Best way to install a new C: drive?

[Captain Satellite]

I'm sure that is a matter of opinion but I would like some recommendations as to the best way to install a larger C: drive. I have an additional internal 250 GB hard drive and an additional 250 external hard drive. The c drive is only 15 GB big with only 2.25 gb left on it. I don't even install my programs on there. So what are my options guys? I'm not looking for the cheapest way but the easiest. (Don't say buy a new computer)

[TBoneit]

A. You will need XP with SP2 to use a drive that big
B. Do you want to Keep your own already installed and configured windows?
C. Or install a fresh copy?

If B than something like Norton Ghost can do the job or I haven't tried it out yet, testing is one my ToDo list... Free trial of Acronis @ http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/ supposed to be able to clone a drive and resize if needed.

D. Good Luck

[Captain Satellite]

The original drive which I want to replace is 120 gb. It is formatted so that c drive is 15 gb and d drive is 92 gb. I heard that I could just use that whole drive for c but that it is more difficult. As much as I live on and rely on this computer, I don't even know how to answer B or C.

[lordsmurf]

I think it would be easier to add a new drive, stick whatever is on D onto the new drive. And then use a drive software like PartitionMagic to fix the old one. That is easiest.

Best would be to leave the C: drive, add a new D: drive, copy whatever you need from C onto new D, and then fully format C and re-install the OS on it, along with whatever software.

[Captain Satellite]

lordsmurf, is my OS (Windows XP) on my restore discs? I have 250 gb internal, 250 external available, well almost. I really have NOTHING on C except Windows and the Sony software but over time, it just fills up. I delete temp files but i suppose you never get all of that space back? So after copying my D: drive files to the new hard drive, I would fully format C: drive? Is Windows on my restore disc?

[redwudz]

Some computers don't come with the OS on the restore discs. It's on a hidden partition on the boot drive. What's the brand and model of the computer? Someone here should have a similar system. I'm assuming it would be a major name brand as they are usually the ones with the restore discs.

I would leave the C: drive alone if you are not sure. Other than that, I would go with lordsmurf's recommendations. If you have room in the case and a spare IDE channel, you could just put the new drive there.

You may be able to clone the C: drive and transfer the OS and the hidden partition (If there is one) to the new drive, but it could get complicated.

It sounds like you should do some housecleaning and get some of the unnecessary stuff off your drives. If the problem is the C: partition size, Partition Magic may be able to resize it to maybe 30GB or so to give you some future space, with no damage, but I haven't tried that myself.

[kimco52]

Lordsmuf summed it up pretty well. Copy everything off your D drive to another drive..... On that other drive, make a directory called Old D or something like that and copy everything from D into that folder until you rearrange everything (unless you start with a fresh blank new one where you would just copy it straight over.)

Then, use partition magic to repartition that drive to make the whole thing one large partition keeping your C drive.

I also like lorsmurfs second idea. That is what I would do. However, I would do it as in the first example but additionally copy everything off C onto that other drive. Then, delete all partitions and start with a fresh install of your OS on your Main disk (C).

Actually, I would start with a new drive, Install the operating system on it and get it up and running and then put my old drive in as an additional drive and copy what I want off of it, then repartition that drive and reformat it. That starts everything off fresh and clean.

There are different options to do what you want, as you can see. Some are easier than others. I would choose one that gets what you want done with minimum chance of losing anything.

I have 6 drives in my computer. 3 are on mobile docks so that I can swap them out. My C drive is one, so that I can use different drives depending on what I want to do. The other two are my E and F drives. Those are used for things I want to store or just do different things. I use those for my video editing and capturing. That way, when I am through with a project and have saved it to something, I can reformat the drive and start fresh for the next project. Much faster than defragmenting a drive.

also, much easier to start with a new OS if something happens to the old one.

[Richard_G]

I have an 80GB and a 200 GB in mine. The 80 GB drive has two 40 GB partitions which are C and D, the 200 GB is one big single partition. I use C for operating system and programs, D for storing documents, pictures, etc and E for video.

Why not format your 120 GB drive with a larger C and smaller D? 15 GB is a bit small these days, but the drive itself is easily big enough. With the two drives you have I would go for C=50 GB, D=70 GB and leave the 250 GB drive as it is. I would also recommend doing a clean install on the drive once you have partitioned it. You can't beat an install from scratch to clean things up and get it running faster. It also means you don't have to bother loading software that you loaded because you thought it might be useful but never use.

