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Vista Hard Disk Drives
14 Answers
I'm not very technical so I will try and sxplain as simply as I can!!!
My daughter has a laptop.It came with Windows Vista already installed.
The other day she clicked on the computer tab and noticed that it says there are 2 Hard Disk Drives, Vista (C:) and Data (E:)
underneath it says - 'devices with removable storage (1)'
The Vista (C) one seems to be nearly full, (4.19 GB free of 32.7 GB)
What does all this mean, what if anything does she need to do?
All help will be gratefully recieved.
Thanks x
My daughter has a laptop.It came with Windows Vista already installed.
The other day she clicked on the computer tab and noticed that it says there are 2 Hard Disk Drives, Vista (C:) and Data (E:)
underneath it says - 'devices with removable storage (1)'
The Vista (C) one seems to be nearly full, (4.19 GB free of 32.7 GB)
What does all this mean, what if anything does she need to do?
All help will be gratefully recieved.
Thanks x
Answers
1 to 14 of 14
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The C and E are one hard drive 'partitioned' in to two sections. The reason for this is that should Vista crash or become corrupted which is on the C partition and you need to restore the Operating System (Vista itself) the data (her documents, pics, music etc) is stored on the E partition and is therefore not effected (unless the hard drive itself fails rather than the Vista Operating System corrupting) meaning that it is safe even if Vista corrupts.
Leave it as it is, all is fine and as it should be.
Leave it as it is, all is fine and as it should be.
She will have one PHYSICAL hard disk, but the hard disk has been divided up into PARTITIONS.
My guess is that she has a CD / DVD drive, and this probably the D drive.
When you have a single PHYSICAL drive you can either have the whole hard drive as ONE PARTITION, which will probably be called the C drive.
So that means if the hard drive is say 40Gb then C will be 40Gb, the whole drive.
Or you can set the hard drive up so that it has 2 PARTITIONS. So if the hard drive is 40Gb one partition could be 10Gb the other 30Gb (or 20Gb each or whatever).
Basicially you can divide a hard disk up into as many partitions as you like (within reason), of any size, and you can call them any letter your like.
It is traditional to have the partition with Windows on it as the C drive, but the rest can be anything; D, E, F, G etc
The CD/DVD can also be anything you like (apart from C), so D, E, F, G etc
In your case part of the hard disk is C, then the CD / DVD drive is D (I guess) then another part of the hard disk is E.
more,,.
My guess is that she has a CD / DVD drive, and this probably the D drive.
When you have a single PHYSICAL drive you can either have the whole hard drive as ONE PARTITION, which will probably be called the C drive.
So that means if the hard drive is say 40Gb then C will be 40Gb, the whole drive.
Or you can set the hard drive up so that it has 2 PARTITIONS. So if the hard drive is 40Gb one partition could be 10Gb the other 30Gb (or 20Gb each or whatever).
Basicially you can divide a hard disk up into as many partitions as you like (within reason), of any size, and you can call them any letter your like.
It is traditional to have the partition with Windows on it as the C drive, but the rest can be anything; D, E, F, G etc
The CD/DVD can also be anything you like (apart from C), so D, E, F, G etc
In your case part of the hard disk is C, then the CD / DVD drive is D (I guess) then another part of the hard disk is E.
more,,.
continued
If you right click on the E drive icon it should tell you how big it is and how much space is left on it.
My guess is that at the moment she puts everything on the C drive and the E drive is proboably empty.
If she wants to she can also store things on the E drive as well.
So, for example, if she downloads pictures from her digital camera to her hard disk, by default they probably go on the C drive, but she can if she wishes change it so they go on the E drive.
Or if she creates a new word processing document (or any other personal file) that can also go on the E drive.
If the C drive is getting full then I would suggest she starts putting personal files on the E drive as well (music, digital pictures etc)
If you right click on the E drive icon it should tell you how big it is and how much space is left on it.
My guess is that at the moment she puts everything on the C drive and the E drive is proboably empty.
If she wants to she can also store things on the E drive as well.
So, for example, if she downloads pictures from her digital camera to her hard disk, by default they probably go on the C drive, but she can if she wishes change it so they go on the E drive.
Or if she creates a new word processing document (or any other personal file) that can also go on the E drive.
If the C drive is getting full then I would suggest she starts putting personal files on the E drive as well (music, digital pictures etc)
Well consider the other answer given by vhelfulguy too but I would have thought that the PC comes set up so that 'My Documents' save to the E drive. Basically, if so, then the C Drive contains only the operating system (Vista) and any other applications that might be installed (Office etc). I would have thought that 4GB would be plenty moving forward as applications are generally not that large.
Re-partitioning a hard drive requires specialist software so unless it becomes a problem I would leavge it just as it is.
