Can you move space or memory from d drive to c drive?

Question

I have a whole bunch of space on my d drive, but only a little bit on my c drive. Is there any way to transfer any of that from one drive to another? A program maybe that does that? I am not sure but I need more space on my c drive bad and I constantly move stuff to my d drive but my programs are still on c. Also if anyone can tell me how to MAKE something download on d instead of c please tell me that. Every time I install a program it goes to c and most the time doesn't give me an option to change it.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Susan

Answer 1

Hi,
You cant "move space" from one drive to another unless you format your hard drives and re-partition them as you want (which is not an option for you because you will lose everything after formatting) . And there is no program that I know that can re-partition your drives without formatting it.

But for your case, you can move some of the files and folder to Drive D to free up more space (Like the pictures and Videos and Music files that you have in My Documents).
Also you can uninstall some of the programs (like Real Player, i Tunes, Quick time, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger.. and all of the light programs) and the Games (if you have any) and then reinstall them on Drive D (to do that you must change the path where to install these programs during the installation process, because most of the programs use (( C:/ Program Files/ )) as their default installation path, but you can change that simply by replacing the C above with D and then press next to complete the installation).
But do not uninstall and reinstall the major programs (i.e. do not try to move them to Drive D) like (the Anti Virus software, the MS Office).

And for your question about how to make something download on D instead of C, you can change that depending on the type of browser/download manager that you use, for example if you use Firefox, just go to Tools -->Options-->Main--> Downloads--> and hit the Browse button and choose any folder on Drive D and press ok).

p.s. always have at least 1 GB free on you C Drive, because the Windows Operating System needs available free hard space to perform normally.

Good Luck

Answer 2

Susan :)

You could get a program called Partition Magic which is a very nice, safe, and easy tool which will "re-partition / re-size" your drives... However, this is assuming that you have ONE harddrive in your computer that someone setup as TWO partitions (C and D).

If you have 2 harddrives (C and D) and your C drive is running out of space.. then you will have to upgrade that drive...
OR .. if the bulk of your space on C is being taken up by files (mp3s, pictures, documents, NOT programs) then you can move those files to the D drive without causing problems.

So what's the first thing you need to find out...? right.. do I have 1 or 2 harddrives :)
How do I do that?
You could Right-click on My Computer > properties > hardware tab > device manager > click on the + next to disk drives > count how many are listed.

If you have 2 > partition magic (don't install all the extras that come with the program, like drive mapper, unless you're very savvy as any time you mess with partitions you are asking for trouble but the resizing and creation of partitions with this tool is great).

As far as programs installing ... really you do want them on C as it makes life easier... plus, having documents on a seperate partition gives you a little bit of protection from viruses that infect programs and don't jump partitions to infect files... but when you install a program it always pops up at some point in the install and tells you "I am going to install to C:\Program Files\program" which is the point where you can change it to another location.

If you find you only have 1 harddrive in there.. you're golden with p-magic

If you find you need to upgrade to a new C drive... I recommend getting someone to do this for you because it can be very involved properly transferring your data... get a really good, qualified, certified technician (whose credentials you've verified.. cause I see alot of people say they're a+ certified and it's BS! and even A+ cert means very very little...2 10min exams on the basics of older hardare ok? )

Good luck :)

PS.. got your email... partition magic will enable you to safely change the space on the paritions without losing your data.. which is why the answer regarding that was given a thumbs down... if you use regular partition tools like fdisk which comes with windows you will lose data as it destroys the existing partition first.. Partition Magic (i use it and i would be considered an expert in some circles... and I use it because it's so much easier and safer.. just make sure you understand the options or get someone to help you).

Also from your assessment .. yes those others are usb and you probably do have just the one western digital drive (WDC). I also read the comments of the next poster serently and they raised good points some of which for obvious reasons I did not advise you to do or mention (such as drive re-mapping and changing stuff around).. I would get partition magic and make your one disk really one disk.. and you may also want to purchas e a 2nd harddrive if you need even more space.. (these also come in external harddrive versions that can go into a usb or firewire port hint* and yes have a reputable person or dealer assist you if you're unsure .. and backup your data to dvd/cdr (i'm not a big store fan but I am also not a fan of alot of home people either which is why i say check they're credentials...)
:D

Answer 3

I will answer your 2nd question - how to ensure that when you install something, it goes to your drivew of choice. Most installers, on their first or second or third (i mean, towards the beginning), should have some button or radio or tab or some control that says any of these words: Custom, Advanced Users, Customize, Change etc. You probably do not pay much attention to these screens and just click Next --> Next --> Next. But if you look carefully, spot any of these, and opt for that, I am sure all installers will give you the option to specify your own directory. When you do that, simply choose D drive!

Answer 4

Beware first that repartitioning your drive will erase all of your data. Disk drives do not have memory and are built as the size you see, so you can't transfer space from one harddrive to another. I haven't run into a program that doesn't let you specify where it will be loaded, but I guess it's possible.

Answer 5

Yes, and you don't need a program. To transfer something like a file or folder, just cut it (right click > cut) and paste it on the D: drive somewhere. If you want to make a backup of something, do the same thing, but instead of hitting cut, hit copy.

If you want to transfer a program or game, you might need a program, unless you just want to uninstall from C: and Install on D:.

For downloading, when it asks you where to save, just navigate to somewhere on D:. IE - saving a movie clip, you'd right click > save as > then you'd go to My Computer > click "D:Drive" > save somewhere.

Hope that helps.

