My hard drive is partitioned into 4 volumes - C, D, E, F. Drive C, the
smallest at 5 GB, is getting full. Can I move the WINDOWS directory to one
of the other larger partitions and will that new location be recognized?
--
JHB
Herb wrote:
> My hard drive is partitioned into 4 volumes - C, D, E, F. Drive C,
> the smallest at 5 GB, is getting full. Can I move the WINDOWS
> directory to one of the other larger partitions and will that new
> location be recognized?
5GB is *not* sufficient for most users Windows XP System partition.
I usually recommend 20+GB, although you could likely get away with 10GB or
so - given you install most applications main files on other partitions.
And no - you cannot just 'move' the files. You could use something like
Partition Magic to adjust the partition layout.
Herb wrote:
> My hard drive is partitioned into 4 volumes - C, D, E, F. Drive C, the
> smallest at 5 GB, is getting full. Can I move the WINDOWS directory to one
> of the other larger partitions and will that new location be recognized?
No, you can't move the Windows directory. You'll need to use third-party
partitioning software such as Acronis Disk Director, Partition Magic, or
BootIT NG to change your partition sizes. And yes, 5GB is painfully
small for XP's system partition.
On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:44:21 -0700, Malke <notreally@invalid.invalid>
wrote:
> Herb wrote:
> > My hard drive is partitioned into 4 volumes - C, D, E, F. Drive C, the
> > smallest at 5 GB, is getting full. Can I move the WINDOWS directory to one
> > of the other larger partitions and will that new location be recognized?
>
> No, you can't move the Windows directory. You'll need to use third-party
> partitioning software such as Acronis Disk Director, Partition Magic, or
> BootIT NG to change your partition sizes. And yes, 5GB is painfully
> small for XP's system partition.
I'll add one other comment: four partition is more than makes sense
for most people running Windows, unless they are dual-booting.
What do you use each of those partitions for? My guess is that a
couple of them are based on a misunderstanding of how Windows works.
--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
"Herb" <Herb@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:726A5279-6C03-474F-BE73-E6F390373044@microsoft.com...
> My hard drive is partitioned into 4 volumes - C, D, E, F. Drive C, the
> smallest at 5 GB, is getting full. Can I move the WINDOWS directory to
one
> of the other larger partitions and will that new location be recognized?
No. you cannot move your windows folder...
I'd backup your data, then use 3rd party repartitioning software.
You C: drive needs to be at least 10gigs...but I'd make it considerably
larger...maybe 20 or more
Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
> I'll add one other comment: four partition is more than makes sense
> for most people running Windows, unless they are dual-booting.
>
> What do you use each of those partitions for? My guess is that a
> couple of them are based on a misunderstanding of how Windows works.
Remember - sometimes it is *not* a technical reason.
Many people just cannot fathom the organizational nightmare they witness
when they see one partition (or even just two or three) instead of one for
their spreadsheets, one for their downloads, one for their installations,
once for their documents, once for their email stores, one for their
pictures and so on. Sure - you could argue they could have one partition
and neatly store everything in folders - but some people are a bit more
compulsive than that would allow for.
Personally - I am a single partition person. I even tend to make my extra
installed hard disk drives FOLDERS instead of drive letters because it fits
better in my mind.
Although you did not mention the total size of the hard drive I would move
the stuff on D over to E and or F,
Next make an image backup of your C partition using True Image (has a 15 day
trial version) http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/
Now use Partition Magic or one of the other utilities mentioned in the posts
by Malke or Shenan to increase the size of your C partition. If something
should go wrong you will have the True Image backup file of Windows to get
back to where you started.
JS
"Herb" <Herb@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:726A5279-6C03-474F-BE73-E6F390373044@microsoft.com...
> My hard drive is partitioned into 4 volumes - C, D, E, F. Drive C, the
> smallest at 5 GB, is getting full. Can I move the WINDOWS directory to
> one
> of the other larger partitions and will that new location be recognized?
> --
> JHB
Over the years I read where folks want to have multiple partitions and they
do it just to write later one or more partitions are filling up and other
partitions are near empty.
What do you guys think of using the old dos substitute solution?
In the autoexec.bat file write the line
subst M: D:\Drive_M (creating the M partition on the D drive)
and on the D drive create the folder Drive_M
I believe the bat file needs to be put in the Startup folder to
automatically create the pseudo drive. It didn't work directly off the C
drive for me.
This way one could create as many drives as letters available and none would
fill until the drive was full.
Comments? Would a command other than .bat be better?
Personally, I have two drives C and D. C for programs, D for created data.
--
Don
Vancouver, USA
"Shenan Stanley" <newshelper@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:OmTUUL33HHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> <snip>
>
> Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
>> I'll add one other comment: four partition is more than makes sense
>> for most people running Windows, unless they are dual-booting.
