Help a Numpty
robinj66 - 15/5/10 at 08:27 AM
I have a packard bell Pc with a pentium D hard disk - it is shown as divided into C drive (Local Disk) and H drive (Data Disk).
I keep getting a message saying I am low on disk space. I have a desktop hard drive and have transfered most music, photos, videos etc to that. I
still want to retain some on the pc.
The C drive has a37.7 GB capacity with 1.78 GB free ; the H drive has 111GB capacity with 88.6 GB free.
How do I get the machine to use the free space on the H drive? I know you can move som things to the H drive by manual means - i tried that with
"documents and settings" file but I can't move "Program Files" etc.
Any suggestions gratefully received
ReMan - 15/5/10 at 08:35 AM
Unless you want to install more new programms then the balance you now have is fine, ie a bit of working space on C: and all the free space on H: to
keep your cough music
But there are things that can be cleaned and moved.
I would move the swap file (virtual memory to H first.
If you have the install disks for your programmes then uninstall them and re-install choosing H: rather than th default C:
[Edited on 15/5/10 by ReMan]
DanP - 15/5/10 at 08:43 AM
I really don't understand why manufacturers do this, both my mums pc and my gf's laptop has this and it is really frustrating cos windows
expects most things data and programs to all be on the same drive.
I'm afraid you probably can't move your existing installed programs to your H drive but you will be able to install new ones on there.
You can stick the two partitions back together by reformatting but that will mean wiping your system and starting from scratch. There *might* be some
software around that can trick your pc into treating you partitions a one 'c' drive again without a reformat, but I don't know of any
off hand I'm afraid.
Cheers,
Dan
[Edited on 15/5/10 by DanP]
Ben_Copeland - 15/5/10 at 09:54 AM
Partition Magic merges partitions, without wiping. I've done it once before. Couldn't get it to merge 100% but got 80% free space back onto
c drive.
Is it one harddrive split into 2 or 2 harddrives???
[Edited on 15/5/10 by Ben_Copeland]
MikeRJ - 15/5/10 at 11:36 AM
quote:
Originally posted by DanP
I really don't understand why manufacturers do this, both my mums pc and my gf's laptop has this and it is really frustrating cos windows
expects most things data and programs to all be on the same drive.
Windows simply expects stuff to be where you installed it and where you told it it is. I always install applications on a different partition if
possible, and also move my documents and settings to another different partition.
Multiple smaller partitions reduces the chances of corruption, and also makes defragmenting much faster.
To move your program files folder is a lot of work, and not without issues. The options are:
1) Using a boot disk with registry tools (e.g. Ultimate Boot CD) move the Program files folder and then replace all references to "C
rogram
Files" in the registry to the new location, obviously backing up the registry before hand. I've done this successfully before, but the
margin for error is quite high if you are not familiar with registry editing.
2) It's possible to use symbolic links in Windows under NTFS called "junctions", so you could move Program files to a different drive
and create a junction to link the old Program files folder to the new one. However, there are also some side effects of this since some parts of
windows don't seem to deal with junction points very well.
One thing the OP could do to create a bit of space is to move the swap file to the other partition, combined with the normal stuff of clearing out the
temp files folder, temporary internet files etc. Also if you look in C:Windows with Explorer configured as it should be (i.e. to show extensions,
hidden and system files etc.) then you will see a large number of hidden folders starting with $NTUninstall. These are the un-install files for the
various security patches that are regularly applied to your PC (or should be!). These can be safely removed if the patches have no adverse affect on
your machine, i.e. wait to few weeks after an update before deleting these. Do not remove the $hf_mig$ folder.
[Edited on 15/5/10 by MikeRJ]
robinj66 - 15/5/10 at 05:39 PM
Thanks for your replies.
I'm not good with computers but may try getting rid of the uninstall programs.
I am conducting a disk cleanup every time I am on the computer ATM. The available free space gets used up pretty quickly so that I am down to 200MB
or so
I'm sure it's one hard drive partitioned (unless you can get two seaprates in one casing?)
ReMan - 16/5/10 at 07:34 AM
Letting windoze do a disk cleanup every time is not going to gain you anything othaer tahn a recovering bit of space from temp internet files from
your last session though
robinj66 - 16/5/10 at 08:18 AM
Yep - I agree
How do I move the swap file - more spaecifically, where do I find it?
DanP - 16/5/10 at 05:09 PM
quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
Windows simply expects stuff to be where you installed it and where you told it it is. I always install applications on a different partition if
possible, and also move my documents and settings to another different partition.
Multiple smaller partitions reduces the chances of corruption, and also makes defragmenting much faster.
[Edited on 15/5/10 by MikeRJ]
But windows is designed around the idea that all your large files will be in 'my documents'.. files, music, pictures, videos etc.
Whilst everything can be moved/linked to another drive/partition I think it is beyond many basic users to do this, chances are one partition will get
filled to the brim and the other left unused.
Heres a link on how to move your swap/page file to another drive (this file can be GB's in size):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307886
Perhaps partition magic is worth a try? As it sounds like it can stick your partitions back together - however it will probably never be as perfect as
a fresh install, although it is probably much easier than wiping everything.
I'd suggest you back up all of your important files to CD/DVD before you try it though.