Do I need more drive space? If so...

[Rob]

Win XP home, upgrade ed., installed as upgrade to Win 98 SE.
Web site install advisor gives 1.5 GB as a viable space availability; I have
almost 3 GB but that seems not to be enough. Defrag both in Windows
property/tools, and Norton speed disk was very slow. Windows defrag "needs
15% of disk as free space, you have 13".

I've removed several unnessaries from C without incurring a crash, resulting
in 600MB free but that keeps changing, don't know why; now about 400.


Would a clean install, after format C:\, result in more free space? If not,
I can either try to grab more space by shoving the other 3 partions along to
a large well of empty space, or buy another drive, clean install XP, and
xxcopy all the rest. Of course I'd have to reinstall all progs.

If try to reallocate space, can anyone recommend a prog suitable for not
very adroit users?
And, is it just a fantasy that C could shove into D, which then shoves into
E, thence to F and there find wide open spaces?

I might reduce swap file ("recommended 766, currently allocated 768 MB) if
that's safe and if I could find the swap file fiddling thingy which is not
in the virtual mem page.

Sorry for the length of this but would much appreciate your advice.

 

[db]

i would leave the system as is and buy
/ add a new harddrive and also buy a
software like acronis disk director to
manage your partitions and space
proficiently.

- db
Win XP home, upgrade ed., installed as upgrade to Win 98 SE.
Web site install advisor gives 1.5 GB as a viable space availability; I have
almost 3 GB but that seems not to be enough. Defrag both in Windows
property/tools, and Norton speed disk was very slow. Windows defrag "needs
15% of disk as free space, you have 13".

I've removed several unnessaries from C without incurring a crash, resulting
in 600MB free but that keeps changing, don't know why; now about 400.


Would a clean install, after format C:\, result in more free space? If not,
I can either try to grab more space by shoving the other 3 partions along to
a large well of empty space, or buy another drive, clean install XP, and
xxcopy all the rest. Of course I'd have to reinstall all progs.

If try to reallocate space, can anyone recommend a prog suitable for not
very adroit users?
And, is it just a fantasy that C could shove into D, which then shoves into
E, thence to F and there find wide open spaces?

I might reduce swap file ("recommended 766, currently allocated 768 MB) if
that's safe and if I could find the swap file fiddling thingy which is not
in the virtual mem page.

Sorry for the length of this but would much appreciate your advice.

 

[Rock]

Win XP home, upgrade ed., installed as upgrade to Win 98 SE.
Web site install advisor gives 1.5 GB as a viable space availability; I
have
almost 3 GB but that seems not to be enough. Defrag both in Windows
property/tools, and Norton speed disk was very slow. Windows defrag "needs
15% of disk as free space, you have 13".

I've removed several unnessaries from C without incurring a crash,
resulting
in 600MB free but that keeps changing, don't know why; now about 400.


Would a clean install, after format C:\, result in more free space? If
not,
I can either try to grab more space by shoving the other 3 partions along
to
a large well of empty space, or buy another drive, clean install XP, and
xxcopy all the rest. Of course I'd have to reinstall all progs.

If try to reallocate space, can anyone recommend a prog suitable for not
very adroit users?
And, is it just a fantasy that C could shove into D, which then shoves
into
E, thence to F and there find wide open spaces?

I might reduce swap file ("recommended 766, currently allocated 768 MB) if
that's safe and if I could find the swap file fiddling thingy which is not
in the virtual mem page.

Sorry for the length of this but would much appreciate your advice.

Since there is unallocated space, why not change the sizes of the
partitions? You can't shove one into another and so on like dominoes, as
you described it, but you can with the proper tool, move partitions so that
unallocated space can be added to the C: volume. I would recommend having
at least 20GB for it. One tool that will do this work non destructively is
BootIt NG from Terabyte unlimited. They offer a 30 day full featured trial
version. Other programs that do this are Partition Magic from Symantec and
Acronis Disk Director.

If you want to get a new drive, you don't need to reinstall apps. A new
drive will usually come with a copy utility or it can be downloaded from the
drive manufacturer's web site. I have had success using it migrating from
one WD drive to a new one on WD drives on several occasions. Others have
reported less success on different drives.

Another option for this is to use a commercial program to clone the drive to
the new one, such as Acronis True Image Home or Norton Ghost. It's a good
tool to have since you can then use it for creating compressed images of the
drive/partitions, for regular backup purposes. Store the images on an
external USB hard drive.

