why is the hard drive called c:?

Question

I'm in a computer class and I need to know for e/c. I know what it does and stuff but i never thought about why its called a C: drive.

Answer 1

The first PCs did not have hard drives. They usually had two floppy 5 1/4 inch drives. These two floppy drives were designated A: and B:. When the hard drives were added to the configuration they were assigned the next letter in the sequence: C:.
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Answer 2

Windows by default automatically assigns a letter to the primary operating system drive...and that is C:\
It also automatically assigns A:\ to a Floppy drive....
That's why...and what the above post said...I forgot about the real old 5 1/4 floppy drives...

Answer 3

The original PC's generally had 2 floppy drives (5 1/4" sized disks). They were referred too as the a: and b: drives. When hard disks were first added to PC's, they became known as the c: drives.

Answer 4

first, when the computer was made, there were no hard drives. Just a floppy drive called "Drive A", and a spare drive called "Drive B". So, when the hard drive was first invented they call it "Drive C" and so was meant to be the first letter for a hard drive.

Answer 5

Before hard drives, the only drives were floppies, which were A: and B:, so when HD's started A: and B: were already taken, so the HD had to be C:. Now it is hardwired, all first HD's are C:. If there is a second HD it will be D:.

Answer 6

well, with DOS, they used floppies alot, so they sometimes used 2 floppy drives
they defaulted to A: and B:
then hard drives were starting to be used, so they were defaulted to C:
then CD drives came around, so they defaulted to the first available letter, usually D:
as far as i can figure