How to relocate Documents and Settings from C drive to other drives?

  • Thread starter Thread starter networm
  • Start date Start date
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networm

Hi all,

I am running out of space on the system drive C drive:

In particular, I have 11GB space originally on C, I thought it should been
sufficient when I partitioned my harddisks a while ago.

Now after taking a look, I found the breakdown is as follows, roughly:

Documents and Settings: 4.5GB
Windows: 4GB
Program Files: 1.5GB
Pagefile.sys: 1GB


I guess I could not safely re-partition the drives to grab some space from
other partitions to this C drive.

But I guess I could relocate some files.

I guess I cannot relocate Windows and Pagefile.sys; and it is going to
relatively harder to relocate Program Files...

But can I relocate "Documents and Settings" safely?

In particular, I've found the following directory takes about 3GB space:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data

More specifically, the Google Desktop Search silently occupied 1.5GB. I have
tried to set my preferences, but amazingly Google Desktop Search does not
even offer an option to change the location of their cache file from C drive
to other places...

What can I do?

Thanks a lot!
 
networm said:
Hi all,

I am running out of space on the system drive C drive:

In particular, I have 11GB space originally on C, I thought it should been
sufficient when I partitioned my harddisks a while ago.

Now after taking a look, I found the breakdown is as follows, roughly:

Documents and Settings: 4.5GB
Windows: 4GB
Program Files: 1.5GB
Pagefile.sys: 1GB


I guess I could not safely re-partition the drives to grab some space from
other partitions to this C drive.

But I guess I could relocate some files.

I guess I cannot relocate Windows and Pagefile.sys; and it is going to
relatively harder to relocate Program Files...

But can I relocate "Documents and Settings" safely?

In particular, I've found the following directory takes about 3GB space:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data

More specifically, the Google Desktop Search silently occupied 1.5GB. I have
tried to set my preferences, but amazingly Google Desktop Search does not
even offer an option to change the location of their cache file from C drive
to other places...

What can I do?

Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
 
Sorry, this message has been removed due to violation of rule F.
Original message by: MikeB
*This is your second warning MikeB.*
 
networm said:
Hi all,

I am running out of space on the system drive C drive:

In particular, I have 11GB space originally on C, I thought it should been
sufficient when I partitioned my harddisks a while ago.

Now after taking a look, I found the breakdown is as follows, roughly:

Documents and Settings: 4.5GB
Windows: 4GB
Program Files: 1.5GB
Pagefile.sys: 1GB


I guess I could not safely re-partition the drives to grab some space from
other partitions to this C drive.

But I guess I could relocate some files.

I guess I cannot relocate Windows and Pagefile.sys; and it is going to
relatively harder to relocate Program Files...

But can I relocate "Documents and Settings" safely?

In particular, I've found the following directory takes about 3GB space:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data

More specifically, the Google Desktop Search silently occupied 1.5GB. I have
tried to set my preferences, but amazingly Google Desktop Search does not
even offer an option to change the location of their cache file from C drive
to other places...

What can I do?

Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...

One thing you can do is to move the Temporary Internet Files to a different
drive, in addition to making it smaller. Open IE, choose Tools, Internet
Options, and in the Temporary Internet Files section choose Settings. Then
click on Move Folder. You may also want to reduce the size - Windows has
an annoying habit of making the cache size very large.

Also, get ccleaner (www.ccleaner.com). It will remove temporary files,
unlike the Windows cleanup tools. Note the recycle-bin 'run ccleaner'
option. I regularly find that this tool quickly recovers hundreds of
megabytes.

HTH
-pk
 
'networm' wrote, in part:
| I am running out of space on the system drive C drive:
|
| In particular, I have 11GB space originally on C, I thought it should been
| sufficient when I partitioned my harddisks a while ago.
_____

You can repartition your physical hard drive, but that requires third party
software (Partition Magician, for example.)

You haven't given information on what other partitions or physical hard
drives you have, and how much space is available there. Depending on what
you actually have, the simplest and most effective way to free space in the
C: partition is to move 'My Documents' to another partition. Because of the
special nature of 'My Documents', all the programs that expect files in 'My
Documents' will automatically use the actual location you have set up to be
'My Documents' rather than in 'C:\Documents and settings\'. If you have
plenty of space on another partition, then that move should free up several
GBytes on your C: partition.

Getting rid of 'Google Desktop Search' would be another easy way to free
space. Does it really save you enough time to balance what you will have to
go through to get free space in your C: partition?

As you are finding out, partitioning can bite you when you're not looking.
Unless you are using different file systems or more than one operating
system partitioning usually isn't a good idea. At the moment from the
information you provided, you can't even defrag your 'C:' partition.

