Help plz totally confused

[Prog]

I've been looken for an answer in forums all over the web for days now, and  can't find the answer anywhere. I have a few questions if anyone could help me plz. Not sure what all info ya need so gonna put what I can find here. I'm runnen a sony computer with
(System Properties)- Windows XP Home edition with SP2 , Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.60GHZ 1.59GHZ, 1.00 GB of RAM

(Local Disk C properties)- Fat 32, Capacity 15.9 GB, used space 14.2 GB, free space 1.70 GB

(Local Disk D Properties)- NTFS, Capacity 60.3 GB, used space 1.82 GB, free space 58.4 GB

Id like to keep disk C as my primary and convert it to NTFS if possible since alot of programs automatically try and install on the disk C.

(1) Is there any way that I can transfer the 60.3 GB to disk C and put the 15.9 GB on disk D?  Keeping  disk C as my primary and switchiing  it to NTFS.

(2) Is there anyway I can transfer all the info on disk C to disk D, and make disk D my primary? So when I download everything goes straight to disk D, since theres so much more room on that disk.

(3) Can I  transfer the info from disk C to disk D and just change the names on the disk's from C to D and D to C  since disk D is already NTFS and has so much more room?

All in all I'd like to have disk C as my primary with 60.3 GB NTFS if possible.

Hope all the info ya need is here or if ya have any questions  plz let me know and ill  try to find it. Sorry for the long post didn't know how else to explain it though.
                                                               
Thanks,
          Prog

[Computer_Commando]

Do you have 1 or 2 physical disks?
Or is this one 80GB drive with two partitions?

This will do everything you want.
http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/

[Prog]

Not sure, how do I check if I have 1 or 2? As far as I know I have one 80GB drive with 2 partitions. I bought the comp about 3 years ago, and think I only put in a video card and 2 memory sticks. The comp was bought from a store stock so im figuren one drive, it wasn't ordered with anything extra on it.

[pcdoc4christ]

Prog:

To find the answer for Commando, do this:

1. Click Start and right-click My Computer.
2. Select Manage.
3. In Computer Management, click Disk Management.
4. Maximize the Computer Management window.
5. If you have two physical hard disk drives, you will see one named Disk 0 and one named Disk 1 and one named CD-ROM 0.  If you have one large hard drive with two partitions, you will just see Disk 0 and one named CD-ROM 0.

Regards,
Doc

[Prog]

Looks like there's 1 physical disk. This is what it was showing.

Disk 0 Basic 76.33 GB

CD-ROM 0  DVD (E: )

CD-ROM 1 CD-ROM (F: )

thanks for helpen Computer_Commando and Pcdoc4crist, I finally feel like i'm getten somewhere now. I was stressen bad the last few days lol.

[pcdoc4christ]

Prog:

Please use the diskpart utility to gather info. regarding your hard drive partitions, then commando or i will tell you how to go about it:

1. Boot to your Windows XP desktop.

2. Click Start > Run > and type diskpart and press ENTER. (The diskpart utility will run inside the command prompt window.)

3. At the DISKPART> prompt, type list volume (with a space between the words) and press ENTER.

4. Diskpart should list...
VOLUME 0, ltr (drive letter) E, info (information) CD-ROM
VOLUME 1, ltr C, info System
VOLUME 2, ltr D, info Boot

5. Write it all down and then type exit and press ENTER to exit the diskpart utility, then close the command window.

If diskpart lists something different than the above (for example, if it indicates C is not the System partition) let us know.  Commando or i will tell you what to do next.

[Mac]

I've been looking   for an answer in forums all over the web for days now, and  can't find the answer anywhere. I have a few questions if anyone could help me plz.

Local Disk C: FAT 32, Capacity 15.9 GB, used space 14.2 GB, free space 1.70 GB

Local Disk D: NTFS, Capacity 60.3 GB, used space 1.82 GB, free space 58.4 GB

I'd like to keep disk C: as my primary and convert it to NTFS if possible since a lot of programs automatically try and install on the disk C:
 
(1) Is there any way that I can transfer the 60.3 GB to disk C: and put the 15.9 GB on disk D?  Keeping  disk C: as my primary and switching  it to NTFS.

(2) Is there anyway I can transfer all the info on disk C: to disk D:, and make disk D: my primary? So when I download everything goes straight to disk D:, since theres so much more room on that disk.

(3) Can I  transfer the info from disk C: to disk D: and just change the names on the disk's from C: to D: and D: to C: since disk D: is already NTFS and has so much more room?

All in all I'd like to have disk C: as my primary with 60.3 GB NTFS if possible.
                                                                
Thanks,

Prog

Hold it right there ProgMan, Your drive is fine the way it is now.

FAT32 on C: is easier to manage and converting to NTFS with data on the drive can be risky.

The smaller drive C: is the easier it is to maintain and to image.

So maybe you would like to try this.

Move the My Documents folder to D:

Move your Email folder to D:

Then do some cleaning up.

Set the System Restore cache to 1024Mb for drive C:
Set the IE temporary internet files cache down to a reasonable level. Cut the number of days of IE history down to what you really need.

Then do some serious deleting.

Run Disk Cleanup and remove all but the last restore point. Install CCLeaner and clean out all of the junk files. Remove the hotfix uninstallers ( $NTUninstaller$ ) from the hidden C:\Windows folder and carefuly remove their entries from Add-Remove programs.

Then remove the contents of the C:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Installations folder, the C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder, the C:\WINDOWS\Temp folder and the C:\Windows\Prefetch folder. Then run chkdsk and defrag.

