Novice wants to increase disk space on C drive

[giddyup]

Don't want to attempt this if it's going to cause problems, but my C drive is showing red as nearly full all the time. The available  space on C drive is only 5.66 GB, whereas D drive has 127 GB. How much space can I take from D and allocate to C, and is there anything I should be aware of before doing this?

[SMIAI]

Two options. The second is best overall. The first is easiest.

1. 

Create new folders on the D drive corresponding the the folders that are filling the C drive. i.e. Videos, Music, Downloads etc and then copy the contents of the folders from the C drive to the folders on the D drive. Once complete and you are sure that everything has copied over correctly, you can delete the contents of the corresponding folders on the C drive(and consequently, the Recycle Bin), regaining that space.

2.

Map the contents of the folders on the C drive to the D drive. 

 

How to do this:

Manually create a new folder called 'Users' on the D drive.

Inside the new 'Users' folder, create a new folder for your user account (name it your username for example)

Inside this username folder you just created, manually create the following folders: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favourites, Music, Pictures, Videos.

Now back in your C:\Users\Username folder, right click your Desktop folder and select Properties. Go to the Location tab, press the Move button, locate the new Desktop folder you created on the D drive. After you press OK, you will be asked if you want to move all the files from the old location to the new location. Select Yes.

Repeat for the Documents, Downloads, Favourites, Music, Pictures and Videos folders.

After you complete these steps, all data in Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favourites, Music, Pictures, Videos will be moved off of your C drive and onto your D drive and future files created in these locations will be created on your D drive. 

 

 

[giddyup]

Think this might be beyond me. I thought it was just a simple process of shrinking the D drive and then allocating the space to the C drive.

[BritManToo]

Buy a bigger hard drive and clone the small original drive onto the new bigger drive.

Don't partition hard drives, it's outdated practice, 1 partition occupies entire disk space.

Also disk use depends on if it's a laptop, desktop, or NAS.

 

On a desktop, operating system on SSD, data on much larger SATA.

But we can only guess as you haven't revealed the size and type of your drive C, and if it's mechanically separate to your drive D or just the same drive partitioned.

[johng]

2 minutes ago, giddyup said:

shrinking the D drive and then allocating the space to the C drive.

You could do that with a partitioning program  but it quite risky.

 

I would first try searching for temporary files  on C drive    the web browser can store loads of temporary "stuff"

and there may well be  windows ? updates and "restore points"  that you could get rid of.

Going forward always try to install new programs to the D drive ( or whichever has the most space) normally you have to choose  custom install to get to choose.

[SMIAI]

I think you'll have exactly the same challenges with extending the C drive. All options are straightforward if you can follow  a guide.

 

 

[Zaphod Priest]

You're misusing this type of configuration.  The C drive is intended for the operating system and programs.  The D drive is for user data.  What @SMIAI originally suggested is absolutely the best way forward long term.

Unless you're an expert, don't try extending the C drive (a process known as repartitioning) - you run a serious risk of losing everything, operating system, programs and user data.

[johng]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Don't partition hard drives, it's outdated practice

 

Why do you think that ?   very common to partition drives of all sorts.

[BritManToo]

11 minutes ago, johng said:

 

Why do you think that ?   very common to partition drives of all sorts.

Common but pointless and outdated.

Best practice is to have your OS on expensive fast storage like SSD, for lightning fast boot and operation, then keep data on a mechanical drive where size is more important than speed of access.

 

My desktop pc runs on a 256gb SSD, with a 10TB NAS for slow data (movies, music, TV, photos, documents) and a 10TB usb drive for games and data backup.

[SMIAI]

Hmmm...some interesting 'advice' being given here.

 

Disk Clean Up should help, but soon enough the OP will be back in the same situation.

 

But yes, he should start with that for now.

 

Type Disk Clean-up after click the Start button or in the search box and then choose that option. Click okay to choose the C drive and then at the bottom of that dialogue, choose Clean up system files and then again OK to choose the C drive. There you will see option for what you can choose to delete.

 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/edXWKQm6jRU

 

 

[FlorC]

Shut down system restore (or limit it) and disable hybernate.

Get some of the junkware of the manufactor off your C.

 

 

[Mutt Daeng]

39 minutes ago, SMIAI said:

Two options. The second is best overall. The first is easiest.

1. 

Create new folders on the D drive corresponding the the folders that are filling the C drive. i.e. Videos, Music, Downloads etc and then copy the contents of the folders from the C drive to the folders on the D drive. Once complete and you are sure that everything has copied over correctly, you can delete the contents of the corresponding folders on the C drive(and consequently, the Recycle Bin), regaining that space.

2.

Map the contents of the folders on the C drive to the D drive. 

 

How to do this:

Manually create a new folder called 'Users' on the D drive.

Inside the new 'Users' folder, create a new folder for your user account (name it your username for example)

Inside this username folder you just created, manually create the following folders: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favourites, Music, Pictures, Videos.

Now back in your C:\Users\Username folder, right click your Desktop folder and select Properties. Go to the Location tab, press the Move button, locate the new Desktop folder you created on the D drive. After you press OK, you will be asked if you want to move all the files from the old location to the new location. Select Yes.

Repeat for the Documents, Downloads, Favourites, Music, Pictures and Videos folders.

After you complete these steps, all data in Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favourites, Music, Pictures, Videos will be moved off of your C drive and onto your D drive and future files created in these locations will be created on your D drive. 

 

 

Good advice IMHO, especially option 2.

