Assigning drive letters on reinstall

I have a problem.

My computer has two SATA Hard Disk Drives:

HDD 1 - Drive C: (with Windows XP installed on it)
HDD 2 - Drive D: (containing other data - although nothing is installed on it)

I used Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test to erase / format the contents of Drive C: ready for a reinstall. However, during the initial setup stages of Windows (where you get to manage partitions), XP is assigning HDD 2 to Drive C:, the DVD Writer to Drive D: and HDD 1 to Drive E:!

How can I force HDD 1 to be Drive C: again (before installation continues). The only way I can think about getting around this is by unplugging HDD 2, installing Windows and then plugging it in again (and swapping around the drives letters with the optical drive).

Is there no way to mark a drive with a letter beforehand (either with a BartPE CD or something else)?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

What is wrong with the solution you propose - why go to any further hassle? Unplug the second drive until after installation then change the drive letters. You could format the drives and assign letters with a bootcd if you like but why bother when you can just unplug a cable?

Just wondering if there is another (easy-ish) way of doing this (which prevents me from keep opening the case whenever I reinstall).

Thanks for your reply though.

How about re-ordring the sequence the SAA cables are plugged into the motherboard, maybe it is something to do with the order they are detected????