Setting Up HDD For Storage

securityman · Apr 1, 2016

I'm confused. New/rebuild of PC went great. Win7 installed on 500GB SSD. All programs running including 1st game. Now the hard part for me to understand.

Original HDD was cleaned off using DBAN and after all programs installed I installed and plugged in old HDD to use as a file holder. Somehow I've gotten to rename the HDD as (D )drive. DVD-RW is now (F) drive. The HDD became "System Reserved (D: )".

Problem is when I open HDD (D) it is empty but when I open Properties it shows 70.9MB used with only 29MB of free space left. What the heck is contents of 70.9MB?

I thought...maybe I need to format HDD, but I get so far and then I get a window that states "
Windows was unable to complete the format".

Also the only way I can put a file in HDD is by dragging it in. That's kind of time consuming.

Many thanks for reading my post.

Stephen

USAFRet · Apr 1, 2016

1. You installed the OS with both the 50)GB SSD and the old HDD connected.
2. This usually results in having the System Reserved partition (100MB) living on the second drive. The HDD in this case.
3. You CANNOT delete that from a running Windows instance.

Can you post a screencap of your Disk Management window?

SchizTech · Apr 1, 2016

Go back to disk management (right click Computer > Manage > Disk Management). Look for that hard drive and delete every partition, then once you see one big unallocated space right-click and "new simple volume." That will set up a new D partition using the whole drive.

-- oh, misread part of the OP. Yeah, looks like USAF is right.

USAFRet · Apr 1, 2016

SchizTech :

NONONONONONO
Not yet

Let's see the Disk Management window first.

securityman · Apr 1, 2016

Sorry for the delay in responding people. It's TGIF and the wife and I had to have our beers on the porch.

I have a screen shot of the disk management page but I don't know how to post it. Help

USAFRet · Apr 1, 2016

securityman :

How to:
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2580030/detailed-instructions-posting-images-tom-hardware.html

securityman · Apr 1, 2016

http://i68.tinypic.com/2ebg080.jpg

USAFRet · Apr 2, 2016

OK, not as I thought. but easy to fix.

2 drives, both 500GB
Disk 0 is your SSD, and Disk 1 is the HDD

Your 'D' is simply the System reserved partition on the SSD, but it has a drive letter.
Disk 0, the HDD, is simply Unallocated.

2 things to do:
1. Right click on the D partition and remove that drive letter
2. Right click on the Unallocated Disk 0, and see what options it gives you.
Create Simple Volume, probably.

securityman · Apr 2, 2016

USAFret...How does this look?

http://i66.tinypic.com/18zrxu.jpg

USAFRet · Apr 2, 2016

securityman :

That looks exactly as it should.

securityman · Apr 2, 2016

Is there anything I can do with the D drive. I understand people make partitions (?) for pics, music, etc?

USAFRet · Apr 2, 2016

securityman :

You can use it for whatever. Put your doc/music/video on there.
See this-
Win 7 & 8: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1 & 10: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html

Having multiple drives is VERY common. My main PC has 5, my house server/HTPC has 6.

securityman · Apr 3, 2016

USAFRet :

securityman :

You can use it for whatever. Put your doc/music/video on there.
See this-
Win 7 & 8: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1 & 10: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html

Having multiple drives is VERY common. My main PC has 5, my house server/HTPC has 6.

securityman · Apr 3, 2016

If it's not being too personal, USAFret...can you show me a screenshot of what it looks like?

USAFRet · Apr 3, 2016

securityman :

From Speccy:
My main system:

(from the top down)
960GB Sandisk SSD - Games and other stuff
250GB Samsung SSD - OS and applications
250GB Samsung SSD - photo work
120GB Kingston SSD - scratch space for Videostudio and Lightroom
3TB WD HDD - backups, mostly
(Kindle is there just because he is charging)

My house server/HTPC:

securityman · Apr 3, 2016

My 10 yr old PC was dying and I decided to try a gaming build. The only components I reused were my 500GB HDD and DVD-RW.
My new build is:
Gigabyte Z170MX-Gaming 5 Motherboard w/ 2 x 8GB Ram
EVGA GeForce GTX 960
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD
Intel Core i5-6600K Processor
Corsair Redshift ATX case

securityman · Apr 3, 2016

I may sound dense USAFret but what I'm confused about is what D drive will look like. Looking at my second screenshot of my Disk Management....
I hope this sounds clear:
When you look at Disk 0 (or C Drive) it is devided into 2 sections, System Reserve and (C: ).
Disk 1 is one section titled New Volume or (D: ).
If I partition (D: ) will it have say 3 sections (or partitions) each one titled? For instance (D: )Photos, (D: )Music, (D: )Documents?

USAFRet · Apr 3, 2016

securityman :

You can partition the D if you wish, but I would not. At all.
Just have top level folders. Doc, Music, Photos.
Partitioning places unneeded restrictions on usable space.

Basically, the D is one large space. Put different things in different folders, rather than partitions.
Standard maxim of partitions: Whatever partition you are trying to use will be just a bit too small.

securityman · Apr 3, 2016

That's a very clear response and I understand. Thanks so much for your expertise and time USAFret. Take care.

Setting Up HDD For Storage

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