[johng]

10 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Common but pointless and outdated.

 

Not pointless if you  want to restore an image quickly...  and I think you'll find that Windows actually partitions the C drive  but the extra partition/s are hidden  from "normal" users.

 

In this example below  I have 2 partitions  on a 16 gig sdcard  just big enough can quickly recover from  corruption without having to restore a whole 16 gig  of "nothing"

 

[KhunBENQ]

37 minutes ago, SMIAI said:

Type Disk Clean-up after click the Start button or in the search box and then choose that option.

Yes that's the first thing to try for laymen. Use all available options incl system stuff, win update stuff...

(I don't have the exact wording at hand)

 

Did you say how big the C drive is in total?

 

Another simple thing: use Windows search to find huge files (> 1GB or so).

Maybe you find some of your videos that can either be deleted or copied to D and then deleted on C.

Videos and huge downloads are the #1 space eaters.

[BritManToo]

24 minutes ago, johng said:

 

Not pointless if you  want to restore an image quickly...  and I think you'll find that Windows actually partitions the C drive  but the extra partition/s are hidden  from "normal" users.

 

In this example below  I have 2 partitions  on a 16 gig sdcard  just big enough can quickly recover from  corruption without having to restore a whole 16 gig  of "nothing"

 

SD cards are different and most experienced users understand that.

Bootable partition, manufacturers encryption software partition, os install partition, data partition.

 

I have no need to backup my boot SSD, win10 bootable SD card can install a fresh new install in 10 minutes (add 5 mins if I want Microsoft to create an entirely new updated boot SSD from the net). Then 20 seconds for GitHub powershell to activate.

 

[SMIAI]

I guess it's a 256GB drive that has two drive letters. 

Possibly this device: https://www.advice.co.th/product/all-in-one-pc/all-in-one-pc-lenovo/aio-lenovo-ideacentre-aio-24irh9-f0hn001yta-

 

Hence the likelihood of the OP changing to a larger drive is negligible.

[SMIAI]

Why do we need word salads here, from people trying to appear to be experts?

Keep it simple.

[bubblegum]

Just put your data on D drive simple cut/paste and done.

[johng]

On 6/11/2025 at 12:08 PM, SMIAI said:

Why do we need word salads here, from people trying to appear to be experts?

Keep it simple.

 

A big KISS to you too 😋

[BritManToo]

On 6/11/2025 at 12:06 PM, SMIAI said:

I guess it's a 256GB drive that has two drive letters. 

Possibly this device: https://www.advice.co.th/product/all-in-one-pc/all-in-one-pc-lenovo/aio-lenovo-ideacentre-aio-24irh9-f0hn001yta-

 

Hence the likelihood of the OP changing to a larger drive is negligible.

You don't it has usb ports?

[SMIAI]

I wasn't referring to a @johng.... keep your hair on 😊

[johng]

3 minutes ago, SMIAI said:

keep your hair on 😊

My hair is always on...do you want some lipstick for your KISS 💋 

😋

[SMIAI]

What does a USB port have to do with anything? For that, he would still need to extend C to cover the whole drive. So why bother with an external drive at this stage? He needs to solve the problem firstly. 

Small chance that he might map the folders, very small.

 

Here, you need to tailor the advice to the person. Looking back at their history, I'm not convinced anything is going to happen beyond a clean up.

 

 

[SMIAI]

So now we just have more idiocy, instead of useful advice. Can no longer say the board is sinking under the weight of it's own 💩 Certain posters are helping it right along there.

[HappyExpat57]

And for the LOVE OF GAWD, be sure your important info is backed up somewhere before you start tinkering.

[johng]

@HappyExpat57 

 

 very good advice 👍

 

[BritManToo]

23 minutes ago, SMIAI said:

What does a USB port have to do with anything? For that, he would still need to extend C to cover the whole drive. So why bother with an external drive at this stage? He needs to solve the problem firstly. 

Small chance that he might map the folders, very small.

 

Here, you need to tailor the advice to the person. Looking back at their history, I'm not convinced anything is going to happen beyond a clean up.

 

 

You suggested he couldn't expand storage because it was all in one

But you can expand storage with a 20TB usb drive.

Or have unlimited storage over a network.

 

So I'll reiterate my advice,

Reformat internal drive to 1 partition of the whole drive.

Buy an external usb drive of whatever size for storage.

 

And stop being annoying in the tech areas

@Nownow aka @SMIAI, aka @JakeC

 

 

[SMIAI]

Where did I suggest that?

I suggested that he wouldn't expand the storage, based on his past history. He definitely not going to follow your advice, as that will have to go to the shop to be done, including the remapping. "Novice"...remember?

Oh dear...you are really sinking to new lows, BritMan...and we thought you couldn't get any lower.

[Magictoad]

On 6/11/2025 at 10:40 AM, giddyup said:

Don't want to attempt this if it's going to cause problems, but my C drive is showing red as nearly full all the time. The available  space on C drive is only 5.66 GB, whereas D drive has 127 GB. How much space can I take from D and allocate to C, and is there anything I should be aware of before doing this?

Just plug in an extra drive

[CanadaSam]

EVERYONE that stores important information on their PC/Laptop should have a portable backup drive.

 

That said, OP is correct, the problem is EASY to correct using very simple free software, i.e. Minitool, or Easeus, it's called "partition manager".

 

Simply enter how much you want to reduce D drive space, and how much you want to increase C drive space.

 

Done it many times, never lost any files!