Drive C filling up

[Guest]

My hard drive is partitioned into 4 volumes - C, D, E, F. Drive C, the
smallest at 5 GB, is getting full. Can I move the WINDOWS directory to one
of the other larger partitions and will that new location be recognized?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

My hard drive is partitioned into 4 volumes - C, D, E, F. Drive C,
the smallest at 5 GB, is getting full. Can I move the WINDOWS
directory to one of the other larger partitions and will that new
location be recognized?

5GB is *not* sufficient for most users Windows XP System partition.

I usually recommend 20+GB, although you could likely get away with 10GB or
so - given you install most applications main files on other partitions.
And no - you cannot just 'move' the files. You could use something like
Partition Magic to adjust the partition layout.

 

[Malke]

My hard drive is partitioned into 4 volumes - C, D, E, F. Drive C, the
smallest at 5 GB, is getting full. Can I move the WINDOWS directory to one
of the other larger partitions and will that new location be recognized?

No, you can't move the Windows directory. You'll need to use third-party
partitioning software such as Acronis Disk Director, Partition Magic, or
BootIT NG to change your partition sizes. And yes, 5GB is painfully
small for XP's system partition.


Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

No, you can't move the Windows directory. You'll need to use third-party
partitioning software such as Acronis Disk Director, Partition Magic, or
BootIT NG to change your partition sizes. And yes, 5GB is painfully
small for XP's system partition.

I'll add one other comment: four partition is more than makes sense
for most people running Windows, unless they are dual-booting.

What do you use each of those partitions for? My guess is that a
couple of them are based on a misunderstanding of how Windows works.

 

[philo]

My hard drive is partitioned into 4 volumes - C, D, E, F. Drive C, the
smallest at 5 GB, is getting full. Can I move the WINDOWS directory to one
of the other larger partitions and will that new location be recognized?

No. you cannot move your windows folder...

I'd backup your data, then use 3rd party repartitioning software.

You C: drive needs to be at least 10gigs...but I'd make it considerably
larger...maybe 20 or more

 

[Shenan Stanley]

<snip>

I'll add one other comment: four partition is more than makes sense
for most people running Windows, unless they are dual-booting.

What do you use each of those partitions for? My guess is that a
couple of them are based on a misunderstanding of how Windows works.

Remember - sometimes it is *not* a technical reason.

Many people just cannot fathom the organizational nightmare they witness
when they see one partition (or even just two or three) instead of one for
their spreadsheets, one for their downloads, one for their installations,
once for their documents, once for their email stores, one for their
pictures and so on. Sure - you could argue they could have one partition
and neatly store everything in folders - but some people are a bit more
compulsive than that would allow for.

Personally - I am a single partition person. I even tend to make my extra
installed hard disk drives FOLDERS instead of drive letters because it fits
better in my mind.

 

[JS]

Although you did not mention the total size of the hard drive I would move
the stuff on D over to E and or F,
Next make an image backup of your C partition using True Image (has a 15 day
trial version)
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

Now use Partition Magic or one of the other utilities mentioned in the posts
by Malke or Shenan to increase the size of your C partition. If something
should go wrong you will have the True Image backup file of Windows to get
back to where you started.

JS

 

[Don Schmidt]

Ken & Shenan, (and any who wish to join in)

Over the years I read where folks want to have multiple partitions and they
do it just to write later one or more partitions are filling up and other
partitions are near empty.

What do you guys think of using the old dos substitute solution?

In the autoexec.bat file write the line

subst M: D:\Drive_M (creating the M partition on the D drive)

and on the D drive create the folder Drive_M

I believe the bat file needs to be put in the Startup folder to
automatically create the pseudo drive. It didn't work directly off the C
drive for me.

This way one could create as many drives as letters available and none would
fill until the drive was full.

Comments? Would a command other than .bat be better?

Personally, I have two drives C and D. C for programs, D for created data.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

<snip>



Remember - sometimes it is *not* a technical reason.

Many people just cannot fathom the organizational nightmare they witness
when they see one partition (or even just two or three) instead of one for
their spreadsheets, one for their downloads, one for their installations,
once for their documents, once for their email stores, one for their
pictures and so on. Sure - you could argue they could have one partition
and neatly store everything in folders - but some people are a bit more
compulsive than that would allow for.