You should not let free space on the drive with windows get to a level less
than 20%, and certainly not with the low cost of disk space these days.

 

[Rob]

Thanks, DB. I'll look into acronis, maybe that will enable transfer of unused space.
"db" <databaseben.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message i would leave the system as is and buy
/ add a new harddrive and also buy a
software like acronis disk director to
manage your partitions and space
proficiently.

- db
Win XP home, upgrade ed., installed as upgrade to Win 98 SE.
Web site install advisor gives 1.5 GB as a viable space availability; I have
almost 3 GB but that seems not to be enough. Defrag both in Windows
property/tools, and Norton speed disk was very slow. Windows defrag "needs
15% of disk as free space, you have 13".

I've removed several unnessaries from C without incurring a crash, resulting
in 600MB free but that keeps changing, don't know why; now about 400.


Would a clean install, after format C:\, result in more free space? If not,
I can either try to grab more space by shoving the other 3 partions along to
a large well of empty space, or buy another drive, clean install XP, and
xxcopy all the rest. Of course I'd have to reinstall all progs.

If try to reallocate space, can anyone recommend a prog suitable for not
very adroit users?
And, is it just a fantasy that C could shove into D, which then shoves into
E, thence to F and there find wide open spaces?

I might reduce swap file ("recommended 766, currently allocated 768 MB) if
that's safe and if I could find the swap file fiddling thingy which is not
in the virtual mem page.

Sorry for the length of this but would much appreciate your advice.

 

[Rob]

Many thanks, Rock. Excellent and encouraging advice. Present drive, 30 GB, 6
years old; might be prudent to follow your directions re new drive. Will try
to proceed without further requests for attention from subscribers to
XP.General, but probably will need to post again with new questions.

RobF

|
| > Win XP home, upgrade ed., installed as upgrade to Win 98 SE.
| > Web site install advisor gives 1.5 GB as a viable space availability; I
| > have
| > almost 3 GB but that seems not to be enough. Defrag both in Windows
| > property/tools, and Norton speed disk was very slow. Windows defrag
"needs
| > 15% of disk as free space, you have 13".
| >
| > I've removed several unnessaries from C without incurring a crash,
| > resulting
| > in 600MB free but that keeps changing, don't know why; now about 400.
| >
| >
| > Would a clean install, after format C:\, result in more free space? If
| > not,
| > I can either try to grab more space by shoving the other 3 partions
along
| > to
| > a large well of empty space, or buy another drive, clean install XP, and
| > xxcopy all the rest. Of course I'd have to reinstall all progs.
| >
| > If try to reallocate space, can anyone recommend a prog suitable for not
| > very adroit users?
| > And, is it just a fantasy that C could shove into D, which then shoves
| > into
| > E, thence to F and there find wide open spaces?
| >
| > I might reduce swap file ("recommended 766, currently allocated 768 MB)
if
| > that's safe and if I could find the swap file fiddling thingy which is
not
| > in the virtual mem page.
| >
| > Sorry for the length of this but would much appreciate your advice.
|
| Since there is unallocated space, why not change the sizes of the
| partitions? You can't shove one into another and so on like dominoes, as
| you described it, but you can with the proper tool, move partitions so
that
| unallocated space can be added to the C: volume. I would recommend having
| at least 20GB for it. One tool that will do this work non destructively
is
| BootIt NG from Terabyte unlimited. They offer a 30 day full featured
trial
| version. Other programs that do this are Partition Magic from Symantec
and
| Acronis Disk Director.
|
| If you want to get a new drive, you don't need to reinstall apps. A new
| drive will usually come with a copy utility or it can be downloaded from
the
| drive manufacturer's web site. I have had success using it migrating from
| one WD drive to a new one on WD drives on several occasions. Others have
| reported less success on different drives.
|
| Another option for this is to use a commercial program to clone the drive
to
| the new one, such as Acronis True Image Home or Norton Ghost. It's a good
| tool to have since you can then use it for creating compressed images of
the
| drive/partitions, for regular backup purposes. Store the images on an
| external USB hard drive.
|
| You should not let free space on the drive with windows get to a level
less
| than 20%, and certainly not with the low cost of disk space these days.
|
| --
| Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
|

 

[db]

you're welcome

- db
Thanks, DB. I'll look into acronis, maybe that will enable transfer of unused space.
"db" <databaseben.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message i would leave the system as is and buy
/ add a new harddrive and also buy a
software like acronis disk director to
manage your partitions and space
proficiently.

