This might be a dumb question but can I switch the hard drives without having to reinstall windows? I have a 120 GB as my windows HDD and 1 TB as storage. I did this to minimize the load for booting up, but it seems that all 111 GB of available space is full with just windows. I have large programs like Sketchup and the like on the TB. However that's 94% free right now.
Switch hard drive as primary
- Thread starter kyle mend
- Start date
Solution
hang-the-9
Titan
- Mar 25, 2010
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If you just have Windows on the small drive, no way will it use up 100 GB unless you are saving stuff to it, or you have some oddly large hybernation or other system files.
You can clone your drive to a larger one, I use Macrium Reflect.
You can clone your drive to a larger one, I use Macrium Reflect.
I have downloads for files go to C but movies, Sketchup, Beersmith, other large programs like google earth should be on B as well. I should have also clarified I have Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit, 16 GB RAM.
On my computer information, C:Windows takes up 45 GB, Users takes up 7.7 GB, Program Files (x86) 2.16 GB, Program Files 1.77 GB, PerfLogs 0, MSI 121 KB, MATS 8.53 KB, AMD 407 MB. So....how is it full? That's only 56 GB and change.
On my computer information, C:Windows takes up 45 GB, Users takes up 7.7 GB, Program Files (x86) 2.16 GB, Program Files 1.77 GB, PerfLogs 0, MSI 121 KB, MATS 8.53 KB, AMD 407 MB. So....how is it full? That's only 56 GB and change.
- Mar 16, 2013
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OK...your 120GB SSD is FULL. Dangerously full.
You just need to move some stuff off it.
Install and run WinDirStat.Run as Administrator, and select only the C drive.
Post a screencap of the result here.
Also, B is not a good drive letter for your secondary drive
https://www.howtogeek.com/122891/what-are-the-windows-a-and-b-drives-used-for/
You just need to move some stuff off it.
Install and run WinDirStat.Run as Administrator, and select only the C drive.
Post a screencap of the result here.
Also, B is not a good drive letter for your secondary drive
https://www.howtogeek.com/122891/what-are-the-windows-a-and-b-drives-used-for/
- Mar 16, 2013
- 171,437
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1. All your application installs will default to the C drive. This is by design. It is supposed to do this.
Anytime you install something, you have the opportunity to change that, for this particular installation.
You can't default ALL future installs to the other drive. Nor should you.
2. Space suckers:
In your WinDirStat window, those 2 large orange spaces tot he right are the hibernation file and the pagefile.
That's sucking up 30GB right there.
I recommend turning hibernation OFF.
Here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/920730/how-to-disable-and-re-enable-hibernation-on-a-computer-that-is-running
3. At the left of that window, what is that large mass of bloe spaces?
Click on one of them, and at the very bottom left, it will tell you what that file is.
4. You also have ~10gb of text document. Light blue ones in the middle. What are those?
Anytime you install something, you have the opportunity to change that, for this particular installation.
You can't default ALL future installs to the other drive. Nor should you.
2. Space suckers:
In your WinDirStat window, those 2 large orange spaces tot he right are the hibernation file and the pagefile.
That's sucking up 30GB right there.
I recommend turning hibernation OFF.
Here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/920730/how-to-disable-and-re-enable-hibernation-on-a-computer-that-is-running
3. At the left of that window, what is that large mass of bloe spaces?
Click on one of them, and at the very bottom left, it will tell you what that file is.
4. You also have ~10gb of text document. Light blue ones in the middle. What are those?
Sorry for the late reply, I was gone all week.
1. Files. I do change paths to B: when able, but it seems like program files make it to C regardless.
2. Hibernation. I do use the sleep function daily as it I don't like booting up from scratch (although it boots up in under a minute). I guess I can change that.
3. Blue files. I don't know, just a bunch of .dll, .ttc, .ttf files from the winsxs folder.
4. Text files. I'm seeing a folder named CBS with .log files.
I changed my drive name to F instead of B. I also got rid of the hibernation command, but the files are still there. Not sure what to erase.
1. Files. I do change paths to B: when able, but it seems like program files make it to C regardless.
2. Hibernation. I do use the sleep function daily as it I don't like booting up from scratch (although it boots up in under a minute). I guess I can change that.
3. Blue files. I don't know, just a bunch of .dll, .ttc, .ttf files from the winsxs folder.
4. Text files. I'm seeing a folder named CBS with .log files.
I changed my drive name to F instead of B. I also got rid of the hibernation command, but the files are still there. Not sure what to erase.
- Mar 16, 2013
- 171,437
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How to turn it OFF, and get rid of the remaining file
https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/819-hibernate-enable-disable.html
so none of these are related to the files? I already disabled it via command prompt and restarted. What gained me the most room (9 GB free now) was removing some programs that I'll reinstall to F eventually.
Now you can see that the big red one is still the pagefile.sys. There are a few other big chunks like some AppData from google earth (which I already uninstalled). I'm going to go through this a bit and delete things. I've looked at WinDirStat before but never used it as a seek-and-delete tool. I should do this more often.
- Mar 16, 2013
- 171,437
- 17,905
- 184,590
pagefile - 15+GB.
Turn it down. If you have sufficient RAM, you won't even notice.
I've had my pagefile at 1GB min/max for years. Starting in 2012 when I had 16GB RAM.
And there is still 9.9GB of "text documents". That green stuff in the middle.
15+10 is 25% of your whole drive right there.
Turn it down. If you have sufficient RAM, you won't even notice.
I've had my pagefile at 1GB min/max for years. Starting in 2012 when I had 16GB RAM.
And there is still 9.9GB of "text documents". That green stuff in the middle.
15+10 is 25% of your whole drive right there.
OK i changed the min to max size as 1-3 GB. Got C drive down to 67 GB free out of 111 GB. What is an acceptable size for Windows files? Assuming that from now on everything "accessory" goes to Storage F:. I mean I'll have things like Microsoft Office and the basics on C drive. But other softwares will be on F from now on. Also, should I be routinely looking for all these "junk" files like the logs and cab files to remove them or should adjusting these settings be enough?
- Mar 16, 2013
- 171,437
- 17,905
- 184,590
For that SSD, you don't want to go over 80GB actual used space.
Most applications don't really take up that much space. MS Office is one of the larger offenders.
Just be sure to have other things go to the HDD.
Doc/Music/Video/Photo...Those things DO take up a lot of space.
1 video can be twice the size of the whole MS Office suite.
But yes, for that 120GB drive, you do need to monitor the space consumption a lot more than with a larger drive.
Most applications don't really take up that much space. MS Office is one of the larger offenders.
Just be sure to have other things go to the HDD.
Doc/Music/Video/Photo...Those things DO take up a lot of space.
1 video can be twice the size of the whole MS Office suite.
But yes, for that 120GB drive, you do need to monitor the space consumption a lot more than with a larger drive.
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