Partition size

[Guest]

My drive is set up with 23.84 GB on C and 4.09 GB on E. Can I resize the
partitions to create more space in E? C is FAT 32 with 23.84 GB, of which
21.76 GB is free space (91%). E is NTFS with 4.09 GB, of which 526 MB (12%)
is free space. This is causing slow operating and messages to remove
programs / files (especially when it gets down to <200 MB). I have already
move most of my personel files and non windows XP programs to C. Suggestions?

 

[philo]

My drive is set up with 23.84 GB on C and 4.09 GB on E. Can I resize the
partitions to create more space in E? C is FAT 32 with 23.84 GB, of which
21.76 GB is free space (91%). E is NTFS with 4.09 GB, of which 526 MB
(12%)
is free space. This is causing slow operating and messages to remove
programs / files (especially when it gets down to <200 MB). I have
already
move most of my personel files and non windows XP programs to C.
Suggestions?

You's need a 3rd party utility...
I suggest just using your C: drive for most everything...
and just using your E: drive to store rarely used data

 

[Shenan Stanley]

My drive is set up with 23.84 GB on C and 4.09 GB on E. Can I
resize the partitions to create more space in E? C is FAT 32 with
23.84 GB, of which 21.76 GB is free space (91%). E is NTFS with 4.09 GB,
of which 526 MB (12%) is free space.
This is causing slow operating and messages to
remove programs / files (especially when it gets down to <200 MB).
I have already move most of my personel files and non windows XP
programs to C.
Suggestions?

You's need a 3rd party utility...
I suggest just using your C: drive for most everything...
and just using your E: drive to store rarely used data

You may want to consider buying a larger hard drive.

For Pricing/Opinions/Reviews on various products:
- http://www.dealsites.net/
- http://www.pricewatch.com/
- http://www.techbargains.com/
- http://www.epinions.com/

 

[Guest]

Get a new hard drive 200-300 GB, preferably Western Digital. Format using
only NTFS. Use the Western Digital utilities to transfer the old hard drive
data to the new drive (very easy to do). In the real world you can't do
WinXP + apps with less than 60 GB.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

My drive is set up with 23.84 GB on C and 4.09 GB on E. Can I
resize the partitions to create more space in E? C is FAT 32 with
23.84 GB, of which
21.76 GB is free space (91%). E is NTFS with 4.09 GB, of which
526 MB (12%) is free space. This is causing slow operating and
messages to remove programs / files (especially when it gets down
to <200 MB). I have already move most of my personel files and
non windows XP programs to C. Suggestions?

Get a new hard drive 200-300 GB, preferably Western Digital.
Format using only NTFS. Use the Western Digital utilities to
transfer the old hard drive data to the new drive (very easy to
do). In the real world you can't do WinXP + apps with less than 60
GB.

Although I suggested they get a new drive as well.. Your final statement is
blatantly false in that many people may not ever need more than 20GB.

Many computer owners do nothing more than surf the web, type a few documents
here and there and send/receive email. There are hundreds of thousands of
people still using Windows 9x and many who will probably die while still
using their older systems.

It's true that it is exceedingly difficult to purchase a system with under
80GB hard drives now. It's true that many people have GBs of music
collections they play on their iPods. It's true that many others have GBs
of games or GBs of movie files.

However - it is likely true that many people rarely use over 10GB of space
at this point in time - and if they do start approaching that - it is
because their installed applications are 40-80% of that and that there are
many things they just haven't cleaned up/archived/removed that they don't
utilize anyomore or even ever utilized.

Then you have business and such who rarely use as much space on the system
itself because they store everything on servers. All their email is never
actually on their machines in ways more than "cached". Their files are
nearly never saved locally. Their hard drives - sometimes in the 100's of
GBs - hardly ever see more than 8GB - and that is only if the computer tech
guys use it to store and image of itself on a hidden partition.

