Computer query.....again!

[porshiepoo]

Just looking for a bit of advice again.
I managed recently to reinstall windows ME back onto my system as I'd managed to format the drive kind of by accident.
Anyway in 'my computer' it is now showing local disk c and local disk D. I don't remember seeing two of them before I reinstalled.

I think I may have partitioned the drive when I reinstalled (I say 'think' because it definately came up with the option and I clicked OK) would this make a difference and be the reason why it's showing two drives? I only ask because I've not really installed much software back onto the computer yet ( I have photoshop 7, my camera software and a couple of other bits) and I had a warning come up today that drive C is low on space (Or something along the same words) and it had to clear some space.
Does this have anything to do with those two drives and if so how do I use the two drives?

Thanks.

[RIR]

What's capacity should your hard drive be?

And what are the capacities of your "Local Drive C" and "Local Drive D"? You can find that out by right clicking on each one in "My Computer", and selecting "properties".


Ian.

[porshiepoo]

What's capacity should your hard drive be?

And what are the capacities of your "Local Drive C" and "Local Drive D"? You can find that out by right clicking on each one in "My Computer", and selecting "properties".


Ian.

The puter isn't a great one and it only has 20gb

It says C= 1.99gg
D = 18.6gb

It never used to have the two drives I'm pretty sure.

[RIR]

In that case, you have partitioned your Hard Disk into two partitions, C and D. Your Win ME installation is probably on the C partition. Any other programs that you install will have to be installed on the D partition, and any files that you wish to save will have to be saved to D as well.


Ian.

[j4bberw0ck]

This could be a bit of a problem, Porshiepoo..... a C partition of 1.99GB will be barely big enough to contain Windows Me, at a guess, and will quickly fill up, at which point the machine will grind to a halt.

Having 2 partitions is definitely a good move as you'd keep your data (docs, pics, backups) in the D partition so they're not lost.

I'm puzzled though because if you have a recovery disk it will make the disk on your machine look exactly as it did on leaving the factory. Seems unlikely a manufacturer would put a 1.99GB partition in place.

Do you have any recollection of defining partitions during your reinstall?

[RIR]

Should be OK with 1.99Gb if all other programs are installed to the D partition. Win ME requires between 320Mb and 420Mb (up to 2Gb if using Movie Maker).

What will eat the space is Photoshop 7 if it's using C for its Scratch Disk.


Ian.

[porshiepoo]

This could be a bit of a problem, Porshiepoo..... a C partition of 1.99GB will be barely big enough to contain Windows Me, at a guess, and will quickly fill up, at which point the machine will grind to a halt.

Having 2 partitions is definitely a good move as you'd keep your data (docs, pics, backups) in the D partition so they're not lost.

I'm puzzled though because if you have a recovery disk it will make the disk on your machine look exactly as it did on leaving the factory. Seems unlikely a manufacturer would put a 1.99GB partition in place.

Do you have any recollection of defining partitions during your reinstall?

oh dear!
Is there anyway that I can set it back to just the one drive??

[Bobinovich]

There is software (one is Norton's Partition Magic) which can rejoin the two partitions and keep the contents of both safely intact. That's probably your best bet Porshie

[porshiepoo]

There is software (one is Norton's Partition Magic) which can rejoin the two partitions and keep the contents of both safely intact. That's probably your best bet Porshie

Okey dokey. Thanks for that.
I've just moved all my software (photoshop, camera etc) over to the D drive so it's cleared up the C drive a bit. I'll just have to try and remember to save things to the D drive in future.

[blueivy]

Okey dokey. Thanks for that.
I've just moved all my software (photoshop, camera etc) over to the D drive so it's cleared up the C drive a bit. I'll just have to try and remember to save things to the D drive in future.

Hi Porshiepoo,

Since you've only just installed a few applications I'd start again from scratch and make sure you have a larger C: partition. The headaches it will cause you later far outweigh the problem of reinstalling the operating system.

Everything by default wants to install itself to the C: drive by default. It will only take one reasonably sized app to install there to cause you problems. You are also going to have to move your swap file, your temp directories, log locations, patch locations etc. etc. etc.

I'd just bite the bullet and start again.

Norton's Partition Magic will cost you between £40.00 and £50.00. I sell Partition Manager at £25.95 + VAT which does the same job. However, you need to be cautioned into doing it as there is always the possibility that software like this can cause problems (although I've never had a problem and I'e used it dozens of times!).

I'd recommend you start again.

[blueivy]

Should be OK with 1.99Gb if all other programs are installed to the D partition. Win ME requires between 320Mb and 420Mb (up to 2Gb if using Movie Maker).

What will eat the space is Photoshop 7 if it's using C for its Scratch Disk.


Ian.

Hi Ian,

This isn't the only problem though. Remember your swap file, your patch directories (for Windows Update), your temp directories, your My Documents, your log files and a dozen other things that use the C: drive.

1.99Gb in the real world is not enough.