How do I get more space on my C drive?

[Frank Martin]

I have WindowsXP pro

I have plenty of space on my "E" drive.

How do I transfer this spare space from my
"E" drive to my "C" drive which has only
about 15% space remaining.

Please help, Frank

 

[JS]

You will need a third party utility like Partition Magic, Acronis Disk
Director or BootIt Next Gen
which has a free trial.

BootIt: http://www.bootitng.com/
Acronis:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/partitioning.html
Partition Magic:
http://www.powerquest.com/home_homeoffice/products/overview.jsp?pcid=sp&pvid=pm80

As always backup any important data files (documents, photos, music, etc.)
before using such a tool as
there is always a small chance that something can go wrong.
Better still backup you entire C: partition to an external drive or a second
internal drive.
You can use Acronis True Image to do this.

JS

 

[Frank Martin]

You will need a third party utility like
Partition Magic, Acronis Disk Director or
BootIt Next Gen
which has a free trial.

BootIt: http://www.bootitng.com/
Acronis:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/partitioning.html
Partition Magic:
http://www.powerquest.com/home_homeoffice/products/overview.jsp?pcid=sp&pvid=pm80

As always backup any important data files
(documents, photos, music, etc.) before
using such a tool as
there is always a small chance that
something can go wrong.
Better still backup you entire C: partition
to an external drive or a second internal
drive.
You can use Acronis True Image to do this.

JS

message

Thanks, I'll try. I have the Norton Ghost
for backups.

 

[BillW50]

Thanks, I'll try. I have the Norton Ghost
for backups.

You can get Paragon Partition Manager 2005 (aka Partition Magic later
versions) for free at:

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/downloads/2167398/paragon-partition-manager-2005

Also ignore the "time limited demo" reference and go to here for your
keycode:

http://registration.paragon.ag/pm2005

 

[JS]

Yep, I have Ghost also, but if you didn't then True Image is free for 15
days.
I'm assuming that D: is your CD/DVD drive and not another partition?
Good luck.

JS

 

[Guest]

The way you posed your question is an action not possible.
You can't transfer empty space from one hard disk to another.
You can however move data files from your C drive to your spare.
It's always a wise idea to have have two hd's installed, in case your system
goes belly up.

always remember it's not a matter of IF, but When!

 

[Harry Ohrn MS MVP]

right click My Documents and select Properties. Change the location to E.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

You can resize and move partitions around using a decent partition manager.
Shrinking one partition and then enlarging an adjacent partition to occupy
the resulting free space is an easy task. Takes some time, but it's easy.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have WindowsXP pro

I have plenty of space on my "E" drive.

How do I transfer this spare space from my
"E" drive to my "C" drive which has only
about 15% space remaining.

Are C: and E: partitions on a single physical drive?

Unfortunately, no version of Windows provides any way of changing the
existing 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 (because I've never needed to use *any* such
program), but it comes highly recommended by several other MVPs here.

Whatever software you use, make sure you have a good backup before
beginning. Although there's no reason to expect a problem, things *can* go
wrong.

 

[Frank Martin]

"Ken Blake, MVP"
message

Are C: and E: partitions on a single
physical drive?

Yes they are. My C drive at present has only
programs and Windows and settings.

The D drive has MyDocuments and downloads
from the internet.

The E drive has photos, videos, and thingss=
of that sort.

At present the space is allocated as:

C = 19.5Gb 15%freespace
D = 13.6Gb 25% freespace
E = 193Gb 50% freespace

Unfortunately, no version of Windows
provides any way of changing the existing
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 (because
I've never needed to use *any* such
program), but it comes highly recommended
by several other MVPs here.

Whatever software you use, make sure you
have a good backup before beginning.
Although there's no reason to expect a
problem, things *can* go wrong.

=

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

"Ken Blake, MVP"
message


Yes they are. My C drive at present has only
programs and Windows and settings.

In that case, what you want to do is not "transfer spare space," but
reallocate the size of the partitions. Read what I wrote below, beginning
"Unfortunately, no version of Windows provides any way of changing the
existing partition structure."

 

[Guest]

Yes I'm aware of that.
I simply said you can't transfer empty space from hd to another, it can't be
physically done.

 

[Guest]

just get yourself another hd instead of dinking around with one hd.
it's a better idea to have two.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

OK, it's semantics, but OP wasn't wanting to transfer space from one drive
to another, he wants to transfer empty space from one partition to another
on the same drive. That's done either by moving files or by resizing and
shifting partitions.

 

[Frank Martin]

"Ken Blake, MVP"
message

In that case, what you want to do is not
"transfer spare space," but reallocate the
size of the partitions. Read what I wrote
below, beginning "Unfortunately, no version
of Windows provides any way of changing the
existing partition structure."

I have just downloaded "Partition Magic" and
I hope to do it all next week.

But another physical drive as well does sound
like a good idea. What to I do? Just buy one
(say 100Gb) and connect it in parallel?

Regards, Frank

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

"Ken Blake, MVP"
message





I have just downloaded "Partition Magic" and
I hope to do it all next week.

But another physical drive as well does sound
like a good idea.

Why? Do you need more disk space than you have? What do you plan to use it
for?

If I've read your numbers above correctly, you have over 100GB of free space
at present. Why do you need more than that?

What to I do? Just buy one
(say 100Gb) and connect it in parallel?

You can connect a second hard drive to an existing IDE channel that doesn't
already have two devices on it. But before you do so, be very sure that it
makes sense to get such a drive. I don't see anything in what you've
reported so far that suggests that you should get another drive.

 

[Frank Martin]

"Ken Blake, MVP"
message

Why? Do you need more disk space than you
have? What do you plan to use it for?

If I've read your numbers above correctly,
you have over 100GB of free space at
present. Why do you need more than that?





You can connect a second hard drive to an
existing IDE channel that doesn't already
have two devices on it. But before you do
so, be very sure that it makes sense to get
such a drive. I don't see anything in what
you've reported so far that suggests that
you should get another drive.

Thanks, I re-partitioned the HDD with
"Partition Magic 8" and now I have plenty of
space on C:.