- db
Win XP home, upgrade ed., installed as upgrade to Win 98 SE.
Web site install advisor gives 1.5 GB as a viable space availability; I have
almost 3 GB but that seems not to be enough. Defrag both in Windows
property/tools, and Norton speed disk was very slow. Windows defrag "needs
15% of disk as free space, you have 13".

I've removed several unnessaries from C without incurring a crash, resulting
in 600MB free but that keeps changing, don't know why; now about 400.


Would a clean install, after format C:\, result in more free space? If not,
I can either try to grab more space by shoving the other 3 partions along to
a large well of empty space, or buy another drive, clean install XP, and
xxcopy all the rest. Of course I'd have to reinstall all progs.

If try to reallocate space, can anyone recommend a prog suitable for not
very adroit users?
And, is it just a fantasy that C could shove into D, which then shoves into
E, thence to F and there find wide open spaces?

I might reduce swap file ("recommended 766, currently allocated 768 MB) if
that's safe and if I could find the swap file fiddling thingy which is not
in the virtual mem page.

Sorry for the length of this but would much appreciate your advice.

 

[Rob]

I posted this yesterday, but it didn't show in today's list of articles:

"Many thanks, Rock. Excellent and encouraging advice. Present drive, 30 GB,
6
years old; might be prudent to follow your directions re new drive. Will try
to proceed without further requests for attention from subscribers to
XP.General, but probably will need to post again with new questions."

I'll have to find a new HDD with the software - CLONE - that you mentioned.
I looked for it in Western Digital site, but not found yet. Which model of
WD did you manage to use in the clone operation? Don't have enough C: drive
space to proceed with the Bootit-NG software which I've downloaded and run
for the "make disc" -floppy. Worried about going ahead with it and hoping
for the best - disaster looms. Have not yet undersood manual re grabbing
space from another partition and adding it to C: - -That was your excellent
suggestion that I'd hoped to follow.

Thanks again for help.

--
RobF

|
| > Win XP home, upgrade ed., installed as upgrade to Win 98 SE.
| > Web site install advisor gives 1.5 GB as a viable space availability; I
| > have
| > almost 3 GB but that seems not to be enough. Defrag both in Windows
| > property/tools, and Norton speed disk was very slow. Windows defrag
"needs
| > 15% of disk as free space, you have 13".
| >
| > I've removed several unnessaries from C without incurring a crash,
| > resulting
| > in 600MB free but that keeps changing, don't know why; now about 400.
| >
| >
| > Would a clean install, after format C:\, result in more free space? If
| > not,
| > I can either try to grab more space by shoving the other 3 partions
along
| > to
| > a large well of empty space, or buy another drive, clean install XP, and
| > xxcopy all the rest. Of course I'd have to reinstall all progs.
| >
| > If try to reallocate space, can anyone recommend a prog suitable for not
| > very adroit users?
| > And, is it just a fantasy that C could shove into D, which then shoves
| > into
| > E, thence to F and there find wide open spaces?
| >
| > I might reduce swap file ("recommended 766, currently allocated 768 MB)
if
| > that's safe and if I could find the swap file fiddling thingy which is
not
| > in the virtual mem page.
| >
| > Sorry for the length of this but would much appreciate your advice.
|
| Since there is unallocated space, why not change the sizes of the
| partitions? You can't shove one into another and so on like dominoes, as
| you described it, but you can with the proper tool, move partitions so
that
| unallocated space can be added to the C: volume. I would recommend having
| at least 20GB for it. One tool that will do this work non destructively
is
| BootIt NG from Terabyte unlimited. They offer a 30 day full featured
trial
| version. Other programs that do this are Partition Magic from Symantec
and
| Acronis Disk Director.
|
| If you want to get a new drive, you don't need to reinstall apps. A new
| drive will usually come with a copy utility or it can be downloaded from
the
| drive manufacturer's web site. I have had success using it migrating from
| one WD drive to a new one on WD drives on several occasions. Others have
| reported less success on different drives.
|
| Another option for this is to use a commercial program to clone the drive
to
| the new one, such as Acronis True Image Home or Norton Ghost. It's a good
| tool to have since you can then use it for creating compressed images of
the
| drive/partitions, for regular backup purposes. Store the images on an
| external USB hard drive.
|
| You should not let free space on the drive with windows get to a level
less
| than 20%, and certainly not with the low cost of disk space these days.
|
| --
| Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
|

 

[Rock]

I posted this yesterday, but it didn't show in today's list of articles:

"Many thanks, Rock. Excellent and encouraging advice. Present drive, 30
GB,
6
years old; might be prudent to follow your directions re new drive. Will
try
to proceed without further requests for attention from subscribers to
XP.General, but probably will need to post again with new questions."

