A Solution to low space on "C" Drive

[tyketime]

My 2-year-old desktop came with one hard drive split into two logical drives: "C" and "D". Most of the space was allocated to the D-drive, and that's where I load most of the programs and games I install on my machine. But I started to notice that my C-drive was running out of space (less than 1 GB). Many times, even when you install stuff to the D-drive, it still uses some space on the C-drive.

I couldn't figure out too much to safely delete off of the C-drive, so I started researching alternatives. I came across several software packages that allow you to "resize a partition". Basically, it takes free space from my D-drive (I had 40GB free) and allocates it to the C-drive. I decided on one and downloaded the free trial. Of course... that particular feature is not functional in the trial. So after reading more favorable reviews, I purchased it. There is a wizard that walks you through every step of the process. It took a total of 4 hours to complete the process (don't believe the estimated time on screen... mine bounced between 20 minutes and 17 hours).

When all was said and done, I now have 20GB available on each my C-drive and my D-drive. If you have any specific questions, I'll be glad to try and answer them. I also don't mind mentioning the two products I compared and my eventual choice... but I want to make sure I don't break any forum guidelines. I can assure you I don't work for either company. I just like it when a product works as advertised.

Cheers...

[JediKooter]

I usually just go and buy a bigger hard drive. Why you would partition one hard drive if you're not running 2 OSes or two different boot configurations, doesn't make much sense as to why the computer came that way.

With the size of hard drives these days and the relative low prices (just bought a 500G external drive at Costco for $120) of hard drives, I would just get a new hard drive. You can always transfer all that data to the new hard drive or just add it as a 'D' or 'E' drive to the system.

A lot of programs have to have certain things installed on the C drive in order for them to work, so that could be why you were noticing the space on your C drive getting smaller and smaller.

It's cool that solution worked for you, just seems like a rather clunky and late 1990's solution to me though.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Why you would partition one hard drive if you're not running 2 OSes or two different boot configurations, doesn't make much sense as to why the computer came that way.

Apparently you get much better overall performance if you keep your 'static' files separate from things that are frequently changing. A guy I work with is an advocate of an even more annoying partitioning scheme in which you set aside a partition for OS + Installed programs, another partition exclusively for virtual memory, and finally a third 'data' partition for documents, save files, etc.

That is the reasoning behind it, but in practice I've found all this does is cause space management issues like tyketime ran into.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

Apparently you get much better overall performance if you keep your 'static' files separate from things that are frequently changing. A guy I work with is an advocate of an even more annoying partitioning scheme in which you set aside a partition for OS + Installed programs, another partition exclusively for virtual memory, and finally a third 'data' partition for documents, save files, etc.

That is the reasoning behind it, but in practice I've found all this does is cause space management issues like tyketime ran into.

This works if you have two separate hard drives, but if you just create two partitions on a single hard drive, most of the performance gains are gone, because there is just one data path to all of the partitions, and if you are trying to access two of them at the same time, one has to wait.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

I'm with the "You're gonna need a bigger boat" line.

I had two hard drives, a 125gb and a 250gb. I was down to less than 20gb left between the two, so I just got a pair of 500gb drives, one external and one internal. The external is for backup purposes and the internal for music storage.

I copied the 250 to the 500 external, then the 125 to the 250. Then after yanking the 125 I made the 250 the main hard drive and installed the 500 internal, copying the external to the internal.

I now have my 500 backed up to the external and my OS with everything on my main hard drive set aside on the 125.

Now if can only figure out how to get this annoying yahoo search page to stop coming up in my browser...

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by cartman

This works if you have two separate hard drives, but if you just create two partitions on a single hard drive, most of the performance gains are gone, because there is just one data path to all of the partitions, and if you are trying to access two of them at the same time, one has to wait.

I think it also has to do with fragmentation though.

[Celeval]

Am I the only one who saw the start of this as: "My 2-year old's desktop..."?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Celeval

Am I the only one who saw the start of this as: "My 2-year old's desktop..."?

I thought that for a while, too.

[Bonegavel]

I used to do:

c:\ windows
d:\ programs
e:\ data

the anal IT-guy in me. That made it nice to reinstall windows/apps and leave my data unmolested.

Now, however, it's all 1 big C: drive and I just dump my data to an external HD and I have a ms domain box where I have some shares. No more locally stored stuff. I don't notice any differences in speed and life is good now that I can just use the default "C:\Program Files" for those few programs that have issues with the program being anywhere else.

I've also found that reinstalling XP every year or so to be a good thing (Win98 I used to reinstall monthly to keep it humming along). Go with 1 partition and you'll be ok.

[Rizon]

c: windows
d: documents/pictures/MP3s
e: wife's crap
f: programs and games

[Dutch]

I've always wanted a C: drive for Windows and a D: drive for programs and data. Just in case I need to reinstall Windows, my data is okay. Just one more layer of protection really. But always back up your shit!

[jeff061]

Diskpart.exe

It's free. You already have it.

[MJ4H]

partition 1: windows xp
partition 2: gentoo

[JediKooter]

Partition 1: Leopard 10.5.3
Partition 2: 500Gig External drive

[Groundhog]

My setup for my desktop windows machine is:

c:\ windows and applications (office, etc.) (100 gig, with about 50 gigs of that free)
d:\ games (300 gig partition of the above drive)
e:\ media (mp3 library, tv shows, sports videos, etc, 1TB 2nd HD, and almost full )

[sterlingice]

What, no one yet with the "delete all that porn" line?

SI

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

What, no one yet with the "delete all that porn" line?

No one would dare suggest that. We all know how hard it is to find some of that shit again.

[Sgran]

I've had the same bad partition for years. The thing is, I'd be fine with my paultry 40gb hard drive without the partition. I know i should reinstall, but I'm scared I won't get my internet and e-mail working again.