is an added memory [= F drive] considered...

[demoiselle65]

I recently added a 250 GB external drive [marked as F drive] to my system, extending the 114 GB on my C drive.  My question, for which I haven't been able to locate an answer in forums, is this: From the point of view of the machine and its functioning, is the F drive basically just an extended C drive, or is it actually considered as a separate, other drive?
What lies behind this trivial sounding question is this issue: before I got the 250 GB extension, I had much of the 114 GB of the C used up with video material. With a "stuffed" C drive [say 110 GB], my system ran about the same as when it had 50 GB, only a bit slower--but sometimes just shut down by itself. I'm not sure, but am thinking it powered off because of the memory being so full.  So I added the 250.  I now have about 80 GB on the C drive, having moved the rest to the external 250. System still is powering off now and then.
     Should I move lots more to the F drive, to get the C down to, say, 40 or 50 GB? Or does it really matter? Does the computer think, 'I have only 114 gigs available, so don't crowd me out.--O, by the way, you could store things in the F drive, but that's not me.' Or does the computer think 'Its OK to cram me full, 110 if you like. I'm not crowded at all. I have 250 more.' ?

[Fed]

F: Drive is a seperate drive, you will need to keep your C: Drive under 90 GBs.

[dl65]

demoiselle65.....

My question, for which I haven't been able to locate an answer in forums, is this: From the point of view of the machine and its functioning, is the F drive basically just an extended C drive, or is it actually considered as a separate, other drive?

 

You external drive is not a extension of your C: drive it's a separate storage drive which windows has called F drive .

sometimes just shut down by itself. I'm not sure, but am thinking it powered off because of the memory being so full.

When your machine shuts down by itself , did you get any sort of error message .... or have you looked in your event viewer to see if it lists any error code ?

dl65  

[GX1_Man]

These two issues are probably not related. Many more details about your other hardware could be important.

[Neil]

Although people always tell you to keep a certain percentage of your drive free, and it's a good idea to do so, a "healthy" computer should be able to still run with 1GB free or less (believe me, I've been down to megabytes free before) without errors such as these occuring. After all what's the difference between having a 400GB drive with 90GB used and a 100GB drive with 90 GB used? As long as there is enough free space when it's needed, no difference.

[Serrik]

Yep, a nearly full hard drive could greatly slow down your computer but I have never seen it outright crash it or reboot it.

You have something else going on.