I would argue that overpartitioning (using partitions where folders
would work) usually results in *less* organization, rather than more.
That's because folders are dynamic, changing their size as necessary
to accommodate the data within them. But partitions are fixed and
static, and their boundaries can't be changed without using special
software. So what frequently happens is that people miscalculate how
much room they need on each such partition, and then when they run out
of room on the partition where a file logically belongs, while still
having lots of space left on the other, they simply store the file in
the "wrong" partition. That's what I mean by *less* organization.

But my guess is that *most* people who overpartition don't partition
the way you are describing, but for reasons that are simply wrong
technically. He say he has four partitions. He hasn't answered my
question yet, but I'll make a guess as to how he uses the four
(because I've often seen such a partitioning scheme)

1. Windows
2. Data
3. Installed programs
4. The page file.

One and two are fine. Regarding three, they erroneously think that
separating programs from Windows will let them reinstall Windows and
keep their installed programs. That's of course false.

And regarding four, they erroneously think that having the page file
on a separate partition will improve performance. That of course is
also false; it hurts performance.

Personally - I am a single partition person. I even tend to make my extra
installed hard disk drives FOLDERS instead of drive letters because it fits
better in my mind.

I've often said it in these newsgroups, but I'll repeat it here: I
think many people over-partition, but that doesn't mean it's always
bad to have more than one partition. My view is that most people's
partitioning scheme should be based on their backup scheme. If, for
example, you backup by creating a clone or image of the entire drive,
then a single partition might be best. If, on the other hand, you
backup only your data, then the backup process is facilitated by
having all data in a separate partition.


Except for those running multiple operating systems, there is seldom
any benefit to having more than two partitions.

 

[Gerry]

Herb

To increase you free space on your XP partition select Start, All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options,
System Restore and remove all but the latest System Restore points?
Restore points can be quite large.

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.

You can also increase free disk space on your C partition can be
achieved 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

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.

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.



--

Hope this helps.

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

 

[Poprivet]

<snip>

Ken Blake, MVP wrote: ....

Remember - sometimes it is *not* a technical reason.

Afraid I have to side with Ken on this one: Unless one has gobs and gobs of
drive space, it's generally dangerous to partition into more than two
partitions; one for system and one for data. The problem when the drive
size isn't larger than needed is that the user often runs into spacing
problems and has to keep rearranging this and that to keep things reasonably
suited for use. And wondering why defrag takes so long and all kinds of
other little things that show up when one runs low on space.
It's not that difficult even for even the purists among us to switch from
thinking of drive letters to lettered folders, if that's what it takes, but
be sure you have a LOT of extra room for your partitions and size them
wisely. IMO more than two partitions can't be done properly with a 40 Gig
drive anymore, or even an 80 Gig if you're an intermediate user.

....
folders - but some people are a bit more compulsive than that would
allow for.

Compulsive or not, it still only needs a proper NAME for a folder to
represent what's in it. They can always label a folder as "Drive L Excel"

Personally - I am a single partition person. I even tend to make my
extra installed hard disk drives FOLDERS instead of drive letters
because it fits better in my mind.

--

Now that I consider wise. I use partitions on my drives, but for different
reasons than have been discussed here but getting into that opens up many
more areas very likely not relevant to the OP.

Just my penny's worth, nothing more,

Pop`

 

[Poprivet]

Those all sound logical and on the surface are reasonable things to do, but
w/r to regaining drive space, they're not going to result in substantial
savings enough to be a resolution to the problem.

I am NOT being confrontational; I simply wish to point out a few things for
the OP to consider before he goes into doing all that work: Inline:

Herb

To increase you free space on your XP partition select Start, All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options,
System Restore and remove all but the latest System Restore points?
Restore points can be quite large.

That will only be a very temporary "fix" unless/until the settings for the
size of the Restore area is changed to something smaller, which will in turn
limit the ability of how far back you can restore to.

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

...
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.

Again, temporary and rather insignificant savings in the overall scheme,
plus the likelihood of losing files that should have been stored in it.

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 $NtUninstallKB282010$
....
compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.

This is definitely a very insignificant savings. And temporary, since, if
you're keeping your system updated, they will begin to regrow at the next
update. On top of that, you can have some syn problems if you decide to
manually adjust some updates.