It might be time to consider a new hard drive, what with applications and
media files using more and more hard drive space. And especially now that
large drive costs have fallen to $0.35 US per GByte.

Phil Weldon

| Hi all,
|
| I am running out of space on the system drive C drive:
|
| In particular, I have 11GB space originally on C, I thought it should been
| sufficient when I partitioned my harddisks a while ago.
|
| Now after taking a look, I found the breakdown is as follows, roughly:
|
| Documents and Settings: 4.5GB
| Windows: 4GB
| Program Files: 1.5GB
| Pagefile.sys: 1GB
|
|
| I guess I could not safely re-partition the drives to grab some space from
| other partitions to this C drive.
|
| But I guess I could relocate some files.
|
| I guess I cannot relocate Windows and Pagefile.sys; and it is going to
| relatively harder to relocate Program Files...
|
| But can I relocate "Documents and Settings" safely?
|
| In particular, I've found the following directory takes about 3GB space:
|
| C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data
|
| More specifically, the Google Desktop Search silently occupied 1.5GB. I
have
| tried to set my preferences, but amazingly Google Desktop Search does not
| even offer an option to change the location of their cache file from C
drive
| to other places...
|
| What can I do?
|
| Thanks a lot!
|
|
 
Phil Weldon said:
'networm' wrote, in part:
| I am running out of space on the system drive C drive:
|
| In particular, I have 11GB space originally on C, I thought it should
been
| sufficient when I partitioned my harddisks a while ago.
_____

You can repartition your physical hard drive, but that requires third
party
software (Partition Magician, for example.)

You haven't given information on what other partitions or physical hard
drives you have, and how much space is available there. Depending on what
you actually have, the simplest and most effective way to free space in
the
C: partition is to move 'My Documents' to another partition. Because of
the
special nature of 'My Documents', all the programs that expect files in
'My
Documents' will automatically use the actual location you have set up to
be
'My Documents' rather than in 'C:\Documents and settings\'. If you have
plenty of space on another partition, then that move should free up
several
GBytes on your C: partition.

Getting rid of 'Google Desktop Search' would be another easy way to free
space. Does it really save you enough time to balance what you will have
to
go through to get free space in your C: partition?

As you are finding out, partitioning can bite you when you're not looking.
Unless you are using different file systems or more than one operating
system partitioning usually isn't a good idea. At the moment from the
information you provided, you can't even defrag your 'C:' partition.

It might be time to consider a new hard drive, what with applications and
media files using more and more hard drive space. And especially now that
large drive costs have fallen to $0.35 US per GByte.

Phil Weldon

| Hi all,
|
| I am running out of space on the system drive C drive:
|
| In particular, I have 11GB space originally on C, I thought it should
been
| sufficient when I partitioned my harddisks a while ago.
|
| Now after taking a look, I found the breakdown is as follows, roughly:
|
| Documents and Settings: 4.5GB
| Windows: 4GB
| Program Files: 1.5GB
| Pagefile.sys: 1GB
|
|
| I guess I could not safely re-partition the drives to grab some space
from
| other partitions to this C drive.
|
| But I guess I could relocate some files.
|
| I guess I cannot relocate Windows and Pagefile.sys; and it is going to
| relatively harder to relocate Program Files...
|
| But can I relocate "Documents and Settings" safely?
|
| In particular, I've found the following directory takes about 3GB space:
|
| C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data
|
| More specifically, the Google Desktop Search silently occupied 1.5GB. I
have
| tried to set my preferences, but amazingly Google Desktop Search does
not
| even offer an option to change the location of their cache file from C
drive
| to other places...
|
| What can I do?
|
| Thanks a lot!
|
|
Click to expand...

Yes, I can always buy a new and larger harddisk.

But what am I going to do with my older harddisk?

A rough count shows that I have 40GB, 40GB, 40GB, 40GB, 70GB, 20GB, 10GB
scattering around my 3 computers, and I have just thrown away an old laptop
with 9.1GB and an old hardisk with 4.5GB a few days ago...

It makes me feel guilty buy throwing away things but they are really useless
and occupy space...

This the major reason why I don't buy a new and larger harddisk, although I
am yearning to buy one from time to time.
 
'networm' wrote, in part:
| It makes me feel guilty buy throwing away things but they are really
useless
| and occupy space...
_____

After replacing your older hard drive, reformat and install it to back up
data.
For one system I have a server case with 9 front access 5 1/4 inch bays and
a motherboard that supports 8 IDE connections. That system gets recycled
drives - it now has a 250 GByte drive, an 80 GByte drive, two 40 GByte
drives in RAID 0, and a 40 GByte drive. The 250 GByte drive had the lowest
purchase price. Anything under 40 GBytes I have wrapped in tinfoil and
Saran wrap. That's how I solve the guilt problem. The first hard drive I
bought had a capacity of 5 MBytes and a 1987 price of $500 US. The first
hard drive I used held 7.5 MBytes (removable) and leased for over $1000 US
per month (1968.)

