Hard Drive Partition Question

[BYG]

My 200 GB hard drive has been partitioned by the manufacturer into a 15GB
"C" drive and a 185GB "D" drive.

The problem is that all programs or downloads default to the C drive and it
fills up very fast. This in turn generates warning signs from Windows (XP
Home Edition-SP2) demanding that I delete some files and free some space on
drive C. It has been a constant battle since I bought this VAIO computer.

Is there a way of removing the partition and making it one large C drive,
without having to reformat the hard disk and losing everything?

 

[ByTor]

My 200 GB hard drive has been partitioned by the manufacturer into a 15GB
"C" drive and a 185GB "D" drive.

The problem is that all programs or downloads default to the C drive and it
fills up very fast. This in turn generates warning signs from Windows (XP
Home Edition-SP2) demanding that I delete some files and free some space on
drive C. It has been a constant battle since I bought this VAIO computer.

Is there a way of removing the partition and making it one large C drive,
without having to reformat the hard disk and losing everything?

Move all your data(not installs of programs) to the D drive than in the
future direct your downloads/saved data to D..............Typically
15gig is perfect for an OS......But as with any proprietary machine they
assume no one knows how to use a computer and use one drive for data,
which I feel is "DUMB".....and very bold & smart on VAIO's part if they
indeed ship their machines like that........but anyway..............

Re-sizing will take third party partitioning tools, I don't mess with
free ones so someone here will have an answer for ya, I know them but I
don't recommend anything I have not used or tested....I use
PartitionMagic.

 

[AMO]

My 200 GB hard drive has been partitioned by the manufacturer into a 15GB
"C" drive and a 185GB "D" drive.

The problem is that all programs or downloads default to the C drive and
it fills up very fast. This in turn generates warning signs from Windows
(XP Home Edition-SP2) demanding that I delete some files and free some
space on drive C. It has been a constant battle since I bought this VAIO
computer.

Uninstall as much existing software and reinstall selecting your D drive
instead. You may need to select Custon installs in order to be able to
change directory.
Some things such as Norton AntiVirus you won't be able to entirely install
onto another drive.
You can also move the Virtual Memory that windows uses from your C drive.

Is there a way of removing the partition and making it one large C drive,
without having to reformat the hard disk and losing everything?

You can use tools like Partition Magic. Personally, I avoid such tools, but
they are okay so long as you don't lose power whilst its working.

In the past 15Gb was plenty for a C drive and partitioning your drive this
way is an excellent way forward. These days the argument is still true, but
you need your C drive to be 20-30Gb if possible. Windows XP with Service
Pack 2 and a few additional downloads like the .Net framework will easily
fill the windows installation drive to 10Gb. For optimal efficiency and to
give additional space for Windows to manage temporary files and virtual
memory, on a 200Gb drive, you want to give 30Gb to your C drive. Ideally
you'd still want to install programs on a seperate drive to the C drive.

As the C drive is the one that gets fragmented the most you will be
defragmenting this drive the most.

Its up to you how you would partition your drives. I would go for something
like:

C: System 30Gb
D: Programs 30Gb
E: Games 10 Gb (Programs that are games).
F: Music 50Gb
G: Videos: 50G

and then a few smaller partitions for documents, backup, work etc. Some
people prefer to put everything into a single drive and just create
sub-directories. Others prefer more partitions. They each have their
advantages / disadvantages, but certainly seperating a partition for system
use is always a good thing. If something goes wrong then you can just
reformat that drive and reinstall. This is one of the reasons why I also
partition off the Windows and Games which depend on the registry. Its not
essential, but its nice.

AMO

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Is there a way of removing the partition and making it one
large C
drive, without having to reformat the hard disk and losing
everything?

Unfortunately, no version of Windows provides any way of changing
the partition structure of the drive nondestructively. The only
way to do what you want is with third-party software. Partition
Magic is the best-known such program, but there are
freeware/shareware alternatives. One such program is BootIt Next
Generation. It's shareware, but comes with a free 30-day trial,
so you should be able to do what you want within that 30 days. I
haven't used it myself, but it comes highly recommended by
several other MVPs here.

 

[BYG]

Thank you everyone for responding so promptly.

Could I impose with another question?

I have read about the Recovery Console command "Diskpart"
such as:
diskpart/delete\Device\HardDisk0\Partition3
or
diskpart/ delete D:
This command is supposed to remove a partition

I have not found much about what happens to the contents of these drives
when the partition is removed. Do they become part of the C: drive if let's
say a D; drive is deleted?

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Thank you everyone for responding so promptly.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

Could I impose with another question?

Of course. It's not at all an imposition.

I have read about the Recovery Console command "Diskpart"
such as:
diskpart/delete\Device\HardDisk0\Partition3
or
diskpart/ delete D:
This command is supposed to remove a partition

I have not found much about what happens to the contents of
these
drives when the partition is removed. Do they become part of
the C:
drive if let's say a D; drive is deleted?

No. If you delete a partition, you also delete its contents. The
space where it used to be is then unpartitioned space.

As I said, there is no way using native Windows facilities to do
what you want. A third-party tool is required.

 

[BYG]

Ken,

Thanks again

In


You're welcome. Glad to help.




Of course. It's not at all an imposition.




No. If you delete a partition, you also delete its contents. The space
where it used to be is then unpartitioned space.

As I said, there is no way using native Windows facilities to do what you
want. A third-party tool is required.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Ken,

Thanks again

You're very welcome,