You can also increase free disk space on your C partition can be
achieved 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

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:

Moving My Documents can indeed result in noticeable and useful space gain,
assuming the OP has used it properly and kept his data files within its
structure.
When you move My Documents, you also move the email store, Favorites and
a few other things that are detailed above, so moving them would not be
necessary in this case. Take a look into My Documents and you'll find a
plethora of things that will move along with it.
In this case, the OP should move My Documents FIRST, and then see what's
left that might need to be moved, if anything. Nothing of much quence willl
be left behind.

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.

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.

If he's using the dafault My Documents path properly, moving My Documents
will have accomodated all of the above for him. If not using it correctly,
then much of this post isn't going to help anyway.

In the end, IMO, you should only have two partitons. Then you don't need a
3rd party prog to manage them. And use Backup for backing up your data
files.
If with two partitions you still don't have enough head room, stop
messing with sizing partitions and start saving for a larger drive to add to
the system; they're cheap. I just added another 500 Gig WD drive for a very
reasonable price. Note I said add, not replace.

HTH,

Pop`

 

[Gerry]

Those all sound logical and on the surface are reasonable things to
do, but w/r to regaining drive space, they're not going to result in
substantial savings enough to be a resolution to the problem.

The combination could just produce enough to put the show back on the
road.

I am NOT being confrontational; I simply wish to point out a few
things for the OP to consider before he goes into doing all that
work: Inline:

That will only be a very temporary "fix" unless/until the settings
for the size of the Restore area is changed to something smaller,
which will in turn limit the ability of how far back you can restore
to.

You need to maximise free disk space space so that you can clean up
after all the changes have been made.

...
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get

Again, temporary and rather insignificant savings in the overall
scheme, plus the likelihood of losing files that should have been
stored in it.

7% is nearly half the required disk space, which is hardly
insignificant!

This is definitely a very insignificant savings. And temporary,
since, if you're keeping your system updated, they will begin to
regrow at the next update. On top of that, you can have some syn
problems if you decide to manually adjust some updates.

Removal is also an option. Which would save a signifant amount.

Moving My Documents can indeed result in noticeable and useful space
gain, assuming the OP has used it properly and kept his data files
within its structure.
When you move My Documents, you also move the email store,
Favorites and a few other things that are detailed above, so moving
them would not be necessary in this case. Take a look into My
Documents and you'll find a plethora of things that will move along
with it. In this case, the OP should move My Documents FIRST, and
then see what's left that might need to be moved, if anything. Nothing
of much quence willl be left behind.

You're repeating in a different form of words what I have suggested!

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

If he's using the dafault My Documents path properly, moving My
Documents will have accomodated all of the above for him. If not
using it correctly, then much of this post isn't going to help anyway.

Not every user believe in using the My Documents folder to store data
files.

In the end, IMO, you should only have two partitons. Then you don't
need a 3rd party prog to manage them.

That a common viewpoint but not every holds it!

And use Backup for backing up

your data files.
If with two partitions you still don't have enough head room, stop
messing with sizing partitions and start saving for a larger drive to
add to the system; they're cheap. I just added another 500 Gig WD
drive for a very reasonable price. Note I said add, not replace.

Not everyone is as wellheeled as you seem to be. It is better option if
the user can afford it but not all can.

Other possibilities not mentioned! Uninstall and reinstall programmes in
a different partition e.g. Microsoft Office might be a good candidate.
Relocate the pagefile, albeit not the best option given that the user
only has one drive.

Sorry I find your approach lacks vision!

HTH,

Pop`

--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Dr. Sinister]

I've just reached this message many months after it was entered, but I've got
to add my bit of advice for others travelling through here. My computer was
originally set up with one drive - two partitions. I'm not a computer pro,
so this two partition thing has been nothing but a hassle. Thanks to the
advice from some others in this forum, I've discovered several options for
dealing with this, but take my word for it, it you can operate with one
drive, one partition, leave it that way.

 

[Gerry]

There is a reason why many computers sold are set up with two
partitions. The second partition contains the the means of restoring the
system in the event of system failure. It is arguable that this is not
necessarily the best way to provide a copy of the operating system but
many users are not good at keeping a system CD safe. Unfortunately these
restore partitions are often oversized and the size cannot be reduced
without third party partitioning software.


--



Hope this helps.