Things change.

Phil Weldon

|
| | > 'networm' wrote, in part:
| > | I am running out of space on the system drive C drive:
| > |
| > | In particular, I have 11GB space originally on C, I thought it should
| > been
| > | sufficient when I partitioned my harddisks a while ago.
| > _____
| >
| > You can repartition your physical hard drive, but that requires third
| > party
| > software (Partition Magician, for example.)
| >
| > You haven't given information on what other partitions or physical hard
| > drives you have, and how much space is available there. Depending on
what
| > you actually have, the simplest and most effective way to free space in
| > the
| > C: partition is to move 'My Documents' to another partition. Because of
| > the
| > special nature of 'My Documents', all the programs that expect files in
| > 'My
| > Documents' will automatically use the actual location you have set up to
| > be
| > 'My Documents' rather than in 'C:\Documents and settings\'. If you have
| > plenty of space on another partition, then that move should free up
| > several
| > GBytes on your C: partition.
| >
| > Getting rid of 'Google Desktop Search' would be another easy way to free
| > space. Does it really save you enough time to balance what you will
have
| > to
| > go through to get free space in your C: partition?
| >
| > As you are finding out, partitioning can bite you when you're not
looking.
| > Unless you are using different file systems or more than one operating
| > system partitioning usually isn't a good idea. At the moment from the
| > information you provided, you can't even defrag your 'C:' partition.
| >
| > It might be time to consider a new hard drive, what with applications
and
| > media files using more and more hard drive space. And especially now
that
| > large drive costs have fallen to $0.35 US per GByte.
| >
| > Phil Weldon
| >
| > | > | Hi all,
| > |
| > | I am running out of space on the system drive C drive:
| > |
| > | In particular, I have 11GB space originally on C, I thought it should
| > been
| > | sufficient when I partitioned my harddisks a while ago.
| > |
| > | Now after taking a look, I found the breakdown is as follows, roughly:
| > |
| > | Documents and Settings: 4.5GB
| > | Windows: 4GB
| > | Program Files: 1.5GB
| > | Pagefile.sys: 1GB
| > |
| > |
| > | I guess I could not safely re-partition the drives to grab some space
| > from
| > | other partitions to this C drive.
| > |
| > | But I guess I could relocate some files.
| > |
| > | I guess I cannot relocate Windows and Pagefile.sys; and it is going to
| > | relatively harder to relocate Program Files...
| > |
| > | But can I relocate "Documents and Settings" safely?
| > |
| > | In particular, I've found the following directory takes about 3GB
space:
| > |
| > | C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application
Data
| > |
| > | More specifically, the Google Desktop Search silently occupied 1.5GB.
I
| > have
| > | tried to set my preferences, but amazingly Google Desktop Search does
| > not
| > | even offer an option to change the location of their cache file from C
| > drive
| > | to other places...
| > |
| > | What can I do?
| > |
| > | Thanks a lot!
| > |
| > |
| >
| >
|
| Yes, I can always buy a new and larger harddisk.
|
| But what am I going to do with my older harddisk?
|
| A rough count shows that I have 40GB, 40GB, 40GB, 40GB, 70GB, 20GB, 10GB
| scattering around my 3 computers, and I have just thrown away an old
laptop
| with 9.1GB and an old hardisk with 4.5GB a few days ago...
|
| It makes me feel guilty buy throwing away things but they are really
useless
| and occupy space...
|
| This the major reason why I don't buy a new and larger harddisk, although
I
| am yearning to buy one from time to time.
|
|
 
Phil Weldon said:
'networm' wrote, in part:
| It makes me feel guilty buy throwing away things but they are really
useless
| and occupy space...
_____

After replacing your older hard drive, reformat and install it to back up
data.
For one system I have a server case with 9 front access 5 1/4 inch bays
and
a motherboard that supports 8 IDE connections. That system gets recycled
drives - it now has a 250 GByte drive, an 80 GByte drive, two 40 GByte
drives in RAID 0, and a 40 GByte drive. The 250 GByte drive had the
lowest
purchase price. Anything under 40 GBytes I have wrapped in tinfoil and
Saran wrap. That's how I solve the guilt problem. The first hard drive I
bought had a capacity of 5 MBytes and a 1987 price of $500 US. The first
hard drive I used held 7.5 MBytes (removable) and leased for over $1000 US
per month (1968.)
Click to expand...

