I have recently upgraded to Windows XP Pro. The young guy who did the installation split my drives into C and D. C has a capacity of 4.87GB. At this time has only 1.16GB free.
D drive has a capacity of 23.7GB and has 22.5GB free.

I am wondering if the reason my machine is running so slow is because the C drive is so full? Would I be better served to change it's capacity?

I use the D drive for all my downloads and have all sorts of stuff there. Yet some of the downloads seem to find their way into the C drive; filling it up even more.

I really don't understand why he did this. Nor do I understand how I could change this to improve the situation.

Any ideas on this one please?? Remember, in computer knowledge, I'm just a baby. Ralph

The idea was probably to put the Operating System on a seperate partition to keep it isolated (protected) from anything else that might happen on that drive. Partitions seem to pertain to what you are doing with your computer; as well as personal 'taste'.

As to any effect on the speed of your computer I am not sure that partitions would have much effect. How much RAM do you have? What's the speed of your CPU? The RPM of your drive? etc. You can run the D-A-L Hardware scan if you wish:

D-A-L Hardware Scan

If you choose to remove the partition you can remove it via XP but will lose all data on that partition. Or you can use a 3rd party Partition tool that will save your data.
Partition Magic is the most common but it is also $80.
I found this free one that is a bit more "hands on" but if you want I'll help you thru it.

partition tool

----------------------------------------------------Hi Jephree. If it was fairly straight forward I would like to allocate more space on the C Drive. It seems to be a bit lop sided to me.... Would that be any sort of advantage?? Is the following info what you wanted?? I'm completely lost. Regards Ralph
OS Information:
PropertyValue
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional|C:\WINDOWS|\Device\Harddisk0\Partitio n1
Service Pack 1.0
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS


Processor:
PropertyValue
Current Clock Speed 434
Description x86 Family 6 Model 6 Stepping 5
Manufacturer GenuineIntel
Name Intel Celeron processor


Memory (RAM):
PropertyValue
Bank Label RAS 1 & 0
Capacity 67108864

Bank Label RAS 3 & 2
Capacity 67108864

Total Memory Deteced in Hardware: ~128 MB
Memory Reported to Operating System: 127MB

Disk Drives:
PropertyValue
Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model Maxtor 2F030L0
Media Type Fixed hard disk media
Size 30746096640 (~29 GB)
Number of Partitions 2


Installed Printers:
PropertyValue
Name Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
Port Name Microsoft Document Imaging Writer Port:
Default False
Driver Name Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Driver

Name HP DeskJet 697C
Port Name LPT1:
Default True
Driver Name HP DeskJet 697C


Motherboard:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer
Model
Name Base Board
Part Number
Product 692-596-8671
Serial Number
Version


BIOS:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Award Software International, Inc.
Name Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
Release Date 19991026******.******+***
Version AWARD - 30302e31


Monitor:
PropertyValue
Description Default Monitor
Name Default Monitor
Screen Height 600
Screen Width 800


Keyboard:
PropertyValue
Description PC/AT Enhanced PS/2 Keyboard (101/102-Key)


Pointing Device:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Microsoft
Name Microsoft PS/2 Mouse


Sound Card:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Microsoft
Description Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device
Device ID MODEMWAVE\0\{1DCCD2E8-027D-434E-A4FF-304E1082F269}

Manufacturer ESS Technology, Inc.
Description ESS 1969 PCI AudioDrive (WDM)
Device ID PCI\VEN_125D&DEV_1969&SUBSYS_8888125D&REV_01\2&EBB 567F&0&80


Video Card:
PropertyValue
Adapter Compatibility NVIDIA
Adapter RAM 33554432
Description NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64
Installed Display Drivers nv4.sys
Driver Version 5.01.2001.1240
Driver Date 8/17/2001 12:50:26 PM
Video Mode Description 800 x 600 x 4294967296 colors


DirectX Installation:
PropertyValue
Version 6.03.01.0146


Modem:
PropertyValue
Model E-Tech PCI56SRXV modem
Name E-Tech PCI56SRXV modem


Network Adapters:
PropertyValue
Description WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Description Packet Scheduler Miniport

External Ports:
PropertyValue
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator Detected
External Reference Designator

Expansion Slots:
PropertyValue
Slot Designation ISA
Slot Designation PCI
Slot Designation PCI
Slot Designation PCI
Slot Designation PCI
Slot Designation AGP
-------------------------------------------------------

your RAM is a problem: you have 128 whereas XP wants a minimum of 256.
that is probably the major speed problem.

not a big deal tho; you can get another 128 for about $30 or $40.
you just need to match type & speed.

as to the partition: I, personaly would remove the partition. The easiest way would be to move any data on D: to C: & then delete D thru XP's Disk Management.

or as I said above you can try a 3rd party utility.

Let me know if you need more info.

We went form 64 to 128 and was told the mother board would not take any more. I would not have a clue how to remove the partition and delete D Jephree, but if you have the patience I'd try and give it a go....

Time is against me right now: nearly dinner time. Will look in in a couple of hours. But if not it will have to be tomorrow afternoon (my time). Thanks for all you help so far. It's great to know that such help is available for the likes of myself, that knows very little about the workings of these beasts. Regards, Ralph

ok i can see from your scan that the capacity of RAM is indeed 128.

i do not know if you would consider removing XP & contacting Microsoft as to using your Product Key on another computer.

XP will function on 128 RAM but as I said 256 is a recommended minimum & that is probably your 'speed' issue.

as to Deleting the partition: open Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management: then right click on D: & choose Delete Partition. This will DELETE ALL DATA from D:!!!

so before doing this move what you want from D to C. by right clicking files or folders you will see the option to MOVE. change the file location from D: to C:

it.s after midnight where i am...

Thanks Jephree. Will try that tomorrow. Have a good night. Regards Ralph

Jephree or anyone else -

I too had a similar issue. I was able to delete the D partition, but the space allocated to that drive didn't go to the C drive. How do you then allocate the freed space to the C drive? Thanks

Greetings Lhorn,

I was somewhat mistaken in the above posts.
You can use XP's Disk Management to add & remove partitions.
You will need third party software to expand your existing partition.

Here is a listing of a few on the market;

Boot/Partition tools

Perhaps one has a free trial. The only freeware I've seen is this (DOS style):

Partition Manager

Also; if it's important enough, you can reinstall XP.

Hi Jephree: Ralph here. Sorry to take so long getting back to you. What with trying to paint the house and Xmas approaching fast there's been a lot of other things to do....

I cannot find what to do to right click on a file and then "move to". I thought at one stage months ago I came across that function but I can't for the life of me find it now.
I have backed up my D drive to C D using Nero Back-up. When I try to restore to files (to C drive this time) I get told "Backup information file (*.nbi) is stored in the root file of the last backup disc. This file is needed for restoring or continuing the backup".
I just do not understand any of this stuff and as a result am to afraid of really mucking things up, to try anything out.
I wonder if the best thing for me to do is unistal XP Pro and then reinstal??? With only one drive?? Trouble is I don't even know how to go about doing this either.
What do you think Jephree... Give it a go or just carry on with things as they are?
Sorry to be so long winded..... Thanks for your time.... Have a great Xmas and Happy New Year. Regards Ralph