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

I've just reached this message many months after it was entered, but
I've got to add my bit of advice for others travelling through here.
My computer was originally set up with one drive - two partitions.
I'm not a computer pro, so this two partition thing has been nothing
but a hassle. Thanks to the advice from some others in this forum,
I've discovered several options for dealing with this, but take my
word for it, it you can operate with one drive, one partition, leave
it that way.

 

[Dr. Sinister]

Hi Gerry,
If there is one drive, but, like mine, it's C and D partitioned, if one
part fails, and it's all one drive, how does the recovery process work?
Wouldn't the whole, one drive, partitioned into two, fail? Thanks.
--
Dr. Sinister

There is a reason why many computers sold are set up with two
partitions. The second partition contains the the means of restoring the
system in the event of system failure. It is arguable that this is not
necessarily the best way to provide a copy of the operating system but
many users are not good at keeping a system CD safe. Unfortunately these
restore partitions are often oversized and the size cannot be reduced
without third party partitioning software.


--



Hope this helps.

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

I've just reached this message many months after it was entered, but
I've got to add my bit of advice for others travelling through here.
My computer was originally set up with one drive - two partitions.
I'm not a computer pro, so this two partition thing has been nothing
but a hassle. Thanks to the advice from some others in this forum,
I've discovered several options for dealing with this, but take my
word for it, it you can operate with one drive, one partition, leave
it that way.

 

[Malke]

Hi Gerry,
If there is one drive, but, like mine, it's C and D partitioned, if one
part fails, and it's all one drive, how does the recovery process work?
Wouldn't the whole, one drive, partitioned into two, fail? Thanks.

Yes, of course. That's why you should always have physical restore media,
whether recovery disks if you have that sort of OEM machine (HP, eMachines,
etc.) or real operating system disks. If your hard drive dies, the whole
thing dies not just one partition.

Malke

 

[Dr. Sinister]

O.K. I've got a better understanding of this than I had thought. Appreciate
the advice.

 

[Gerry]

Malke

My feeling is that the subject is more complicated than the simplistic
way you have put it.

I would agree that on balance it is better to have a full copy of the
operating system on a CD / DVD. Arguably it is better to have a copy on
the hard drive and on CD / DVD as it reduces the risk should one media
copy fail or not be available when needed.

The complication is what is meant by drive failure. Failure can mean not
booting, file system corruption, damaged hard disk or the drive will not
spin. If a drive is partitioned in certain circumstances then certain
files on an unaffected partition are not lost. Thus an unaffected
partition may be read as a slave drive.

I checked a Dell Manual. It makes no mention of whether you can place a
copy of the operating system on CD / DVD. Similarly it does mention
Repair / Install. It explains how to delete the restore partition
stating that if you do you do you will have no means of restoring the
operating system to it's as purchased condition. Surprising the Manual
explains how to replace the hard drive without saying what you do about
the operating system.

--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Malke]

Malke

My feeling is that the subject is more complicated than the simplistic
way you have put it.

Drive failure the way I was using the term equals physical failure of the
hard drive. If a hard drive physically fails, the special partition holding
the OEM restore image will be useless to the end user. That's all I meant
by this. And no, that's not a very complicated concept.

I would agree that on balance it is better to have a full copy of the
operating system on a CD / DVD. Arguably it is better to have a copy on
the hard drive and on CD / DVD as it reduces the risk should one media
copy fail or not be available when needed.

I wasn't arguing any point. If someone has an OEM machine with a restore
image on a partition, great. They should just make sure to create the
physical restore disks using whatever method the OEM provided so if their
hard drive dies - physically - they can put Windows onto the new drive they
get.

I'm not sure what Dell has to do with anything, but then I was only
responding to Dr. Sinister's comment about the image on a partition on a
single drive not helping if the single drive died. Physically. The Dells
I've seen lately that only come with a restore image don't seem to provide
a way of making a physical restore disk the way HPs do, for instance. That
is stupid, stupid, stupid. If people are going to buy Dells, they should
insist on receiving physical restore media. Or they will be stuck waiting
for Dell to send them physical restore media if their hard drive dies.
Physically.

I hope this has clarified my response to Dr. Sinister and my feeling in
general about having an operating system on physical restore media in case
one's hard drive dies. Physically.

Malke