Paul Busby wrote in message
...

If a larger h/d disc is added to a system running WinXP
& the old partitions copied across, what happens to the
drive letter assignments of the new disc - does the original
C drive as an active partition try to grab the D drive letter?

Depends on how you do the copy. If you use a dos based copy
like Ghost or Drive Image, the crucial thing to do is to make the
copy, AND THEN TURN THE SYSTEM OFF AND RESET THE
MASTER AND SLAVE before you let XP boot again.

If you do it that way, XP wont even notice that its been
copied to a larger drive and you can then put the original
drive back in again after its booted once off the copy and
do what you like to the original like format it etc.

XP can get royally confused if you boot off the original
again after you have made a copy behind XP's back with
both drives visible on the first XP boot after the copy.

If Win98 is also present, would its drive letters remain the same?

Yes, if you are careful about the detail just after the copy.

I ask for academic reasons 'cos I would always reformat
as an extended partition containing logical volumes.

Thats not necessarily the best approach. The new drive
is likely to be rather faster than the original and so there
is a lot to be said for making the new drive the boot drive.