Partition Problem

[Big Jim]

My PC has the hard drive partitioned into two drives C: and D: done by the
manufacturer but C has 14.9 GB and D has 59.5 GB. C is almost full. Since
I dont like to deal with two drives how difficult would it be to change this
to one drive and is it something I could do with the aid of a good program
or should I seek professional help?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

My PC has the hard drive partitioned into two drives C: and D: done
by the manufacturer but C has 14.9 GB and D has 59.5 GB. C is almost
full. Since I dont like to deal with two drives how difficult would
it be to change this to one drive and is it something I could do with
the aid of a good program or should I seek professional help?

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.

 

[Big Jim]

Thank you, one other question, will I have to reinstall any programs?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thank you, one other question, will I have to reinstall any programs?

Maybe. Two points:

1. In general you can not move programs from one drive or partition to
another. The problem is that almost all programs are not simply a single
file or even a bunch of files. Besides the files that constitute them, they
also have, and need, many entries referring to them and where they are
located--in the registry and elsewhere.

So if you try to move a program, those pointers will all be wrong and the
program won't work. There is software that purports to find and change those
pointers (for example, the freeware COA2.exe) but in my experience these
don't always work perfectly. It's much better and safer to uninstall from
its existing location, and reinstall in the new one.

2. However, if you want to consolidate C: and D: and make it all C:, it's
likely that your programs are already installed on C:, so what I say above
will not be an issue. However, note what I said in my last paragraph below,
"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." In the case of programs, backups won't help you, and if things go
wrong (always a possibility when you do something like this) worst case, you
will lose *everything*. If that happens you will have to reinstall Windows
from scratch, reinstall all your programs from scratch, and reload all your
data from the backups.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Jim

Measures to create more free disk space follow..

It is likely that an allocation of 12% has been made to System Restore
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.

If your hard 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.

Another default setting on a large drive 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. On your drive 5%
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%.

Other ways to increase free disk space on your C partition can be
achieved 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

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.

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.

To increase you free space on your XP partition select Start, All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options,
System Restore and remove all but the latest System Restore points?
Restore points can be quite large.

You should use Disk CleanUp regularly to Empty your Recycle Bin and
Remove Temporary Internet Files. Whenever you remove redundant files
you should always run Disk Defragmenter by selecting Start, All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. You will most
likely have problems running Disk Defragmenter if there is less than
15% free disk space in your XP partition.

Are there other users logging on the computer with their own log on?
Disk CleanUp only removes files generated by the User running Disk
CleanUp.

--

Hope this helps.

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

Thank you, one other question, will I have to reinstall any
programs?

 

[kennyzorba]

My PC has the hard drive partitioned into two drives C: and D: done by
the
manufacturer but C has 14.9 GB and D has 59.5 GB. C is almost full.
Since
I dont like to deal with two drives how difficult would it be to change
this
to one drive and is it something I could do with the aid of a good
program
or should I seek professional help?

hey jim its ken do you know if you only have one hard drive or two you
can run fdisk
from promt command and change yor partitions

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

hey jim its ken do you know if you only have one hard drive or two you
can run fdisk
from promt command and change yor partitions

No you can *not* do this. If you change your partition structure with fdisk,
you lose whatever you have on those partitions. Jim wants to do this
*without* losing what he has.

 

[Lester Stiefel]

hey jim its ken do you know if you only have one hard drive or two you
can run fdisk
from promt command and change yor partitions

I don't suggest removing/merging partitions, however you
could use the resize option on the C drive and double the
drive size. When asked which partition to borrow from you'll
only have the D drive to borrow from.
Keeping the D drive keeps the data outside the Operating
system & application area (aka system partition). Gives you
a more stable OS as the data on one partition system is
normally stored in side the opsys, causing unnecessary bloat
in the os. I use multi-partition structure here.

 

[peter]

Hi
I ahve used BootIt NG often.
The program works as advertised.After the download you expand it onto a
floppy and run the program from the floppy by means of a reboot.Do not
install...it will ask just say no and then you can run from the floppy.
Click the partition work icon and it will show your HD and your
Partitions.At this point you could delete that partion..and lose everything
thats on it...then add the space to the C partition....and reinstall all
programs that you had on D.
OR..........you could take some of the Empty space of the D partition remove
it from that partition and add it to the C partition........nothing would
be lost.The help file is quite informative

peter

Thank you, one other question, will I have to reinstall any programs?