Answer 6

One thing you can do is move the paging file over to the d drive.
That will free up some space and also help the performance (if your d: drive is a separate physical disk)
right click my computer- click properties-click advanced-under performance click settings-click the advanced tab-at the bottom where it says virtual memory click change-there you can set no paging file on C: and set a paging file size for drive D:

Answer 7

Your c and d drives might be two separate partitions on the same drive. You can find this out by entering diskmgmt.msc in a run prompt. Check to see how many disks there are.

If they are just two pieces of the same drive, a program called partition magic can resize them, or merge them and just get rid of the d drive all together.

Answer 8

Hi Susan, I hesitated to respond because several already have. However, after reading the responses I realized not much which is posted is very clear.

I wanted to add a few comments, in the hope it will help clarify some of the items written here. First and foremost, if you do a copy, as one person suggested, you will NOT open up space, but rather double the space that items takes. A copy is just that, a copy of the item and when you do a copy, rather than a move, where you put the copy adds that much additional taken space. A move would free it up from the moved from spot, and then reastablish it in the moved too area.

It is true that if you only have one physical hard disk that how much is on it is the sum total for the whole hard disk. However, when it is partitioned each partition acts as a seperate vitual disk area. This means that items in C do not count towards the space items in D take, and vice versa.

The individual who wrote that you first need to check to see if you have one or two seperate hard disk drives installed is correct. That is a major issue in what sort of options you have available. However, these days systems which you buy with an OS and trial software pre-installed come with only one physical hard disk. So, if you bought the system in the last two years you can be relatively sure it has one physical disk.

Now, you can use the Computer Management applet to check and see what sort of volumes you have on your disk(s). It is important to know that the "0" volume is the first, and usually it holds the C drive, the manufacturers "Recovery Files" usually in MB, not GB in size, and will also often contain a few Gigabytes of "unknown partition".

To get to the Computer Management console, all you need to do is right click on My Computer (XP) or Computer (Vista) on the Start Menu, and then select, Manage, from the shortcut list which appears. Once the Computer Mangement Console appears, look in the left pane list and click on Disk Management, under the heading, Storage.

It is important to note that unless you really know what you are doing you can totally mess up your system. The System Files, which contains the OS is most often located in the C Drive, or Volume. When you have only one physical hard disk it is often used to hold all data files as well. The D Drive on such systems is usually the CD/DVD Drive. Drive letters above D are usually USB ports. The A Drive is held aside for a Floppy Drive.

You can easily change the paths these Drives are attached too within Disk Management. However, many different programs use the current Drives for Reading/Writing. For example, usually your Common Dialog Boxes and your Office Dialog Boxes perform Open/Save commands to the C Drive, and when your right click on items you wish to burn and then select Send to X Drive, with X being the Drive for your CD/DVD burner, these paths can become a bit messed up if you make a mistake while changing the Drives paths.

You can also totally mess up your OS installation when changing Drive Letters. Because of the inherent dangers of making a mistake I highly reccomend you do one of two things, or both:

First, if you only have one physical drive installed, buy a second one and install it and set it up to receive your data files. You can assign a Drive Letter and Path so that when you download items or do an Open/Save command, the items automatically go to that drive.

Second, you can take your system to a reputable computer shop, (try to avoid the "big box" stores, such as Best Buy, Comp USA, etc, because they receive a huge volume of service requests and do not provide the personal touch of smaller reputable shops. Smaller shops have less volume and need to provide quality service to keep afloat. It is my experiance they give much better service and are more likely to fix any issue you have later for free).

If you are feeling less than adequete in performing these steps yourself, I would reccomend doing both of the above. Purchase a second hard disk, they are getting much less expensive these days, you can purchase a 300 Gigabyte drive for under a $100.00, if you go to a store like Fry's Electronics and use a Sale. Stores like Fry's put out Sale adds each week, often more often. Fry's puts out ads which are good for one, two, three and four day periods. They put it out in the local paper, and up on the wall inside the store. I bought two hard disks recently, each for 320 Gigabytes for $89.99 each, on Sale. The best ones are by Seagate, and has a five year warranty period.

Two more notes of interest. First, moving your paging file can give a performance boost and free up some space. However, and this is a big issue, it must be moved to a secondary hard disk drive, NOT just onto a seperate volume on the same physical disk. You would not receive any advantage by moving it on to a different spot on the same disk.

Secondly, you can redirect your main data folders to the second disk so that when your download or do an Open/Save within the Common and Office dialog boxes the items are placed onto the secondary disk. This is important because each major folder the OS creates, such as Documents, Photos, Videos, ect, are on the same drive as your OS, usually C Drive and have corresponding Paths which link the actual files to those folders. You don't want to accidently move a main folder and then not be able to locate your files. Redirecting can also be done to a Network Drive, which is a physical hard disk that every computer on the network has access too. This is often a handy method of freeing up space on each system drive, especially when you redirect the Shared Folders. This way you can share your items without duplication on your systems hard drives.

Ok, that sums up what I wanted to add to this conversation. I hope you get your issue resolved in such a manner which you find most usefull. Each individual has personal preferences and no one way is better than another. You do have options and I wanted to point that out as well as the areas where unforseen and unwanted events occur.

Good luck and have a nice day.

Answer 9

We can move the D drive space to C drive without format

http://www.techthagaval.com/move-space-one-drive-to-another-in-computer/

Answer 10

i'm guessing you have 2 demanding drives put in on your laptop, categorised C: and D: with your CD stress categorised E: if it is the case, the D: purposes merely like an exterior demanding stress and you may reproduction/paste into it.