Repartition C and D drives

M

MN Mom

I'm running out of room on my C drive (at 14% w/2.26gb left) but have 90%
w/167gb left on my D drive. Can I add more space from the D drive to the C
drive without reformatting everything? PLEASE help!
 
L

Leonard Grey

Yes, you can, but you'll need third-party repartitioning software. Some
of the better known applications are (alphabetically) Disk Director
Suite (from Acronis), Image for Windows (from Terabyte Unlimited) and
Partition Magic (from Symantec), though there are many others.

Repartitioning a hard disk is a complex maneuver, so read the
instructions very carefully before you attempt to do this. A mistake can
cause irrecoverable damage. It may be better to pay a professional to do
it for you.
 
R

Ron Badour

I believe Image is a back up/imaging program while BootIt NG is Terabyte's
partitioning program.

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
 
R

Ron Badour

BootIt Next Generation is available from:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html and it does partitioning,
makes a compressed image, does many other partitioning chores and is a boot
manager. It is not quite as easy to use as Partition Magic but it is half
the cost and has more features. Unlike the crippled PMagic demo, BING is a
*full function* demo you can try for FREE for 30 days. The web site has a
lot of support articles.


--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
 
G

Gerry

Not unless you use third party software.

There are no third party freeware partition managers. You can get
shareware for periods up to 30 days. BootIt NG is one example:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-bootit-next-generation.htm

I use BootIt NG. It does not have the easiestuser interface but the
video on the web site are helpful.

Without resizing partitions you can create more free space in C by
carrying any of the measures suggested below.

The default allocation to System Restore is 12% 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.

A default setting 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. Change to
5%, which 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%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

If your 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.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System
Information, Tools, Dr Watson and verify that the box before "Append to
existing log" is NOT checked. This means the next time the log is
written it will overwrite rather than add to the existing file.

The default maximum size setting for Event Viewer logs is too large.
Reset the maximum for each log from 512 kb to 128 kb and set it to
overwrite.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

You can generate more space in the system partition 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

How to Change the Default Location of the My Documents Folder:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310147

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.

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.


--



Hope this helps.

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

Gerry

Leonard

BootIt NG not Image for Windows.

--
Regards.

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

MN Mom

Thank you for your help...Based on the size of the C drive and what I have
available on the D drive, is it worth adding more to the C drive? Will it
help the system perform better?
 
B

Bill in Co.

But it would probably be easier for him to use something like Partition
Magic, although he'd have to purchase it. And as you have noted below,
BootItNG (BING) isn't the easiest one for a novice to use.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

On Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:46:01 -0700, MN Mom <MN
I'm running out of room on my C drive (at 14% w/2.26gb left) but have 90%
w/167gb left on my D drive. Can I add more space from the D drive to the C
drive without reformatting everything? PLEASE help!


Only if you use third-party software. Partition Magic is the
best-known such product, but there are other choices both commercial
and freeware. I've never used any of these, so I'll let someone else
recommend one.

By the way, doing this is a big step and it's always possible that
something goes wrong and you lose everything. So it's a very good idea
to be sure you have a backup on external media of anything important
to you before starting this.
 
D

db.·.. >

you might be able to get
some instant relief by
simply relocating your
"my documents" folder
from its default location.

if you right click on my
documents and go to
properties, you will have
the selection to move
the entire folder and all
the sub folders from the
c to the d.

btw: just out of curiousity,
what is the size of your c?
 
R

Ray Parrish

Hello,

You can use GParted Live which is a CD image you can download and burn
to CD. It's bootable and contains the GParted partition managing
software. It's Linux based, but understands Windows file systems and
handles them with no problems.

Make sure you don't delete the partitions, just readjust the space
allocated to each and GParted will do a nondestructive resizing of your
partitions for you.

By the way, as with almost all Linux software, it's free.

Here is a link to the download site -

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

And here is their front page -

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

Later, Ray Parrish
 
B

Bruce Chambers

MN said:
I'm running out of room on my C drive (at 14% w/2.26gb left) but have 90%
w/167gb left on my D drive. Can I add more space from the D drive to the C
drive without reformatting everything? PLEASE help!


Using WinXP's native tools, there's no way to do this without
completely wiping the hard drive and starting afresh. It's be a lot
quicker to use a 3rd party partitioning utility to resize the existing
partitions.

For a fully functional, free, 30-day evaluation version, BootItNG
can't be beat:

Terabyte Unlimited's BootItNG
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
G

Gerry

Bill

If I were MN Mom I would try the other solutions I suggested before
contemplating resizing partitions.


--



Hope this helps.

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

Shenan Stanley

<snipped>

MN said:
Thank you for your help...Based on the size of the C drive and what
I have available on the D drive, is it worth adding more to the C
drive? Will it help the system perform better?

Perform better? Not that i think that is the point in this case- but in the
long run - adding space to the C drive will *keep* it performing properly -
so in that sense - yes - it will perform better. As far as it just making
some sort of noticable difference when you still have nearly 15% free - no.
That would require a bit more effort on your part than just freeing up
space - a litrtle cleanup/updating along with 'tweaking' might squeeze out
some benefits - and hardware upgrades seldom leave you without some
noticable performance increase if done wisely.
 
D

db.·.. >

adding more space to the
c drive "will" improve performance.

for one thing, you won't have
any issues with defrag or
run out of space for your
restore points, or......etc.

------------------

as i mentioned before, you
should consider moving your
"my documents" folder to the d drive.

this is the easiest method to
regain space on the c drive.

further, by moving that folder onto
the d drive, you will be creating a
failsafe system for your personal files,
pics, etc...

because the system drive (c drive)
is the target for malware or if the o.s.
becomes unstable or dysfunctional
for other reasons, you may have to
consider the need to reinstall the o.s.
sometime in the future.

if the above occurs and your personal
files still on that c drive and if you have
not backed them up, then your personal
files will be wiped away when the o.s. is
reinstalled.

but the above is only a recommendation
for you to consider and it is fortunate
that you do have a d drive available
to take advantage of.

many of us have long experienced
and practiced better computer
methodologies, but in the end the
option is yours.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
 

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