Essentially - your "real world" is very small - in comparison to the actual
"real world" the rest of us live in.
=)

 

[Guest]

Haa ha ha. Stanley you must be a hundred years old and living in some
non-USA country. Most of us 'real' computer users are approaching terabyte
status and utilizing RAID arrays. I am far far far from being wealthy but I
purchase what it takes in order to have a PC that I won't grow out of for at
least a few years. Have you even looked at SATA HD prices lately? There is
no excuse to not have plenty of storage to grow into. My first hard drive
was 40 MB I grew out of that in about a minute, especially when Windows came
along and 100's of MBs were required; now it is GBs and in a year or two it
is going to be TBs. One, two and three terabyte systems will be advertised
as common off-the-shelf stock. You have some catching up to do, read some
computer magazines, talk to users, see what is going on.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Haa ha ha. Stanley you must be a hundred years old and living in
some non-USA country. Most of us 'real' computer users are
approaching terabyte status and utilizing RAID arrays. I am far
far far from being wealthy but I purchase what it takes in order to
have a PC that I won't grow out of for at least a few years. Have
you even looked at SATA HD prices lately? There is no excuse to
not have plenty of storage to grow into. My first hard drive was
40 MB I grew out of that in about a minute, especially when Windows
came along and 100's of MBs were required; now it is GBs and in a
year or two it is going to be TBs. One, two and three terabyte
systems will be advertised as common off-the-shelf stock. You have
some catching up to do, read some computer magazines, talk to
users, see what is going on.

Wrong on all counts.
While there is no excuse for not having enough space - it is retarded to
assume everyone needs 60GB.

 

[Guest]

Well I will concede that I expect most real users to have a full install of
Microsoft Office Professional, Adobe Photoshop and other Adobe programs, as
well as the usual battery of software that makes your DVD drives usable and
worth having, among other key pieces of software that takes some healthy hard
drive space. Of course it is the user data generated by these programs that
takes even more healthy amounts of hard drive space. I wouldn't say that
games steal all the space since most games have a short usable life on a PC
and are eventually removed. I like a MVP that has opinions - right or wrong
and sticks to them, without trying to be all nice and agreeable like most
MVPs.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Well I will concede that I expect most real users to have a full
install of Microsoft Office Professional, Adobe Photoshop and other
Adobe programs, as well as the usual battery of software that makes
your DVD drives usable and worth having, among other key pieces of
software that takes some healthy hard drive space. Of course it is
the user data generated by these programs that takes even more
healthy amounts of hard drive space. I wouldn't say that games
steal all the space since most games have a short usable life on a
PC and are eventually removed. I like a MVP that has opinions -
right or wrong and sticks to them, without trying to be all nice
and agreeable like most MVPs.

While a lot of "real users" will have such applications.. being a "real
user" doesn't mean you have Adobe Photoshop or other Adobe Programs. I know
many "real users" who avoid everything "Adobe" like the plague and use
substitute freeware or less expensive (less meaty but with all the taste)
applications. Yes - they take up a lot of space - but I have administered
PCs with 100+ applications installed upon them (including all Adobe
products, all Microsoft Office products, several AutoDesk products and a lot
more) in a lab environment where there are 1000's of users. The space of
the stuff on the actual machine takes up is between 6 and 8GB - all features
installed.

Games can take up gigabytes of space quickly - consider the games like
EverQuest and World of WarCraft, etc. Those games do not get removed
quickly - I know poor souls who have been playing EQ since it was released.
Some are playing both EQ and WoW right now. Large amounts of unrecovered
space - screenshots after screenshot for web pages.

I was the first in this thread to suggest they buy a larger drive - because
once a user asks about space - you KNOW they are running out. Nip it in the
bud. But there are so many who do not use the space because they are people
whose jobs/lives never exposed them to computers. People who do not spend
their lives on computers - do not have office jobs, do not go to college and
were never exposed to computers in any schooling would do just fine with
their 20GB for a long time - if not life. At least their personal computers
would. Even most office workers who use computers all day for their excel
spreadsheets and word documents, business emails and such - may never use
20GB of total space at home.

We don't disagree on what computer people would use in space - I have more
than three terabytes at home and have had at least one terabyte since 2002
(late 2002.) I used friends and family to get in on lots of rebate deals.
*grin* However - I deal with clients daily that are running fine - and may
continue running fine - with their 8GB Windows 9x system. Should they
upgrade? I would say *yes* if it was me - it's not - it's them. They have
no need. When they start getting close - yeah - they will get some
ridiculous amount of space or some computer that will be woefully
underutilized in their household.