I'll have to find a new HDD with the software - CLONE - that you
mentioned.
I looked for it in Western Digital site, but not found yet. Which model of
WD did you manage to use in the clone operation? Don't have enough C:
drive
space to proceed with the Bootit-NG software which I've downloaded and run
for the "make disc" -floppy. Worried about going ahead with it and hoping
for the best - disaster looms. Have not yet undersood manual re grabbing
space from another partition and adding it to C: - -That was your
excellent
suggestion that I'd hoped to follow.

|
| > Win XP home, upgrade ed., installed as upgrade to Win 98 SE.
| > Web site install advisor gives 1.5 GB as a viable space availability;
I
| > have
| > almost 3 GB but that seems not to be enough. Defrag both in Windows
| > property/tools, and Norton speed disk was very slow. Windows defrag
"needs
| > 15% of disk as free space, you have 13".
| >
| > I've removed several unnessaries from C without incurring a crash,
| > resulting
| > in 600MB free but that keeps changing, don't know why; now about 400.
| >
| >
| > Would a clean install, after format C:\, result in more free space? If
| > not,
| > I can either try to grab more space by shoving the other 3 partions
along
| > to
| > a large well of empty space, or buy another drive, clean install XP,
and
| > xxcopy all the rest. Of course I'd have to reinstall all progs.
| >
| > If try to reallocate space, can anyone recommend a prog suitable for
not
| > very adroit users?
| > And, is it just a fantasy that C could shove into D, which then shoves
| > into
| > E, thence to F and there find wide open spaces?
| >
| > I might reduce swap file ("recommended 766, currently allocated 768
MB)
if
| > that's safe and if I could find the swap file fiddling thingy which is
not
| > in the virtual mem page.
| >
| > Sorry for the length of this but would much appreciate your advice.
|
| Since there is unallocated space, why not change the sizes of the
| partitions? You can't shove one into another and so on like dominoes,
as
| you described it, but you can with the proper tool, move partitions so
that
| unallocated space can be added to the C: volume. I would recommend
having
| at least 20GB for it. One tool that will do this work non destructively
is
| BootIt NG from Terabyte unlimited. They offer a 30 day full featured
trial
| version. Other programs that do this are Partition Magic from Symantec
and
| Acronis Disk Director.
|
| If you want to get a new drive, you don't need to reinstall apps. A new
| drive will usually come with a copy utility or it can be downloaded from
the
| drive manufacturer's web site. I have had success using it migrating
from
| one WD drive to a new one on WD drives on several occasions. Others
have
| reported less success on different drives.
|
| Another option for this is to use a commercial program to clone the
drive
to
| the new one, such as Acronis True Image Home or Norton Ghost. It's a
good
| tool to have since you can then use it for creating compressed images of
the
| drive/partitions, for regular backup purposes. Store the images on an
| external USB hard drive.
|
| You should not let free space on the drive with windows get to a level
less
| than 20%, and certainly not with the low cost of disk space these days.

From Western Digital it's the Datalife guard tools. Here is a link to the
download for the Windows version. The note says "If you plan on copying the
contents of a boot drive, Western Digital recommends using the DOS version
of Data Lifeguard Tools." You can get the DOS version from this link as
well.

http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=1

I haven't personally used BootIt NG. I acquired Partition Magic long ago
and used that. The way to do what you want, if the drive has unallocated
space, is to move the other partitions to the right until the unallocated
space is directly to the right of the C volume, then expand the C volume.
How this is done with BootIt NG I don't know. Maybe one of the many folks
in here who have used it will see this and offer some guidance.

 

[Rob]

Rock, another question (if I may), this re your post copied below on subject
of Western Digital clone utility:

I can't find the clone util on WD's download pages of website. Is the
program on disk included with the drive, i.e., in package? Or, can you steer
me to the right place to look.? WD phone support always has people too busy
to answer phone, and if WD has an email contact page, it may be days and
days before they answer (if they do- I haven't bought the drive yet).

