C drive running out of space

[Pradeep]

Hi,

As described in the subject line, i am facing a c drive running out of space
problem. The following are the details related to the same:

OS : Windows Vista Home Premium
SP: Service Pack 1 Installed
Total hard disk capacity: 100GB
C Drive: 20 GB
D Drive: 80 GB

I thought it could be because of the program files folder that i am facing
the issue but found that its size is 2.43GB. All the other folders are less
but windows folder is taking the maximum share i.e. 14 GB. All the programs i
have installed in the PC, i have taken enough care to specify their
installation path to drive D. Still i am facing this problem.

Drive C has about 60 GB free space. Is there any tool using which i could
delete the partition so that i can get rid of this problem. Any other
suggestions are also welcome.

Thanks in Advance.

Pradeep

 

[Nonny]

Hi,

As described in the subject line, i am facing a c drive running out of space
problem. The following are the details related to the same:

OS : Windows Vista Home Premium
SP: Service Pack 1 Installed
Total hard disk capacity: 100GB
C Drive: 20 GB
D Drive: 80 GB

I thought it could be because of the program files folder that i am facing
the issue but found that its size is 2.43GB. All the other folders are less
but windows folder is taking the maximum share i.e. 14 GB. All the programs i
have installed in the PC, i have taken enough care to specify their
installation path to drive D. Still i am facing this problem.

Drive C has about 60 GB free space. Is there any tool using which i could
delete the partition so that i can get rid of this problem. Any other
suggestions are also welcome.

You say your entire drive is 100GB, and C takes 20 of that and it's
getting crowded.

Then you say you have 60GB of free space on C.

WHA??

 

[Pradeep]

Iam sorry Nonny,

I wanted to say that Drive D has 60 GB free space.

Thanks,

Pradeep

 

[Nonny]

Iam sorry Nonny,

I wanted to say that Drive D has 60 GB free space.

You have your programs installed on D, so deleting it would cause you
huge problems... right?

You need to shrink D and give the open space to C. You will need a
third-party partition manager to do that. If you think you'll never
need such a thing again, you will need one that you can use on a trial
basis that comes with no limitations.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-bootit-next-generation.htm

It USED to come with no limitations. I used the registered version
looooooong ago. Check it out.

 

[DL]

Use a third party application, eg Partition Magic to combine what was D to
C, thereby removing the D partition.
Your drive is too small to bother about partitioning

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Use a third party application, eg Partition Magic to combine what was D to
C, thereby removing the D partition.

If he simply does that, all his programs, which are installed on D:
will fail to work, because they will be on C: and Windows expects to
find them on D:

He would also have to either try one of the programs that search out
and try to change all those many references from D: to C:, or else
uninstall, then reinstall the programs.

My experience with programs that look for and change the references
has been less than satisfactory, and I don't recommend them. The best
way to do this is to uninstall and reinstall.

His easiest course of action at this point, by far, would be to use a
third-party program to make D: smaller and C: bigger. However, before
using such a program and taking such a big step--either your way or
mine--he should first be sure he has a current backup of anything he
can't afford to lose. Although there's no reason to expect a problem,
things *can* go wrong.

By the way, Pradeep should note that programs should normally be
installed on the same partition as \Windows. Although some people
install them on a different partition because they think that they are
protected there, and won't be lost if Windows ever has to be
reinstalled, this is *not* correct. If Windows is reinstalled, all the
many references to the program within it are lost. The programs (all
except for an occasional small one) have to be reinstalled too.

You can read my advice on partitioning in the article "Understanding
Disk Partitioning" at
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

How much Ram do you have installed? I have 2 GB Ram and don't run a
swap file.

It's called the "page" file in Windows XP. Turning it off is a very
bad thing to do, regardless of how much RAM you have. That's for two
reasons:

1. If you don't have a page file, you can't use all the RAM you have.
That's because Windows preallocates virtual memory in anticipation of
a possible need for it, even though that allocated virtual memory may
never be used. Without a page file, that allocation has to be made in
real memory, thus tying up that memory and preventing it from being
used for any purpose.

2. There is never a benefit in not having a page file. If it isn't
needed, it won't be used. Don't confuse allocated memory with used
memory.

The only time I got a "low memory" error msg was because I
kept trying to play a bad video file and without realizing it I had 1/2
dozen copies of VLC Media Player running.

If you must use swap, move it to D:

Assuming that D: is a second partition, that's also bad advice.
Putting the Page File on a second partition is not a good idea, and
can hurt your performance. What it does is move the page file to a
location on the hard drive distant from the other frequently-used data
on the drive. The result is that every time Windows needs to use the
page file, the time to get to it and back from it is increased.

Putting the page file on a second *physical* drive is a good idea,
since it decreases head movement, but not to a second partition on a
single drive. A good rule of thumb is that the page file should be on
the most-used partition of the least-used physical drive. For almost
everyone with a single drive, that's C:.

 

[Stewart]

I have a similar problem, need to expand my C: while shrinking the D: on my
new Vista (home edition) laptop.
Did anyone try the software Nonny suggested on a Vista box?
Any feedback will be appreciated.

 

[Nonny]

I have a similar problem, need to expand my C: while shrinking the D: on my
new Vista (home edition) laptop.
Did anyone try the software Nonny suggested on a Vista box?
Any feedback will be appreciated.

It works. Definitely.

Have you created a recovery DVD using your "D" partition files yet? If
you don't, and you do what you want to do, you're gonna be up shit
creek if you need to run a recovery because your "D" drive is used for
that in the absence of a recovery DVD.

 

[Pradeep]

Hello All,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I have tried implementing different
suggestions from everyone in this email thread but with little success. Steps
which free up resources like the files used for revoking the Windows Vista
SP1 did free up space but the same used to get filled in a couple of days or
a week. To be frank i was not interested in using a third party tool either
(i have seen people facing wierd problems after using 3rd party tools).

Finally, i deleted all the partitions reformmatted the drive and now there
is only one partition which is C. What is really strange is, i dont see any
of the problems i had because of which "windows installer used to start when
explorer is opened" and many such annoyances. I am really happy for having
formatted the drives and followed the suggestions of Ken Blake, MVP where in
i installed all the programs on the drive where windows folder exists (C).

With this exercise, i understand that the manufacturer's (of the notebook, i
use a notebook) drivers cause a lot of problems which we presume to be
because of the OS or applications like office etc.

I thank everyone in this chain a lot for their contributions.

Thanks & Regards,

Pradeep