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View Full Version : Computer help pls - 2nd HD, partition, WinXP


JonInMiddleGA
09-19-2012, 11:55 PM
I suspect this is either gonna be something simple (that makes me look stupid for not figuring it out) or else it's gonna be something that can't be done ... but I'll ask anyway.

Desktop with Win XP Home.

Has 2 Hard drives -- my drive, and an old drive that was once upon a time my son's computer

that 2nd drive (D:/) , my son's old one, is partitioned (with E:/). Labeled as HP_Recovery

It's full, and I get a warning pop-up alerting me to that fact about every 5-10 mins. There's zero kb of useless data to delete (that's the wizard prompt option), I can't even defrag because of the 8GB of space, all but 24kb are used (it says it needs 15% of the drive in order to perform defrag).

I can't delete anything manually because trying to open the file system on that drive gives me a read-only screen warning me about how this is the recovery partition, do not delete these files, etc etc. And there's no option to override that instruction that I can see.

That drive has been accessed twice in six months, both times when he wanted to see if an old game on there would still run. Otherwise, mostly meh that he doesn't want to lose but really never uses.

So the question is this: How do I either enlarge that partition OR otherwise unfuck the situation since the popups are driving me at least a bit nutty?

TIA.

Jughead Spock
09-20-2012, 12:38 AM
Low Disk Space Vista - How To Disable Low Disk Space Checks In Windows Vista - Turn Off Low Disk Space Warning (http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windowsvista/ht/dislowdisk.htm) - says Vista, but works on XP to stop the low disk checks.

Also, you can go to Disk Manager (right-click My Computer, Manage, somewhere in there), find that HP Partition and delete it there. Once that's done, you can use diskpart to extend the volume -

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590

JonInMiddleGA
09-20-2012, 01:33 AM
{Tips cap to Jughead}