difference between OS (C) drive and Data (D) drive on laptop

sofaboy73
sofaboy73 Posts: 574
edited January 2011 in The Crudcatcher
not biking related in anyway what so ever, but whats the difference between the C and D drives on my laptop.

My laptop has started to slow down and figure it's because iv only got 10 gig ior so free on the C drive, where as there's 110 gig free in the data drive.

guessing i need to move some stuff over to it? if so how do i do it, and what would store on it?

cheers

Comments

  • redvee
    redvee Posts: 11,922
    Simply cut, CTRL+C, and Paste, CTRL+V after selecting the folders you want to move across. It sounds like your downloads are going to the OS drive and not the Data drive. Change this setting in your browser.
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • sofaboy73
    sofaboy73 Posts: 574
    cheers for the prompt response. should i be storing my music, picture etc in the data drive?
  • thekickingmule
    thekickingmule Posts: 7,957
    Yes. I'd store things like music, pictures, films, general documents on the D: Drive.

    The C: Drive is your system drive, where all your programs are stored, and where the operating system is stored. It's best keeping some room on it, as when it gets full it slows everything down. However 10Gb on it should be plenty.
    Have a clear out, maybe you have loads of programs running at once, if that's the case, you need more RAM, not more disc drive space.
    It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded.
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  • soy_sauce
    soy_sauce Posts: 987
    only move things such as music and photos to the D: drive and leave all the other installed software folders in the C: drive.

    but if you really want to move them to the D: then you should uninstall them first and re-install them on the D:.

    also after you done all that, run a Disk Defragmenter.
    "It is not impossible, its just improbable"

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  • delta5
    delta5 Posts: 265
    10Gb on C: should be plenty. That alone won't slow it down.
    Check these things:

    In task manager, look at what is using CPU time. You may have installed some software which is running programs and / or services automatically on start-up. Some of these are unneccesary and can be removed from the startup folder in your profile (browse there using Windows Explorer). For services the startup property can be changed to manual or disabled (start, run, type services.msc).

    get rid of .tmp files created in abundance by IE.

    is your anti-virus good and is it up to date? run a rootkit scan - your computer might be unwittingly operating as a netbot for that nice bunch of chaps in Ukraine.

    is your cpu air flow & cooling good, clean, free of dust etc. overheated cpu = slow machine.

    defragment the C drive

    check that you have a decent sized page file. Best let Windows set the size it needs.

    do you have enough RAM for the software you are running?
    My abundant supply of MTFU is reserved for use in dry, sunny conditions.
  • redvee
    redvee Posts: 11,922
    Download and run CCleaner. It will get rid of a lot of garbage off your C Drive especially on the first run.
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • anjs
    anjs Posts: 486
    Chaces are C and D are actually set up on the same physical hard drive. Another vote for CCleaner here.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    There is no need to have a seperate data partition. I have no idea where laptop makers got this idea that copying workstation setups was a good idea
    (on video or audio workstations, it is common to have a very high performance RAID setup, usually as drive D:, where all material currently being worked on are kept - this isn't neccesary on a day to day machine)
  • Chunkers1980
    Chunkers1980 Posts: 8,035
    I think that was the case a few years back when people only had 1 HDD - it meant that you could format the OS partition and not worry about your music/photo/videos ect.

    In a modern computer (desk top) I'd always recommend at least 2 HDDs, one can be relatively small in modern terms and just run the OS with all data (none programs) on another.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    Just adds unnecesary complexity though. If your hard drive fails, it fails, taking everything with it.
    If you care about stuff, you should back up your photos, docs etc onto an external.
  • KnightOfTheLongTights
    KnightOfTheLongTights Posts: 1,415
    useful info on here - I have the same problem exactly!
  • BigJimmyB
    BigJimmyB Posts: 1,302
    So did I, but it wasn't download etc causiong the prob.

    Yeehah, I tried the 'shrink the D drive and grow the C drive' but I could only shrink D :-(

    Never mind, it prompted me to have a clear out.

    A new machine beckons methinks....
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    BigJimmyB wrote:
    So did I, but it wasn't download etc causiong the prob.

    Yeehah, I tried the 'shrink the D drive and grow the C drive' but I could only shrink D :-(

    Never mind, it prompted me to have a clear out.

    A new machine beckons methinks....
    That's very odd. I know I've done that exact thing before. The option still comes up, actually, except it's grayed out because I have no unused room left on any drive

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