Regards
Marcus
Re-partitioning a hard drive requires specialist software so unless it becomes a problem I would leavge it just as it is.
Regards
Marcus
continued
You can also MOVE things from one partition to another, so from C to E.
Generally it is very easy, but if you have never done it before it may seem a little difficult.
You have to be careful what you do move, so dont move important system files or windows files.
But you should be able to move your personal files like music, videos, digital pictures etc from C to E.
Note you dont HAVE to do this, but if C continues to fill up you may have to do it some time in the future.
Try to get someone who works with computers a lot to show you how to move files. Once you have been shown how to do it then it will seem fairly simple.
You can also MOVE things from one partition to another, so from C to E.
Generally it is very easy, but if you have never done it before it may seem a little difficult.
You have to be careful what you do move, so dont move important system files or windows files.
But you should be able to move your personal files like music, videos, digital pictures etc from C to E.
Note you dont HAVE to do this, but if C continues to fill up you may have to do it some time in the future.
Try to get someone who works with computers a lot to show you how to move files. Once you have been shown how to do it then it will seem fairly simple.
marcus, in Vista they have got rid of "My Documents" so this may confuse them.
cameo, a vista user has a piece of the hard disk created for them by Vista to save their personal files.
This can be selected from the main Vista menu, on the right, where it says Documents, Pictures, Music, Games
By default this is normally stored on the C drive, so all your personal files go on the C drive.
As marcus says, Vista could be setup so this is already held on the E drive (we have no way of knowing without seeing your computer).
I realise this may be getting a bit complex for you so I wont go any futher, but a simple answer to your question is that you can store personal files on the E drive if the C drive fills up.
cameo, a vista user has a piece of the hard disk created for them by Vista to save their personal files.
This can be selected from the main Vista menu, on the right, where it says Documents, Pictures, Music, Games
By default this is normally stored on the C drive, so all your personal files go on the C drive.
As marcus says, Vista could be setup so this is already held on the E drive (we have no way of knowing without seeing your computer).
I realise this may be getting a bit complex for you so I wont go any futher, but a simple answer to your question is that you can store personal files on the E drive if the C drive fills up.
Thankyou both very much!!!
That's a bit clearer.
I love the way i keep hearing how todays kids live in a computer age and they understand technology a lot better than their parents but when something isn't right or they're not sure about something it's "MuM!!" Like I'm supposed to know the answer!!!
Anyway thankyou both x
That's a bit clearer.
I love the way i keep hearing how todays kids live in a computer age and they understand technology a lot better than their parents but when something isn't right or they're not sure about something it's "MuM!!" Like I'm supposed to know the answer!!!
Anyway thankyou both x
ZZZZZZ wuh? ... sorry - dozed off
the guys are right .... but forget about partitions and what you could have
sounds like you HAVE 2 partitions ...
c is almost always the system partition - that's the one with vista ... and probably your main progs.
the other "hard drive" E (should ideally be D) is your data drive ... use this one for storing music video etc. and loading games
don't let c get too full - get in the habit of using the second partition - E
whatever you do DON't copy and paste my documents ... or any other system folder
the my documets folder is now named with your logon ID
inside this folder is one called documents
to move it
right click on documents | properties | Location .... and shift it to e
the system will do it's thing ... and update itself with the new location.
it is a good idea .... as above ... so do think about it
as an extra ... just for the sake of convention and ease
it would be useful to change E drive to D - so the HDD is c&d and the dvd drive is e (tidier but not essential)
if you decide to have a go .... do this FIRST then everything will follow
it's a bit of a shuffle
so DVD becomes H
here's how
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windowsvista/ht/ chdrlettervista.htm
E becomes D
DVD goes to E
and now it's all logical
now you can lift and shift to your hear's content
the guys are right .... but forget about partitions and what you could have
sounds like you HAVE 2 partitions ...
c is almost always the system partition - that's the one with vista ... and probably your main progs.
the other "hard drive" E (should ideally be D) is your data drive ... use this one for storing music video etc. and loading games
don't let c get too full - get in the habit of using the second partition - E
whatever you do DON't copy and paste my documents ... or any other system folder
the my documets folder is now named with your logon ID
inside this folder is one called documents
to move it
right click on documents | properties | Location .... and shift it to e
the system will do it's thing ... and update itself with the new location.
it is a good idea .... as above ... so do think about it
as an extra ... just for the sake of convention and ease
it would be useful to change E drive to D - so the HDD is c&d and the dvd drive is e (tidier but not essential)
if you decide to have a go .... do this FIRST then everything will follow
it's a bit of a shuffle
so DVD becomes H
here's how
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windowsvista/ht/ chdrlettervista.htm
E becomes D
DVD goes to E
and now it's all logical
now you can lift and shift to your hear's content
1 to 14 of 14
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