I just received an XP system that has continual problems with storage on the
C Drive.

When the drive was divided (or whatever), the small 15GB Drives named C:
The remaining large D drive (300GB or so, has the applications).

Any suggestions (other than reformatting the whole hard drive), on how I can
set the D drive up as the main drive so that this system is not always
running out of space on the C drive? Or what do you suggest?

Obviously I am looking for a quick easy solution to frustrating problem I
inherited.

Thanks,

Steve

 

On 21 Aug 2010, =?Utf-8?B?U3RldmU=?=
<Steve@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

> I just received an XP system that has continual problems with
> storage on the C Drive.
>
> When the drive was divided (or whatever), the small 15GB Drives
> named C: The remaining large D drive (300GB or so, has the
> applications).
>
> Any suggestions (other than reformatting the whole hard drive), on
> how I can set the D drive up as the main drive so that this system
> is not always running out of space on the C drive? Or what do
> you suggest?
>
> Obviously I am looking for a quick easy solution to frustrating
> problem I inherited.

I would buy a new hard drive and partition it the way you want, with a
larger C: drive, then use a utility like Acronis True Image to copy the
current partitions over to the new disk. That way you'll have the
original as a backup if anything goes wrong. Once you are comfortable
that everything is running well, you can save the original as a backup,
or reformat it to use as additional storage, spare, sell it, etc.

If you are feeling particularly brave, there are partition-resizing
utilities out there. I have used a couple of them, and they usually
work, but I always make a backup first, because things can go
disastrously wrong.

 

Steve said this on 8/21/2010 30 PM:
> I just received an XP system that has continual problems with storage on the
> C Drive.
>
> When the drive was divided (or whatever), the small 15GB Drives named C:
> The remaining large D drive (300GB or so, has the applications).
>
> Any suggestions (other than reformatting the whole hard drive), on how I can
> set the D drive up as the main drive so that this system is not always
> running out of space on the C drive? Or what do you suggest?
>
> Obviously I am looking for a quick easy solution to frustrating problem I
> inherited.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Steve

There are easy ways to combine the data but the D drive applications
will fail to run if moved to C:. There are ini files, registry
entries etc that have locations hard coded now and then, and those
D... locations are going to kill you. You might be able to search
and replace them, but I think you're barking up a bad tree with this route.

However, you could use a disk imaging software or clone software (call
them what you want) like Acronis True Image Home (it does both clone and
images), and make images of both C: and D: drives obviously on another
drive like a USB drive.

Then you can restore them and Acronis lets you change the partition size
when you restore. If you are right that this is a single drive (and
disk management in control panel -> administrative tools will tell you),
then its not that hard to resize the two and make C more like 60 gig and
chop D: down to 250 gig or so. If you have space to steal from D
that is. Its a bit of work, and some unknowns are here but I myself
have done it, and you need a spare HD or place to drop the images of the
two drives for a bit.

Or a slight modification of the above, is to buy a 2nd drive to be C or
D (if this is a desktop) and put it in and restore each image you made,
but now one to each drive. This is better management as you now have
two drives with more chance that failure will not totally wipe you out.
You can backup between drives if you wanted, putting C backups on D
and visa versa.

Just my thoughts, have fun.
Al.

 

In news:Xns9DDBA03C9623Enilch1@130.133.4.11,
Nil typed on Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:45:06 -0400:
> ... then use a utility like Acronis True Image to copy the current
> partitions over to the new disk...

Oh that could be a big mistake! As Acronis True Image has so many
serious bugs with it that I will no longer recommend it to anybody.

1) Eats 185MB of RAM when it isn't running

2) Doesn't restore from some USB drives

3) May not restore if the build number is different

4) I also have pages of others problems with Acronis True Image. ATI has
let me down way too many times. Paragon Drive Backup works so much more
reliable than ATI. Although Paragon also eats RAM when it isn't even
running. So I don't install it anymore, but just run it from the CD
instead. The CD offers fewer options, but it does backup and restore
partitions correctly. Only problem I had is with 800x480 netbook
screens. As the CD won't work with them and I use Ghost32 with BartPE
instead with them.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2

 

In news1MhKpWQLHA.796@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl,
Big_Al typed on Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:514 -0400:
> ... like Acronis True Image Home (it does both clone
> and images), and make images of both C: and D: drives obviously on
> another drive like a USB drive.

Nope, Acronis True Image fails on many USB drives. Backup works just
fine, it just fails to restore on some USB drives. Plus it eats 185MB
worth of RAM even when it isn't running. Acronis True Image has let me
down way too often and it is nothing but pure junk! I can't believe
there are many people recommending this piece of junk, seriously.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2

 

Steve wrote:

> I just received an XP system that has continual problems with storage on the
> C Drive.
>
> When the drive was divided (or whatever), the small 15GB Drives named C:
> The remaining large D drive (300GB or so, has the applications).
>
> Any suggestions (other than reformatting the whole hard drive), on how I can
> set the D drive up as the main drive so that this system is not always
> running out of space on the C drive? Or what do you suggest?

"Received" could mean the host was donated or sold to you. In either
case, you should ALWAYS wipe the hard disks and do a FRESH install of
any operating system. You will then discover if you actually have a
legitimate copy of the OS to install as well as all those applications
rather than starting with a polluted setup. When installing the OS, you
can elect to delete all partitions and then create just one partition
that spans the entire disk.

You don't know what illegal content or other problems lay in wait on
that polluted setup. Start with a fresh setup.

 

Re: 15GB Drive has documents/Data and D: 300GB drive has applicatio

I'm not being a wise-guy, but if all apps on D , why is C running out of
space? Is it " My Documents" ?
If that's you're only problem, right click on My Documents - properties, and
make the "Target" on D. Now "you're stuff" will be on D.

Otherwise, I'd first check what files you CAN mess with.
Open IE and check its filesize ( default is ... very large - larger than
needed)
Make default temp folder on drive D instead ? ( for each account)

Where is Pagefile ? How big ?
Right-click My Computer - Properties - Advanced - Performance - how big is
it ? Where is it ?
You could make a small one ( or none) on C and make the file on D instead.
( the reboot)

Check for OLD/unused user accounts. Maybe folders still exist for
non-existent accounts ? Do you NEED a guest account? Admin account ?

CDocuments and Settings - check folder filesizes, delete any you don't
need via Control Panel - Users

Reboot then download Ccleaner / install ( from D) to get rid of unused
'stuff'.
uninstall any unused apps.
My Computer - right click on C then Disk Cleanup

"Steve" <Steve@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:537DC95E-4ED8-4E78-8852-97662F712003@microsoft.com...
>I just received an XP system that has continual problems with storage on
>the
> C Drive.
>
> When the drive was divided (or whatever), the small 15GB Drives named C:
> The remaining large D drive (300GB or so, has the applications).
>
> Any suggestions (other than reformatting the whole hard drive), on how I
> can
> set the D drive up as the main drive so that this system is not always
> running out of space on the C drive? Or what do you suggest?
>
> Obviously I am looking for a quick easy solution to frustrating problem I
> inherited.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Steve