In this case - the OP would be better off buying more hard drive space - and
the reality is - soon they will get to a point where they should consider
getting a whole new computer instead - because they have shown interest. It
is not the case for everyone.

There are likely more users out there that will never use the space on their
hard disk drives than there are that will. More than likely - almost a
certainty - since many computer users use their work computers more than
home and any system administrator worth the money they get paid would have
them saving on a central server that gets backed up periodically. They may
exceed (together with their co-workers) that amount of space at some point -
but the space on their computers sit idle.

I think the problem here is you are speaking of "real users" and I am
speaking of "all users". Technically - your definition of "real" in this
case would be "someone who fully utilizes all aspects of the computer -
graphics, sound, gaming, office applications, etc.." - while there are many
more users who will never fit your definition of "real" - such as the OP.
To me - "real users" are "all users" - just because they do not utilize the
tool to its full potential - doesn't mean they shouldn't use the tool.

The OP is just asking how to squeeze more space out of their 20-30GB hard
drive. I cannot remember the last time a third-tier bendor offered less
than 40GB hard drives - and now it is 80GB and 160GB. That means it has
been several years (the years 2000 to 2002 come to mind) since they
purchased this system. Four to six years and they have just started using
enough where they have to worry about rearranging space. Not to mention -
well - let me quote them:

"My drive is set up with 23.84 GB on C and 4.09 GB on E. Can I resize the
partitions to create more space in E? C is FAT 32 with 23.84 GB, of which
21.76 GB is free space (91%)."

They have 27.93GB of space. Their C drive is 23.84GB of that and 91% of it
is FREE! I guess that weirdo E drive (assuming one hard disk drive here) is
getting full - not surprising at 4.09GB in size - and they want to take some
of their 91% free space (21.76 GB free out of 23.84GB) and throw it at the
4.09GB drive. Truthfully - they do not need more space - they might (in our
eyes) be better off getting a new computer at the prices those are at - but
in their situation - what they truly need is just re-arrangement of the
space they haven't even used in all these years. They will likely never use
what they have or they would have less than 90+% free on a 30GB hard drive
right now - after all this time. Throwing money at something is not always
the right solution - although it may be the fastest and less stressful.

 

[Guest]

Your comments are very insightful. Yes, you are one of the more focused
MVP's. One usually buys something that they are going to use; personally I
am only aware of two instances where someone bought a computer and then never
used it - bought it just to have it. Why!? Who knows? I can't include such
users are real users or even average users, so it is difficult to draw any
dependable lines to know where one begins and the other ends. I purchase a
hammer - I hit nails with it, I am a user. I purchase a hammer - I throw it
in a toolbox, I am not a user, but I own a hammer.

In a era of faster and faster hardware and looser and downright sloppy
coding, program bloat is a major contributor to requiring larger/faster hard
drives and I see no end in sight. What space will Vista ultimately require,
Office Vista, and a bevy of replacement/upgrade programs? 64 bit, 128 bit
and on and on, everything gets faster, larger and more complex. Hard drives
will, perhaps soon, be replaced by better technologies. In the future space
may never be an issue as storage becomes self-expanding, perhaps without
limit. We can dream.

Today though, we deal with the mechanical and physically limiting platters,
heads and motors in an all too real scenario where storage space is precious
and we seem to be running out of it more and more quickly. At least the
offset is that upgrading is less expensive than yesterday, for bigger, better
and more dependable technology. (plug: Western Digital)

Where to include or exclude a user, in qualifying them as being legitimate
or illegitimate? Why include Windows 9x users, why not include DOS users?
The newsgroup is Windows XP, so should everything else be invalid? I don't
consider that the treatment of 'all users' or 'any users' as equal can really
be applied in the real world. There must be segregation and classification -
I am a real user, that guy just checking his email isn't. Someone playing
chopsticks on the piano isn't a piano player or a musician, formally or
informally trained - they are just goofing off at the piano.

So for the (gag) user that is considering partition size, get yourself a
copy of Partition Magic and partition away. I would just make a single
partition and do away with the E: drive.