #9 · answered by Suresh N 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as quickly as upon a time, long before, computers did no longer have complicated drives. (That exchange into all the before in the Nineteen Seventies and 80s). So classes have been designed to apply 2 floppy drives. the 1st one (A:) exchange into used to run this technique and the 2d (B:) exchange into used to maintain the records documents. maximum classes have been "complicated coded" to continually use A: and B: for the floppies. So whilst the complicated force exchange into invented, it exchange into desperate to have it exchange into the C: so as to no longer reason problems with latest classes. With the addition of the educational for the C:, you in addition to mght get the D:, E:, F:, G:,...all a thank you to the Z: (and another drives you are able to assign with symbols besides the alphabet ones). With the addition of over 24 extra letters, it looked pointless to bypass lower back and rewrite the laptop BIOS to unencumber the B: force. So no person has ever carried out it. so which you may have a B: on your laptop. even though it ought to be a 2d floppy force.
2016-12-08 12:57:47 · answer #10 · answered by adamek 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