Extending System Partition

[Nick Bradbury]

Hi

I have a computer running XP Pro with 1 hard disk, my problem is that the
system partion is full, there is plenty of space on the logical drive d: I
have looked at microsofts XP help and it appears that using diskpart. exe
utility is not an option.

Ideally I want to remove the logical drive d: and just have a c: drive, both
are formatted as NTFS.Pprefereably I would like to do this without
reformatting the whole disk and a full re-install.

Any suggestions?

Many Thanks

Nick

 

[Lem]

Hi

I have a computer running XP Pro with 1 hard disk, my problem is that the
system partion is full, there is plenty of space on the logical drive d: I
have looked at microsofts XP help and it appears that using diskpart. exe
utility is not an option.

Ideally I want to remove the logical drive d: and just have a c: drive, both
are formatted as NTFS.Pprefereably I would like to do this without
reformatting the whole disk and a full re-install.

Any suggestions?

Many Thanks

Nick

You need 3rd-party disk partitioning software to do this. Partition
Magic is one; BootIt Next Generation is another; I've used Acronis Disk
Director with no problems.

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi

I have a computer running XP Pro with 1 hard disk, my problem is that the
system partion is full, there is plenty of space on the logical drive d: I
have looked at microsofts XP help and it appears that using diskpart. exe
utility is not an option.

Ideally I want to remove the logical drive d: and just have a c: drive,
both are formatted as NTFS.Pprefereably I would like to do this without
reformatting the whole disk and a full re-install.

Any suggestions?

Many Thanks

Nick

XP has no native tools for this, aside from Diskpart, and that only supports
creation and deletion of system or boot partitions, not extending them. On
non-system or boot partitions, it can only extend to contigious space.

So, you're left with basically three choices:
3rd party tools ( including Acronis Disk Director or Partition Magic);

Backing up the drive, deleting the partitions and starting over with the
structure you now want, or,

Getting another larger hard disk, and using cloning or imaging software such
as Acronis TrueImage to clone to the new disk, altering the partition sizes
as you go. You can use the free demo version of TrueImage for this.

Check the manufacturing date stamped on your hard disk. If it's a few
years old, you might consider replacing it as a matter of policy - drives do
wear out. For reference, where I am, half-terabyte drives are around $100
or less.

HTH
-pk

 

[Anna]

Hi

I have a computer running XP Pro with 1 hard disk, my problem is that the
system partion is full, there is plenty of space on the logical drive d: I
have looked at microsofts XP help and it appears that using diskpart. exe
utility is not an option.

Ideally I want to remove the logical drive d: and just have a c: drive,
both are formatted as NTFS.Pprefereably I would like to do this without
reformatting the whole disk and a full re-install.

Any suggestions?

Many Thanks

Nick

Nick:
Try the EASEUS Partition Manager. It's freely available from
http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm

It's a good idea before you use that software or any partition management
type of program to copy from your HDD whatever data is important to you.
Better yet would be to clone the contents of your HDD to another HDD just in
case things go awry. Based on our experience with this program it seems
reliable enough, but there's always the chance something can go wrong
resulting in a loss of data.
Anna

 

[Gerry]

Nick

You can create more free space in C by
carrying any of the measures suggested below.

The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partition
which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your My
Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursor
on your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and drag
it to the left until it reads 700 mb and exit. When you get to the
Settings screen click on Apply and OK and exit.

A default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary internet
files, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk. The
default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to offline
copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer select
Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings to
make the change. At the same time look at the number of days history is
held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of
your C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows
folder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$
etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed
the text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not
compressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder and
select Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compress
contents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amount
gained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Folder
compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System
Information, Tools, Dr Watson and verify that the box before "Append to
existing log" is NOT checked. This means the next time the log is
written it will overwrite rather than add to the existing file.

The default maximum size setting for Event Viewer logs is too large.
Reset the maximum for each log from 512 kb to 128 kb and set it to
overwrite.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

You can generate more space in the system partition by relocation of
folders.

For Temporary Internet Files select Start, Control Panel, Internet
Options, Temporary Internet Files. Settings, Move Folder.

To move the Outlook Express Store Folder select in Outlook Express
Tools, Options, Maintenance, Store Folder, Change.
http://www.tomsterdam.com/insideoe/files/store.htm

How to Change the Default Location of the My Documents Folder:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310147

You may also need to change Default File locations in the Microsoft
Office programmes you choose to move the My Documents folder. For Word
go to Tools, Options, File Locations, highlight Documents, click on
Modify and change file path. For Excel go to Tools, Options, General
and change default file path.

My Documents is one of a number of system created Special Folders
including My Pictures and My Music. These can more easily be relocated
using Tweak Ui. Download TweakUI, one of the MS powertoys, from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

In TweakUi select My Computer, Special Folders. You can scroll down to
see the full list of Special Folders to the left of the Change
Location button.


Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.



--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Twayne]

You need 3rd-party disk partitioning software to do this. Partition
Magic is one; BootIt Next Generation is another; I've used Acronis
Disk Director with no problems.

But you had still better back up your important data first, especially
since they are new progs to you.