Tipex Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 My laptops hard drive is running out of space, I had a look and it's been split I to two, a C: drive, and a D: drive. Both containing half the actual size of the HD itself, there is absolutely nothing on D: but C: is nearly full. How can I either, get rid of D so C can use all the space, or, re adjust the sizes of the partitions and give more to C? I've tried using the drive manager thing in windows, and it let me shrink D, and then showed the extra space as being unallocated, but wouldn't let me expand C, the option was greyed out and I couldn't select it. I've reallocated the space back to D for now, but how can I make C bigger? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 (edited) What operating system & version? I.e. Windows 7 ...Home/Premium/Ultimate etc? If there's nothing on D: simplest way would be delete it and extend the C: drive in to the empty space? 1. Right-click Computer > Manage > Storage > Disk Management, then right-click the graphic of the D partition and select Delete. The partition returns to Unallocated for a Primary Partition or Free Space if it‘s a Logical Drive within an Extended Partition. Delete the partition if it is an Extended partition. 2. Now right-click the graphic of the C partition and select Extend. Disclaimer: messing around with partitions can be risky, backup your data first Edited July 5, 2012 by Mac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted July 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Oh yeah, it's windows Vista, erm, home premium? I think. How do I make sure D really is empty? And that it's not where my copy of windows is stored? As I never got a windows disc with the computer, as far as I can remember anyway, it's getting on a bit now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponge Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Would it not be easier to transfer your porn to an external hard drive and free up space that way? Failing that - is there an application on the laptop to create recovery discs? You could create the discs, and then remove the recovery partition as outlined above. But then you'd be placing all your faith in those discs. Create an image and buy a larger hard drive to replace the one in it? It's strange that the recovery partition is so large. In my limited experience of owning laptops they've always been tens of gb not hundreds. Unless your hard drive us really small? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted July 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 It's a 250GB HD, 100 allocated to C drive, and 100 to D drive, no idea what the other 50 is for. I just don't see the point of only using half the space, granted I could just use D drive anyway I suppose. Perhaps I'll just move my photos across to D? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 The missing 50Gb is probably a recovery partition that is hidden from Windows. Normally they're much smaller than that but I have seen a few recovery partitions that are pretty big. It'd probably be safer to move your photos rather than messing with the partition table. I only do that when it's about the only option as it can occasionally go wrong and when it goes wrong you can potentially lose the entire contents of the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted July 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Ok, I've just followed Macs instructions and it deleted D, and added it to C, all seems well so far! How come it wouldn't let me use the free space when I simply shrank D rather than deleted it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted July 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 I probably wouldn't have if I'd read Burble's post first! Luckily all seems ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calm Chris Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Partitions are normally done to split the OS and program stuff from the files and photos. The idea being that you configure all software to one and all files to the other. You could shift a heap of the permanent files over to the software partition simply by changing the drive location. Reducing space on an existing partion is dangerous, and in my limited experience not very stable so as mentioned if you must feck about with the size of the software drive back it up (and check the back up is pukka) first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 How come it wouldn't let me use the free space when I simply shrank D rather than deleted it? Probably because the free space was in the wrong place. I expect it was after the D drive rather than between the C and D drives at which point you can create an extra parition or re-extend D but not extend C. You could have moved the free space (using something like GParted) and then extended C that way but again, it isn't without its risks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 I probably wouldn't have if I'd read Burble's post first!Luckily all seems ok. I think probably 5% of partition changes that I've done go tits up but I still avoid them unless there's no other viable option. Glad it's sorted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted July 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 I suspect I'll need a new laptop soon anyway, had this one since 2006 I think. It was top of the range when I purchased it and has served me well, but bits are starting to fall off it now the kids have knocked it off the sofa a few times! I may well look into a Mac next time around, although I have no complaints about Vista. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 I have no complaints about Vista. You'd fricken' love OSX then If you extend the system partition you can only extend into contiguous space, it can't be broken up. That's why you can't use the shrunken bit if you see what I mean. Extending a partition is far less risky than shrinking in my experience. Shouldn't be, but certainly seems that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Partitions are normally done to split the OS and program stuff from the files and photos. The idea being that you configure all software to one and all files to the other. Yup, absolutely true, and thoroughly recommended in the Windows world. Pretty much every machine I have has a 50Gb system partition for apps, and the rest allocated for data. It's driven from the way Windows installs itself funnily enough. In OSX you can reinstall the OS without impacting on anything else (to be fair, you can with Win7 now...mostly) so fewer people bother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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