[INFRATOM]

for OS drive your hard drive should be ok. What's taking all that space? Just move them to your other drive either use move command or cut and paste to your internal drive That's it no installation needed nothing to buy suddenly you open up 10 gig for windows only. eg cut program files folder on c drive and paste it to local 250 gig drive. You can change setting and assign your temp, cache . page file any other to use 250 gig drive so you open space on c drive but when you that your speed is as fast as your hard drives can deliver!! if you have or buy a very fast hard drive like Raptor and use primarily use for OS then your computer will be faster hard drive access wise, when you click windows come up instantly or programs start faster ... etc

[smearbrick1]

Just an addendum:

If you don't have SP2 installed, don't worry. SP2 is not required for a drive of that size (as mentioned earlier). You can simply install the drive on an ultra ata card. Or, you can install the drive along with Intel's application accelerator. It worked fine for me until SP2 came along.

[Captain Satellite]

You guys are great with these lengthy responses. I really appreciate the time that you took to reply. I'm not a complete dummy and have installed hard drives, DVD drives, etc. Considering that I don't have Windows on separate discs (it came already installed), I like the idea of just making the C: drive one partition. Can I re-partition C: drive w/o re-installing Windows or losing anything else that is presently on there? From what I gather, Partiton Magic is what this calls for.

[ROF]

@Smearbrick1

How do you work with 250GB drives without 48bit LBA? I know you can use PCI cards with a BIOS that supports them but without windows support isn't it useless?

[INFRATOM]

As I mentioned above one option is not to buy anything, if you want to change c drive some drives they have a utility that you can transfer hard drive to hard drive then the other becomes your new hard drive. some will allow you to partition it. You can always use partition magic.

[Richard_G]

Can I re-partition C: drive w/o re-installing Windows or losing anything else that is presently on there? From what I gather, Partiton Magic is what this calls for.

That's right. You can't change partition sizes without wiping whats on the drive unless you use Partition Magic (or something similar).

[ROF]

Re-Partitioning a drive always results in loss of data on the partition you have deleted in order to create new one(s).

[Captain Satellite]

As I mentioned above one option is not to buy anything, if you want to change c drive some drives they have a utility that you can transfer hard drive to hard drive then the other becomes your new hard drive. some will allow you to partition it. You can always use partition magic.

Thanks, I was typing while you posted. As to what is taking up the space, I don't know. When I click on properties, everything added together doesn't add up to 13gb. Partition Magic sounds like what I need. Got a link?

[Captain Satellite]

Here's what confuses the hell out of me; Windows takes up 3.3 gb (that sounds low), Programs 2.1 gb, Documents and Settings 1.3 gb. I sincerely don't have anything else on here. How does that add up to 13gb?

[TBoneit]

@Smearbrick1

How do you work with 250GB drives without 48bit LBA? I know you can use PCI cards with a BIOS that supports them but without windows support isn't it useless?

Maybe he was just using 137Gb of the drive?

[TBoneit]

If you have restore disks and they are nor marked as SP2 they won't support using the whole 250Gbs as a drive letter.

[Captain Satellite]

If you have restore disks and they are nor marked as SP2 they won't support using the whole 250Gbs as a drive letter.

Soounds like I'm going to go the Partition Magic route. I'm googling and finding some downloads at 18.95 and 69.95. Any idea why?

[psx_pirate]

open a command promp (start>run>(type cmd)>enter ... in the command promp window type in chkdsk c: .... this will tell you if there are any errors on the disk .... there probably won't be any but you may find that windows is showing the free space incorrectly ... chkdsk (checkdisk) will show this and you will have the option to fix it ... if this is the problem then once it is fixed you will most likely see that you have more free space than before ..... this is a common problem with windows

[INFRATOM]

it must be your backups and serice packs under windows. If you go to environment setting in prop of my computer you can change temp. backup and restore location that doubles the size of your window atleast and reg backup too. your backup maybe hidden that's why you don't see it if system files are hidden. if that c drive is a partition and don't have any non windows stuff use magic partition. remember mostly viruses hit c drive so any thing outside c drive is safer for your data.

