Adding Space from C to D drive

User: inactive Posts:

I have a Gateway with 227 gigs of memory on the C drive and on D I have 5 gigs. The information on the D drive is for Recovery and is a Fat32. I would like to add more memory to the D drive as I want to move some data from my C to D drive. Can anyone give me some instructions on how to accomplish this??? Many regards for your info....

usasma · Joined: May 06, 2003 Posts: 5006

Yes we can tell you how to do this - but it's not a real good idea. It will mess with the recovery partition and could cause it not to work for you.

First, there's a difference between "memory" and "storage" - although both are expressed in "gigs". Memory refers to the amount of memory that your system can use for running programs - while storage refers to the size of your hard drives (and other storage devices like CD/DVD drives, thumb drives, etc)

So, it appears that you've got a Gateway PC. Usually the PC maker will install 1 physical hard drive and will partition it into 2 partitions (that, for some unknown reason they decided to also call "drives"). The C: partition on yours has 227 gigs of storage - and the D: partition has 5 gigs of storage.

So, the first step is to go to My Computer and right click on each of the partitions (drives) and select Properties. Note down the total size of the drives and the amount of free space left. (actually, it's the free space on the C: partition that is of concern here - but the other info will help to flesh out the picture of your drive structure)

Let us know how much room is left - and then we can suggest how best move the data.

User: inactive Posts:

Thanks for the response...here is the info requested..

C: Drive used 34.7GB
Free 192GB

D: Drive used 2.04GB
Free 3.13GB

Can I create a Virtual Drive to store what it is I want to store?? Is this the same thing as creating another drive??
I await your advice..
Regards...

usasma · Joined: May 06, 2003 Posts: 5006

OK, here's what I recommend.

1) Do not mess with the D: partition - it's there to help you out if you ever need to restore your system, so you'd be hurting yourself if you removed it.

2) Get a disk partitioning program that will resize your C: partition into a C: and E: (or some other, available letter). Depending on how many programs, etc you are going to add to your system - I'd say that 50 or 60 gB was plenty big enough for your C: partition (which means you can make the E: partition about 170 gB)

3) Now here's the hitch - once it's done, I'd point your My Documents folder and any other special folders that you have to the E: partition. This includes profiles, data storage and backups for programs such as your internet browser and email client. The point of this is that, at one time your Windows may crash and you can't get into it. In the event that this happens - all your data is on the E: partition and should be able to be accessed fairly easy for backup purposes.

Then you'd run the recovery utility that Gateway provided to reset your system. If the recovery works without repartitioning your hard drive - then you can just copy the data back and all will be well. If it does repartition your hard drive, then you'll have to partition it back to get the E: drive again - then import the data.

**There's an easier way around this by using Disk Imaging Utilities - and there are some freeware apps for this - but I'm only familiar with the pay-for apps**

4) So, you'll need to get a disk partitioning utility. I'm only familiar with Partition Magic and Acronis Disk Director (both are payware) - but there may also be freeware utilities available to do this.

Here's what you'll have to do:
1) Shrink the C: partition to 50 or 60 gB in size
2) Create a new partition in the empty space that's left
3) Move the data into the new partition (as mentioned above)

From my experience with partition utilities I've learned a few things:
1) Backup!!! If you accidentally make a wrong command - there goes your data! A backup prevents this loss
2) Only do one disk partition operation at a time. I've had problems (in the past) with doing multiple operations at once. It may take longer this way - but your data will thank you for it!
3) Don't change things multiple times - decide on the changes in advance and then stick with it. The more you change things, the more chances there are for a random glitch to screw things up.

User: inactive Posts:

I agree... dont play with the recovery partition. It would be far better to buy another drive if you need more storage...