Partioned Hard Drive

[Margaret N]

I notice on my Hard Drive that it is portioned 'C' 122 GB and 'D' 267 can I merge these together?

Or can I transfer my files to 'D' and just leave the operating system on 'C' or any other useful ideas please. This is something that I have not come across before.

Thank you.

[Guest]

hyer Margaret sorry cant help but wanted to say hello

[Guy]

Yes it is possible but very inadvisable.

First you would lose everything held in both partitions on your drive and would have to re-install not only your programs and files but your operating system as well.

Very often modern computers have a hard drive partitioned as 'C' & 'D'. The 'C' partition is used daily for programs files etc. the 'D' partition being an emergency partition which hold a recovery utility and a copy of the Operating System.

I normally add a second hard drive to my system and use the 'C' drive for the operating system and program files and the new 'E' drive for my files.
This stops the 'C' drive filling up and slowing the computer down.

Rather than re-configering your drives I would suggest adding a second physical drive.
Cheers
Guy

[PeteW1959]

It is easy to move your documents to the D: drive, but the exact method depends on the version of Windows.

For Windows 7, click on Start, then 'Computer'. In the window that opens, double click 'Local Disk (C: )', then double click 'Users'. You should see several folders, one of which will match your user name. Double click that and a whole load of folders will appear.

The ones to move are the ones that start with 'My...' (My Documents, My Pictures etc.). RIGHT click on one of them and select 'Properties' from the menu. Click the 'Location' tab and from there you can move the folder. I suggest keeping the existing folder structure (highlighted in blue), but just change C: to D: then click move. You will get a couple of warnings and confirmation messages, but they are self explanatory.

You can repeat the process for the other folders (Pictures, Music etc.), and for any other users including 'Public' (shared documents). I wouldn't recommend moving the Admin user.

It is possible to merge the partitions without reinstalling, but you will need to use a 3rd party utility. There is a free one, EaseUS Partition Manager, which I use on all my computers.

[Elaine ..Spain]

I notice on my Hard Drive that it is portioned 'C' 122 GB and 'D' 267 can I merge these together?

Margaret, just out of interest, how much space have you used on each partition, and how much free space left on each?

[col48]

Messing with Partitions (= drives on a Windows machine) is not to be undertaken lightly. Yes, there are utilities which will do this kind of thing, but it is all too easy to take a wrong decision and wipe out all the stuff on one or all the drives - operating system, data, the lot. So if you go down this road, make sure you have at least one complete usable backup of everything.

But moving your data (not software) from one drive to another should be as easy as pie. I haven't used Windows for years but I think Pete's advice in post 4 third para (copied here....)

The ones to move are the ones that start with 'My...' (My Documents, My Pictures etc.). RIGHT click on one of them and select 'Properties' from the menu. Click the 'Location' tab and from there you can move the folder. I suggest keeping the existing folder structure (highlighted in blue), but just change C: to D: then click move. You will get a couple of warnings and confirmation messages, but they are self explanatory.

seems good in that this will presumably ensure that Windows default locations (My Documents etc) will then be changed to the new ones. If (like me when I was a Windows user) you keep your own directory stucture under a folder in C which you know contains all your data and nothing but your data it is even easier. In this case, set up a new directory in D - this can have the same name as the one in C but it doesn't have to. Then in My Computer open up both C and D drives so you can see the names of the directories and files immediately under the old C and new D directories (the latter presumably being empty) and drag/drop the files and directories from the C directory onto the D (use Shift and Ctrl keys to select multiple files & directories, then holding the Ctrl key down as you drag&drop if you want to copy rather than move). If you have a vast amount of data this may take some minutes. You'll need the old File Manager hierarchical style of listing rather than just icons when opening up My Computer to see the items you need.

[TrevorFranklin]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[Grimsqueaker]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

really must work on a "like" button......