pslewis

I have a 80Gb harddrive

It is partitioned into 3 drives, C: D: and E:

They are labelled:-

Boot (C) = 37.27Gb Free 68%
Backup (D) = 34.18Gb Free 98%
Recover (E) = 3.07Gb Free 57%

Now, all my programs and photos and music and stuff goes on drive C:

Why have I got a drive D:,? why is it still at 98% free? and what am I NOT doing that I should be????????

Thanks!

Pete

Hanslow

Open a command prompt window. Change to the D drive. Type dir /a. You will probably see a Recycled folder and System Volume Information.

That's probably your 2% and my 2p

As to why you have a D drive....someone partitioned it that way.

pslewis

Thanks Hanslow - but what am I supposed to do with the drive D?? am I supposed to mirror everything on drive C?

I cant see the point of it as a back-up .... if the drive goes they ALL go!

Pete

Hanslow

I assume you never set it up and it came like that?

It's useful in a way to keep some data separate. That way if you accidently delete some stuff on say C, the stuff on D is still there. I understand what you are saying about a hardware type failure, if the drive goes, it's pretty much dead. However, from a software/user point of view, it might be useful.

I have a dumping ground partition on mine that I use for keeping useful stuff that I intend to burn to CD when I can be bothered. At the moment, there is 7 gig in there because I just can't be arsed to back it up!!!

You don't need your D drive as such, but you could always install all your Games on there and keep them on a separate partition.

You could mirror everything on drive C, but IMHO that would be a waste of time. That's what raid arrays are for and as you have already pointed out, are a better solution with two physical disks so if one goes, you have a physical backup.

Jer

I have all my OS and programs on drive C:\ then all my work, photos and MP3's on D:\. My operating system failed last week so I Formatted C:\ and didn’t lose all my work on D:\.

markwild

Pete, keeping the docs/pics/games etc on D:, will make things slightly easier if you lose the OS, but will be no help at all if the drive goes....

Given that C is not anywhere near full ,you could keep the D and start to organise things that way - It also means that the diskcheck that windows performs on an unexpected reboot will be quicker (Assuming that you're not writing to c and d at the same time!)

If you're not going to re-organise your usage, I'd be tempted to reclaim the space that D is using and join it to C..

If you're after some backup for a disaster (which I don't think you are), buy another disk and start moving stuff

I keep telling myself that I ought to mirror, but XP won't do it without hardware and my Terrabyte of disk would cost quite a bit to do

Mark

cong

the partiononing of the drive will cause you to loose some memory so basically your computer thinks it has three hard drive so hence it would give you a percentage of each drive and since it has to partition each drive you will loose seom memory

Hanslow

cong, don't confuse him! Pete it wont at all.

a) it'll lose it (sorry pet hate )
b) it's free disk space it'll lose, not memory.

cong

sorry it i mean the wasted space is used as the filling system

Hanslow

Sorry, I was just in a playful pedantic mood

pslewis

Ok all, thanks ... what I can deduct from what you say is:-

1. The D drive is basically being wasted at the moment

2. I could keep all my photos, music, docs on D drive

3. If I kept my OS (XP) on C drive, I could re-format that drive only?

4. What if I moved XP to D drive? Would that be wise?

5. Joining C to D - how?

6. As an aside .... what is E drive there for? Its called Recover?

Pete

cong

ok we have to start again............you have only one drive which is split into 3 spaces.named c: d: e:

e: drive is where all you backup stuff is stored c: and d: drives are your storage area

drive c: has the operating installed hence more space is being used

you have to remember there is actually physically only one drive in your computer but it has been split into three drive

pslewis

I know all THAT!!

You haven't answered my questions above yet?

Pete

cong

1, the d:drive is not being wasted you can save anything in there if you want
2, yep you just need to add a new folder and save everything you want there
3, you can just format c: drive only or you can format all of c: and repartion so you can just change it into 2 partiontions only
4,you cant move windowsto d: but you can install another operating system but i recommend you not to do it just in case you damage your drive and loose all data
5,you cant join c: to d: since each has a differnt filling system but you can but it means formatting and deleting all you data on your computer
6,drive contains all your backup files, it will most probably contain all of your programs its there just in case you corrupt your data on drives c:
7,anymore questions................thats the end of class please collect or books and leave quitely....lol

Hanslow

Only because you are not using it.
Yep.
Yes and all your music, photos and docs would remain on D drive. Just make sure that you only format it and not use something like FDisk to repartition it as that will lose you your data.
That's where mine is. I have a 100 Meg C drive just for startup stuff. No real reason to move it do D though, should be fine on C.
You can use something like Partition Magic which will allow joining of partitions from within a running OS. Normally you would use FDisk before there is any data on the drive to set the logical partitions up how you want them. Partition Magic should allow you to retain any existing data that might be on these logical drives. If however, you have installed an application/game to the D drive, it might mess it up as it may still have references in the registry for the application on the D drive which would no longer be there. If you currently have nothing on there, or only docs, music, etc. should be OK.
No idea. This all depends on how your manufacturer set things up for you. It could be that there is a mirror of the factory installation on there and that there is a procedure to allow you to put the machine back to standard from when you received it. Hard to say without having a look and a ferret around with it.

Basically Pete, I would stick with it as it is, and use D for your docs, music, possibly games. When you install something new, you have the option to specify where you want to install it, so you can install pretty much anything onto the D drive and the OS will know where it is stored as you specified it during the setup procedure.

markwild

As you're not short of space, but could risk losing everything if you change it and get it wrong, I'd agree with Hanslow - leave it as is, but start using D at your leisure for games, docs, music, downloads etc......

If you're really keen to change it, then I'm sure someone local could give you a hand..


Mark

pslewis

Thanks for all the help!

I was wondering why the D: drive wasn't filling up at all!! It's because I was not putting anything on it!

I guess I will leave this as they are and slowly move stuff across to D drive (maybe make a copy to test it first?)

Pete

Hanslow

Pete,

Don't just copy folders say from Program Files onto D drive and then remove the one on C. Some of the stuff that has already been installed will have registry entries that will tell it where it is stored (Drive letter and folder location).

Any new programs you put on you can install to D, and any user data you will be able to copy straight across and remove the originals.

Sounds like a safe test method though what you suggest. Copy to D, remove original, see if it still works, copy back if it doesn't.