Split up Hard Drive into C: & D:

[Carmelchik]

Hi, I am running Windows XP Home Edition on my computer and the hard drive is split up into C and D. This hasn't been a problem for me before, but now, my C drive is full and its a really big hassel to keep on switching between the two drives. Is there any way that I could make combine these two hard drives into one? Or maybe just putting some of the D drive onto the C? Thanks for your help.

 

[edfair]

A program called "partition magic" will allow you to do some resizing. Several others out there but I have no experience with them.

You will be at some risk of losing stuff but mostly it is a straight forward process.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[linney]

Do you mean you have one hard drive that is divided into two partitions? It is not very expensive to buy and have installed for you a second hard drive.

See if these space saving/recovering ideas are of use?

A good amount of information can be found by typing "Compressed Volumes" in the Help and Support program.

307987 - HOW TO: Use File Compression in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q307987&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

This program might be useful for any diagnosing of Disk Space usage.

http://www.digallery.com/diskdata/

something is cosuming the hard drive freespace
Thread779-810374

Where is my disk space?
Thread779-719423

Delete Offline Flies
Thread779-816712

316505 - Windows XP Does Not Recognize All Available Disk Space

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316505&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

How to Locate and Correct Disk Space Problems on NTFS Volumes in Windows XP(Q315668)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q315/6/68.asp

The Default Cluster Size for the NTFS and FAT File Systems(Q314878)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q314/8/78.asp

Run the Disk Cleanup tool and use the "More Options" tab to remove all but the most recent restore point.

You don't really want Restore Points going back too far as they will more than likely uninstall all programs or settings you have changed since your "go back point" causing you more problems than it may fix.

The average restore point is 25mb+ with a "first in, first out" policy on restore points. They contain mainly deleted or altered exe, dlls, shortcuts and a registry backup and user profile details. They do not contain users data.

Keeping restore points for a week seems adequate. Amount of disk space used depends on the size of your restore points. Some restore points can be as large as 500mb after major alterations to a system (ie a new service pack or several hefty program installs, or running SFC /Scannow).

310312 - Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310312&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

http://www.theeldergeek.com/system_volume_information_folder1.htm

2) More On Cleaning Out Old "Service Pack" Folders

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-01-30.htm#2

308008 - How to Remove the Windows XP Uninstallation Files

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308008&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Do you use Hibernation? If not turn it off to save 500+MB.

 

[Carmelchik]

Thanks for your help you guys. I just have one more question, what is the point of the partition hard drive and why would one use it?

 

[edfair]

Some use it to have multiple operating systems.
Others use it to keep things separate.
Having data on one partition, or on a logical drive on the partition, allows that to be shared on a network.

If you get a partition clobbered by something going bump you may not even notice it on the other partition.

And there are some partition sizes that are very wasteful of storage space where partitioning and creating logical drives makes it efficient.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[bcastner]

Have you considered moving your user(s) profiles to Drive D:?

This would after a cleanup save a lot of room and is non-distructive.