Yes, you are a server level guy. I am a home PC guy. I don't have a
motherboard that supports 8 IDEs... what can I do with those 40GB, 20GB
harddisks...?
 
| I am a home PC guy. I don't have a
| motherboard that supports 8 IDEs... what can I do with those 40GB, 20GB
| harddisks...?
_____

Securely erase and donate?

Phil Weldon

|
| | > 'networm' wrote, in part:
| > | It makes me feel guilty buy throwing away things but they are really
| > useless
| > | and occupy space...
| > _____
| >
| > After replacing your older hard drive, reformat and install it to back
up
| > data.
| > For one system I have a server case with 9 front access 5 1/4 inch bays
| > and
| > a motherboard that supports 8 IDE connections. That system gets
recycled
| > drives - it now has a 250 GByte drive, an 80 GByte drive, two 40 GByte
| > drives in RAID 0, and a 40 GByte drive. The 250 GByte drive had the
| > lowest
| > purchase price. Anything under 40 GBytes I have wrapped in tinfoil and
| > Saran wrap. That's how I solve the guilt problem. The first hard drive
I
| > bought had a capacity of 5 MBytes and a 1987 price of $500 US. The
first
| > hard drive I used held 7.5 MBytes (removable) and leased for over $1000
US
| > per month (1968.)
| >
|
| Yes, you are a server level guy. I am a home PC guy. I don't have a
| motherboard that supports 8 IDEs... what can I do with those 40GB, 20GB
| harddisks...?
|
|
 
http://www.directdial.com/us/shop/item/ULTRA133 TX2.html Providing
that there are drive bay cages available in your computer and that the
Power Supply Unit can handle extra demand. It will move the data
handling off the motherboard/cpu and improve overall pc performance.
With that controller you can also move the pagefile to its own drive and
dedicated controller.

John
 
A pc can have that many IDE contollers.
It would actually be odd for a server to have that many IDE controllers. In
fact I have never seen one in person. SATA and SCSI yes, but not IDE.
Don't get me wrong, I know they exist, I have just never physically bumped
into one.

My home system has six IDE(2 on board, 4 on a raid capable card) and sixSATA
connections(two on board four on a raid capable card).
I don't use them all, in fact I only have one IDE HD but I do have 4 DVD
burners.

Case size can be an issue though.

You probaly have 2 controllers already, so you can add a few more:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SY-SIL-133R&cat=CCD

Or make those small drives into portable drives
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SY-UEN-3MYS-W&cat=CAS

(I am not espousing geeks over any specific site, I just like their easy to
use navigation system.)

And I didn't see anyone address your statement that the pagefile was not
movable.

It most certainly is movable. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314105

The Windows dir is not.


--
--
Manny Borges
MCSE NT4-2003 (+ Security)
MCT, Certified Cheese Master

People say "life is short".
What?
Life is the longest damn thing anyone ever does!
What can you do that's longer?
 
A number of years ago I was part of a team that was developing a Financial
system that used an Oracle database. As part of performance tuning, Oracle
recommended, I think, 13 different hard drives. This was to reduce read
write contention.

Of course we didn't implement this solution on our development or test
servers, and the customer never coughed up the money for a new server with
SCSI controllers and hard drives, so it was implemented on one of the
customers existing servers that was already being used for other things,
with Oracle installed on an IDE drive, and the data on a SCSI Raid array.

But we planned the whole thing out with 13 drives and presented it to the
customer.

Todd
 
Networm, I found your message because I have the same trouble. Programs are
written like they will be the only thing installed on your computer and they
get larger with each update and improvement. I need to move my documents and
graphics to a separate drive entirely - 19G was huge 5 years ago but barely
has space for the programs alone today.

I can appreciate the guilt of throwing away useful stuff, but sometimes it
really ISN'T useful. Have you ever tried to donate an older computer (like
three years old!) to a non-profit organization? Many of them will not accept
them because of the size and speed restrictions they involve. I agree with
Phil - some can be put to personal use if you have the time and energy to
create the setup. Before you despair completely, check with the non-profit
training schools or small vo-tech schools; old drives, boards, etc. can be of
use for student hands-on training. Sometimes, though, it's time to send that
old drive to the Great Disk Doctor in the Sky and move on (after you clear
the disk completely).

Phil, my other half promised me in 1983 that a 10 meg hard drive was the
biggest disk he would ever need for his PC-1. Ah, the young, innocent days of
PCs. I remind him of that line with every new drive - the latest was over 200
G and was the third disk in our base computer.

My thanks to both of you for asking and for answering my question. Saved me
lots of time!

The Kat
 
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