>>
>> What do you use each of those partitions for? My guess is that a
>> couple of them are based on a misunderstanding of how Windows works.
>
> Remember - sometimes it is *not* a technical reason.
>
> Many people just cannot fathom the organizational nightmare they witness
> when they see one partition (or even just two or three) instead of one for
> their spreadsheets, one for their downloads, one for their installations,
> once for their documents, once for their email stores, one for their
> pictures and so on. Sure - you could argue they could have one partition
> and neatly store everything in folders - but some people are a bit more
> compulsive than that would allow for.
>
> Personally - I am a single partition person. I even tend to make my extra
> installed hard disk drives FOLDERS instead of drive letters because it
> fits better in my mind.
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:31:06 -0500, "Shenan Stanley"
<newshelper@gmail.com> wrote:
> <snip>
>
> Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
> > I'll add one other comment: four partition is more than makes sense
> > for most people running Windows, unless they are dual-booting.
> >
> > What do you use each of those partitions for? My guess is that a
> > couple of them are based on a misunderstanding of how Windows works.
>
> Remember - sometimes it is *not* a technical reason.
>
> Many people just cannot fathom the organizational nightmare they witness
> when they see one partition (or even just two or three) instead of one for
> their spreadsheets, one for their downloads, one for their installations,
> once for their documents, once for their email stores, one for their
> pictures and so on. Sure - you could argue they could have one partition
> and neatly store everything in folders - but some people are a bit more
> compulsive than that would allow for.
I would argue that overpartitioning (using partitions where folders
would work) usually results in *less* organization, rather than more.
That's because folders are dynamic, changing their size as necessary
to accommodate the data within them. But partitions are fixed and
static, and their boundaries can't be changed without using special
software. So what frequently happens is that people miscalculate how
much room they need on each such partition, and then when they run out
of room on the partition where a file logically belongs, while still
having lots of space left on the other, they simply store the file in
the "wrong" partition. That's what I mean by *less* organization.
But my guess is that *most* people who overpartition don't partition
the way you are describing, but for reasons that are simply wrong
technically. He say he has four partitions. He hasn't answered my
question yet, but I'll make a guess as to how he uses the four
(because I've often seen such a partitioning scheme)
1. Windows
2. Data
3. Installed programs
4. The page file.
One and two are fine. Regarding three, they erroneously think that
separating programs from Windows will let them reinstall Windows and
keep their installed programs. That's of course false.
And regarding four, they erroneously think that having the page file
on a separate partition will improve performance. That of course is
also false; it hurts performance.
> Personally - I am a single partition person. I even tend to make my extra
> installed hard disk drives FOLDERS instead of drive letters because it fits
> better in my mind.
I've often said it in these newsgroups, but I'll repeat it here: I
think many people over-partition, but that doesn't mean it's always
bad to have more than one partition. My view is that most people's
partitioning scheme should be based on their backup scheme. If, for
example, you backup by creating a clone or image of the entire drive,
then a single partition might be best. If, on the other hand, you
backup only your data, then the backup process is facilitated by
having all data in a separate partition.
Except for those running multiple operating systems, there is seldom
any benefit to having more than two partitions.
--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
To increase you free space on your XP partition select Start, All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options,
System Restore and remove all but the latest System Restore points?
Restore points can be quite large.
A default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary
internet files especially if you do not store offline copies on disk.
The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to
offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer
select Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files,
Settings to make the change. At the same time look at the number of
days history is held.
The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.
If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of
your C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows
folder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$
etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed
the text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not
compressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder and
select Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compress
contents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amount
gained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Folder
compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.
You can also increase free disk space on your C partition can be
achieved by relocation of folders.
For Temporary Internet Files select Start, Control Panel, Internet
Options, Temporary Internet Files. Settings, Move Folder.
My Documents is one of a number of system created Special Folders
including My Pictures and My Music. These can more easily be relocated
using Tweak Ui. Download TweakUI, one of the MS powertoys, from here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p.../powertoys.asp
In TweakUi select My Computer, Special Folders. You can scroll down to
see the full list of Special Folders to the left of the Change
Location button.
You may also need to change Default File locations in the Microsoft
Office programmes you choose to move the My Documents folder. For Word
go to Tools, Options, File Locations, highlight Documents, click on
Modify and change file path. For Excel go to Tools, Options, General
and change default file path.
--
Hope this helps.
Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Herb wrote:
> My hard drive is partitioned into 4 volumes - C, D, E, F. Drive C,
> the smallest at 5 GB, is getting full. Can I move the WINDOWS
> directory to one of the other larger partitions and will that new
> location be recognized?
Drive C filling up 
Linear Mode