With a 15.9 Gb capacity C: drive you need a minimum of 15% free-space to run Defrag on so that is 2.39 Gb, and you are a little low there.

Put your paging file (system managed) on drive D: and just leave a small fixed paging file on drive C: say 200 Mb Min & Max.

Now see just how much space you have.

My 80Gb drive has a 10240 Mb (10 Gb) drive C: and that is plenty with the above setup. I normally have about 40% free-space on that drive and I like to keep it that way.

After doing the above clean-up routine the free-space has increased to 51%.

[Prog]

Ran the Diskpart > list volume command and showed this.

Volume 0  E                         DVD-ROM  0B
Volume 1  F                         CD-ROM    0B
Volume 2  C  Fat32              Partition   16GB    Healthy System
Volume 3  D  NTFS               Partition    60GB   Healthy

I got PowerQuest Partitionmagic 8.0 like Computer-Commando said to get. I read some of the help files but im still lost. If it really doesn't matter I'll stick with Fat32, whatever works is ok with me. I have alotta programs, games, music, and movies taken up alotta room. I have 3 times more space on drive D then I do on C, and it doesn't get used . There was a few programs I installed on drive D, but uninstalledem so drive D was empty till we saw what all can be done . I'll just reinstallem later. I'm thinken when I set it up a few years back I intended to use the NTFS 60GB, but somehow messed up on the drive labels between C and D and never noticed it till now. Don't know if I can switch some of the free space from D to C with partitionmagic or not, since their labeled as partitions. But C is Fat32 and D is NTFS, so not sure if it can be done.

[Mac]

You don't need Partition Magic to convert from FAT32 to NTFS.

I made a mistake sometime ago and left drive C: formatted to FAT32 when I had wanted all four partitions to be NTFS. So I just used the convert command to convert it to NTFS.

Just open a command prompt window and type: convert c: /fs:ntfs

In your situation I would do as I said earlier. Move the My Documents folder and Email folder and any other data to D: Clean up the C: drive and make a drive image.

Only convert C: if you feel you really need to. I would just leave it as it is.

It sounds as if you have an 80 Gb drive (Decimal size) which should give you 74.51 Gb (Binary size) of usable space.

Adding 15.9 and 60.3 gives 76.2 Gb. Have you run chkdsk recently (?) as these sizes don't seem to be being reported correctly.

If you want to seperate file types you could shrink the D: partition within the extended partition and then make two more partitions to give you C:, D: E: & F: , which is what I have.

I have the My Documents and Email folders on D:, Music on E: and Video etc. on F:

[Mac]

BTW, I use a program called BootIT NG from TeraByte Unlimited. Cost about US$60.

Essentially it is a boot manager, which I don't need, but it comes with a Partition Resizer which is fast and excellent, Image for Windows, to make drive images from a running system and Image for DOS with which to restore drive images from CDRs or data DVDs.

Four programs in one at $15 a piece!

[Prog]

Didn't know if it would be hard to move some free space from D to C or not. Or if I could swapem out to have all that free space on my primary disk. I don't know too much about the technical stuff. If it's gonna be too hard, or a high risk of me messen my comp up, I'll probably just do it the way I had it before, and do like ya said. I'll uninstall alotta my programs from C and reinstallem on D. Just figured it'd be nice to havem all in one place.

[pcdoc4christ]

Prog:  

Mac is correct.  Now, there are good reasons to convert FAT 32 to NTFS (e.g. it's more stable, it's more secure, it enables you to compress individual files and folders to save space).  However, if these features are not important to you, then keeping FAT 32 is your best option.  

It looks like you have XP installed on your C: partition.  To save space, you may move your My Documents folder to the D: drive.  That way, you may have more room for all your programs on the C: partition.  To accomplish this:

1. Click Start > My Documents > right-click My Documents and select Properties.

2. In My Documents Properties, click Move... .

3. In Select a Destination, click My Computer to expand the tree.

4. Click drive D: to expand it, then click on the folder where you want your documents to be moved.  

5. If you want, click New Folder to create a new folder on drive D: and name it something like Prog's Documents.

6. Click OK.  If you are prompted whether or not to move certain files, just click Yes. Wait a few moments while Windows moves the files to the folder on drive D: that you selected.

7. When Windows has completed the task, click OK to close the Select a Destination box and OK to close the My Documents Properties box.  The My Documents folder will still be on your start menu (and/or desktop) it will just be linked to the D: parition, where all the documents will now be stored.  

8. To move your documents back to the My Documents folder on drive C:, just open My Documents Properties as above and click Restore Default and OK.

Once all your documents have been moved.  You may log on to any other account to move the My Documents folder for that user, too.  You may have to temporarily change any Limited user accounts to Administrator accounts to make the change.  You likely will not be able to move the built-in Guest account My Documents folder without editing the registry.  If you have Windows XP Professional, you may create a new Guest account which will allow you to temporarily change it to have administrator privileges so that the My Documents folder may be moved.

Hope that helps,
Doc  

[pcdoc4christ]

Prog:

Other ways to make space on drive C: are...

a. Run the XP disk cleanup utility.
b. Run the XP disk defragmenter.

You may also increase performance by moving the virtual memory pagefile to the D: drive.

Let Mac or i know if you need help with these suggestions.

[Prog]

Switched my bigger programs back to disk D, and moved my documents to D. Just gonna keep installen new programs on disk D. Went away for a few days, just got home yesterday or woulduv answered sooner. Thanks for all the help.  

[pcdoc4christ]

No prob!  Stop in and see us any time.