Low Disk? I have a 160 GB Hard Drive, what is going on!!!

[Guest]

Can anyone tell me why Windows XP divides the main hard drive in two
partitions, and partition C is assigned only 13GB to it, but the D partition
has over 140 GB and almost empty, therfore C drive is nearly FULL, I have
been installing programs in drive C because by difault it automatic installs
there. Please help me to correct this stupidity by windows XP. I already
bought a 300 GB intern Hard Drive thinking that I have used up the original
160GB, I was going to install it to make it a master drive,should I use the
new hard drive as a master and forget about the C drive? or do something to
gain back the 140GB in the partition D.

 

[Mike Williams]

Can anyone tell me why Windows XP divides the main hard drive in two
partitions, and partition C is assigned only 13GB to it, but the D partition
has over 140 GB and almost empty, therfore C drive is nearly FULL, I have
been installing programs in drive C because by difault it automatic installs
there. Please help me to correct this stupidity by windows XP. I already
bought a 300 GB intern Hard Drive thinking that I have used up the original
160GB, I was going to install it to make it a master drive,should I use the
new hard drive as a master and forget about the C drive? or do something to
gain back the 140GB in the partition D.

WIndows XP doesn't do it. Whoever partitioned your drive made a
conscious decision to do so. If you want to repartition your drive
without removing what you have then you'll have to purchase software
like Partition Magic.

 

[Grok]

Louie wrote:
| Can anyone tell me why Windows XP divides the main hard drive in two
| partitions, and partition C is assigned only 13GB to it, but the D
| partition has over 140 GB and almost empty, therfore C drive is nearly
| FULL, I have been installing programs in drive C because by difault it
| automatic installs there. Please help me to correct this stupidity by
| windows XP. I already bought a 300 GB intern Hard Drive thinking that I
| have used up the original 160GB, I was going to install it to make it a
| master drive,should I use the new hard drive as a master and forget about
| the C drive? or do something to gain back the 140GB in the partition D.

You could extend the partition.

But if you don't want to do that, here are some suggestions:

-You could uninstall an reinstall perhaps some of the apps installed on C:\
and this time install them to a folder on D:\

-As well you can turn off "Hibernation" which might free up as much space on
the drive as there is RAM on your system.

-You can use the "More Options" tab of Disk Cleanup to remove all but the
last Restore points.

-You can move Internet Explorer's cache to D: drive and Outlook Express's
folders to some folder on D:\ [you can do these things through their option
sheets.

 

[Marko Jotic]

no, not to add space

in the management console he can remove the empty drive then assign the
space to C: (you need PM to Reduce the size of a drive

WIndows XP doesn't do it. Whoever partitioned your drive made a
conscious decision to do so. If you want to repartition your drive
without removing what you have then you'll have to purchase software
like Partition Magic.

--
Marko Jotic
"Common sense is anything but common".
From the notebooks of Lazarus Long. Robert A. Heinlein.
Handmade knives, antique designs, exotic materials at
http://www.knifeforging.com/

 

[Grok]

Grok wrote:
| Louie wrote:
|| Can anyone tell me why Windows XP divides the main hard drive in two
|| partitions, and partition C is assigned only 13GB to it, but the D
|| partition has over 140 GB and almost empty, therfore C drive is nearly
|| FULL, I have been installing programs in drive C because by difault it
|| automatic installs there. Please help me to correct this stupidity by
|| windows XP. I already bought a 300 GB intern Hard Drive thinking that I
|| have used up the original 160GB, I was going to install it to make it a
|| master drive,should I use the new hard drive as a master and forget about
|| the C drive? or do something to gain back the 140GB in the partition D.
|
| You could extend the partition.
|
| But if you don't want to do that, here are some suggestions:
|
| -You could uninstall an reinstall perhaps some of the apps installed on
| C:\ and this time install them to a folder on D:\
|
| -As well you can turn off "Hibernation" which might free up as much space
| on the drive as there is RAM on your system.
|
| -You can use the "More Options" tab of Disk Cleanup to remove all but the
| last Restore points.
|
| -You can move Internet Explorer's cache to D: drive and Outlook Express's
| folders to some folder on D:\ [you can do these things through their
| option sheets.
|
| ---
| Grok

P.S.

-The Pagefile could be moved to D:\
-and so could "My Documents".

OR

If the drives' partitions are formatted NTFS, you could mount what would
otherwise be D: drive's partition directly into a folder on C: drive, making
it as if there is a huge C: drive. The second harddrive wouldn't be assigned
a drive letter, rather a folder on C:\.

Of course new installs would have to be into that folder on C:\

 

[Brian McMullen]

This is hilarious!
WindowsXP is stupid but he buys a new 300GB drive without checking to see
whats taking up all the space?
You should return the new drive and go buy a clue........

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Can anyone tell me why Windows XP divides the main hard drive in two
partitions, and partition C is assigned only 13GB to it, but the D
partition has over 140 GB and almost empty, therfore C drive is
nearly FULL,

It doesn't. Windows XP provides you the ability to partition the drive any
way you want it--with one or many partitions and to whatever sizes you want
(that fit into the drive)

The way the drive is partitioned was the choice of whover set up the
computer in the first place. Some people prefer a setup like the one you
describe; others don;t.

I have been installing programs in drive C because by
difault it automatic installs there. Please help me to correct this
stupidity by windows XP. I already bought a 300 GB intern Hard Drive
thinking that I have used up the original 160GB, I was going to
install it to make it a master drive,should I use the new hard drive
as a master and forget about the C drive? or do something to gain
back the 140GB in the partition D.

You certainly shouldn't forget about the drive you have. That would be
extremely wasteful. If you bought a new drive when you didn't need one, you
wasted your money. I'd return it if possible, or if not, think about selling
it.

You can either learn how to use drive D: or repartition the drive
(repartitioning without destroying what's already there requires a third
party program such as Partition Magic or Boot-It Next Generation).

Come to think of it, this all sounds familiar. Didn't I answer this question
a day or two ago?