[Captain Satellite]

What is that above my C: drive? There's almost 5 gb of space there.

http://myfavoritevideoclips.com/pics/hdcap.jpg

[smearbrick1]

@Smearbrick1

How do you work with 250GB drives without 48bit LBA? I know you can use PCI cards with a BIOS that supports them but without windows support isn't it useless?

Maybe he was just using 137Gb of the drive?

That's sort of what I was getting at. I was just trying to add that it is not entirely impossible to install a drive larger than 137Gb on a non-sp2 PC.

I installed several 160Gb hard drives on my older PC (prior to SP2) and could only access up to 137Gb of the drive. The workaround was to use Intel Application Accelerator and an Ultra ATA card. I'm not sure how it worked (I'm not well-versed in the finer points) I just know it worked.

[lordsmurf]

How do you work with 250GB drives without 48bit LBA? I know you can use PCI cards with a BIOS that supports them but without windows support isn't it useless?

I have a 200GB and 180GB drive on a Promise PCI card.
I have an external 400GB USB2 drive into a PCI USB2 card.

Not sure if that relates, but I use each drive as a "letter" drive, no partitions.

[smearbrick1]

How do you work with 250GB drives without 48bit LBA? I know you can use PCI cards with a BIOS that supports them but without windows support isn't it useless?

I have a 200GB and 180GB drive on a Promise PCI card.
I have an external 400GB USB2 drive into a PCI USB2 card.

Not sure if that relates, but I use each drive as a "letter" drive, no partitions.

It's possible to use third-party drivers to add >137GB support (along with an ATA card) to an OS that does not have 48 LBA native support (EX: Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Win2k prior to SP3, XP prior to SP1). Intel Application Accelerator is an example of this (this only works if you have a compatible Intel Chipset).

Edit: SCSI drives (sometimes Windows will detect ATA controller cards as such) are not affected by the 137GB limitation.

[redwudz]

What is that above my C: drive? There's almost 5 gb of space there.

That may be the hidden restore partition I mentioned earlier. In that case, it may be where the OS install data is, if it's not on the restore discs. You wouldn't want to delete that.

[TBoneit]

How do you work with 250GB drives without 48bit LBA? I know you can use PCI cards with a BIOS that supports them but without windows support isn't it useless?

I have a 200GB and 180GB drive on a Promise PCI card.
I have an external 400GB USB2 drive into a PCI USB2 card.

Not sure if that relates, but I use each drive as a "letter" drive, no partitions.

No partitions, but definately one partition or it wouldn't have a drive letter.

[INFRATOM]

when HD is formated it gets divided into equal sectors or pieces it ends up with an unequal portion, that is what you see there. The bigger the HD the bigger will be wasted. if you got Partition Magic you could play around with sectors etc but I suggest not to mess with those things. On HD size , now service pack2 supports size above 137GB, you don't need a separate pci card.

[RLT69]

Captain Satellite wrote:

I'm sure that is a matter of opinion but I would like some recommendations as to the best way to install a larger C: drive. I have an additional internal 250 GB hard drive and an additional 250 external hard drive. The c drive is only 15 GB big with only 2.25 gb left on it. I don't even install my programs on there. So what are my options guys? I'm not looking for the cheapest way but the easiest. (Don't say buy a new computer)

lordsmurf, is my OS (Windows XP) on my restore discs? I have 250 gb internal, 250 external available, well almost.

Well that last comment most of took balls. Why on earh would you ask someone, who has never seen your restore disc, what is on that disc! Here's a thought, browse the disc!

For anyone to help you in this endeavor it would help to know the make and model of computer you are using. Is it a Compaq, HP, Gateway, Dell...

Compaq's are known to create a "restore" partition that contains all the factory installed software. That partition, inconjuction with a restore CD will allow the owner to restore the computer to its' original factory condition. Also, the newer model compaqs have instructions on how to reclaim the "restore" partition using the restore CD. You should read the documentation that came with your computer to determine what you can and cannot do with the restore CD.

DO NOT remove the restore partition until you can confirm this.

Now if you have some type of cloning software, such as norton ghost, you can clone the old hard drive to the new hard drive. I would suggest doing a "partition" clone and clone both the restore partition and the partition C is on, onto the new hard drive.