Possibly the drive for which you used the clone was SATA; I'll probably have
to get EIDE.

Thanks again,

--
RobF

@@@@@@@snip
|
| Since there is unallocated space, why not change the sizes of the
| partitions? You can't shove one into another and so on like dominoes, as
| you described it, but you can with the proper tool, move partitions so
that
| unallocated space can be added to the C: volume. I would recommend having
| at least 20GB for it. One tool that will do this work non destructively
is
| BootIt NG from Terabyte unlimited. They offer a 30 day full featured
trial
| version. Other programs that do this are Partition Magic from Symantec
and
| Acronis Disk Director.
|
| If you want to get a new drive, you don't need to reinstall apps. A new
| drive will usually come with a copy utility or it can be downloaded from
the
| drive manufacturer's web site. I have had success using it migrating from
| one WD drive to a new one on WD drives on several occasions. Others have
| reported less success on different drives.
|
| Another option for this is to use a commercial program to clone the drive
to
| the new one, such as Acronis True Image Home or Norton Ghost. It's a good
| tool to have since you can then use it for creating compressed images of
the
| drive/partitions, for regular backup purposes. Store the images on an
| external USB hard drive.
|
| You should not let free space on the drive with windows get to a level
less
| than 20%, and certainly not with the low cost of disk space these days.
|
| --
| Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
|

 

[Rock]

Rock, another question (if I may), this re your post copied below on
subject
of Western Digital clone utility:

I can't find the clone util on WD's download pages of website. Is the
program on disk included with the drive, i.e., in package? Or, can you
steer
me to the right place to look.? WD phone support always has people too
busy
to answer phone, and if WD has an email contact page, it may be days and
days before they answer (if they do- I haven't bought the drive yet).

Possibly the drive for which you used the clone was SATA; I'll probably
have
to get EIDE.

I posted this in another thread. It's the Data Lifeguard tools. For
copying a drive use the DOS version. If you buy a retail package then the
utility comes with it. White box doesn't.

I used it on IDE drives, not SATA.

 

[Rob]

Thanks again. Your posts lift my gloom. About your advice, "use the DOS
version", I don't have native DOS, or if it is in the XP setup, can't find
it (I'm very new to all in XP). Does one apply the clone action in MS-DOS,
in windows?
--
RobF

|
| > Rock, another question (if I may), this re your post copied below on
| > subject
| > of Western Digital clone utility:
| >
| > I can't find the clone util on WD's download pages of website. Is the
| > program on disk included with the drive, i.e., in package? Or, can you
| > steer
| > me to the right place to look.? WD phone support always has people too
| > busy
| > to answer phone, and if WD has an email contact page, it may be days and
| > days before they answer (if they do- I haven't bought the drive yet).
| >
| > Possibly the drive for which you used the clone was SATA; I'll probably
| > have
| > to get EIDE.
|
| I posted this in another thread. It's the Data Lifeguard tools. For
| copying a drive use the DOS version. If you buy a retail package then the
| utility comes with it. White box doesn't.
|
| I used it on IDE drives, not SATA.
|
| --
| Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
|

 

[Rock]

Thanks again. Your posts lift my gloom. About your advice, "use the DOS
version", I don't have native DOS, or if it is in the XP setup, can't find
it (I'm very new to all in XP). Does one apply the clone action in MS-DOS,
in windows?

"Rock" <[email protected]> wrote

|
| > Rock, another question (if I may), this re your post copied below on
| > subject
| > of Western Digital clone utility:
| >
| > I can't find the clone util on WD's download pages of website. Is the
| > program on disk included with the drive, i.e., in package? Or, can you
| > steer
| > me to the right place to look.? WD phone support always has people
too
| > busy
| > to answer phone, and if WD has an email contact page, it may be days
and
| > days before they answer (if they do- I haven't bought the drive yet).
| >
| > Possibly the drive for which you used the clone was SATA; I'll
probably
| > have
| > to get EIDE.
|
| I posted this in another thread. It's the Data Lifeguard tools. For
| copying a drive use the DOS version. If you buy a retail package then
the
| utility comes with it. White box doesn't.
|
| I used it on IDE drives, not SATA.

The tools are the DOS version. The setup creates a bootable floppy that
runs DOS. You boot from the floppy. You don't need DOS on the system,
there is no DOS in XP. Look at that link I posted in the other thread .
It's a link to the WD website for these tools, or just go there and look in
the download library for the data lifeguard tools.