IT Luddite

[overherebc]

Excuse what is probably a simple question to answer for many.

On my laptop the hard drive obviously has C and D.

C is almost full and D empty.

It's a company issued laptop they gave me when I left.

Is it a simple case of right click on a file in C and use 'send to' to move the file to D.

Thanks.

[Peterw42]

No, the "send to" will result in copying to D, not moving. Try cut from c and paste to d (Shift left click to select multiple files). Or open 2 file explorer windows and drag and drop.

Also, right click on c drive, properties, disk cleanup. to free some space on c

Edited November 21, 2016 by Peterw42

[chrisinth]

As said above, to move things from one partition to another it is a simple case of cut & paste. That said though, be careful what you try to move. By that i mean don't try to move any installed programs or system files. Office documents, pdf's, images and audio files (including folders holding them), no problems.

 

You also need to be aware that any shortcuts you have previously made for anything you are going to move will be invalid, just delete these and make new shortcuts from the new destination if applicable.

[overherebc]

Thanks for the answers. I can see myself really screwing this up so will probably get SWMBO to get the office IT section to do it.

Basically it's the massive photo files from holidays that my nearest and dearest downloads.

Edited November 21, 2016 by overherebc
Adding

[Crossy]

It may be easier to remove the D: partition and then expand C: into the free space.

 

Which Windows version do you have?

 

[overherebc]

2 minutes ago, Crossy said:

It may be easier to remove the D: partition and then expand C: into the free space.

 

Which Windows version do you have?

 

 

7

[Crossy]

Here you go http://www.andyrathbone.com/2010/01/06/managing-disk-space-by-deleting-one-partition-and-expanding-another/

 

All the free space that was D: will now magically be available to C:

[overherebc]

5 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Here you go http://www.andyrathbone.com/2010/01/06/managing-disk-space-by-deleting-one-partition-and-expanding-another/

 

All the free space that was D: will now magically be available to C:

 

Thanks very much.

[KhunBENQ]

A heretical proposal.

I would analyze what this waste of space on C: is.

With and without tools.

How big is C:?

Was it your laptop?

Any useful data for you?

 

Such company laptops can be a data scrapheap.

I would tend to reinstall anyway for such a piece.

 

[IAMHERE]

Backup that C: drive before you do anything. At the very least backup the file you are trying to move. I'd say backup all your pictures for a start, and then try moving them to your D: drive. The pics should be backed up on the cloud or a inexpensive thumb drive for safety.

[laislica]

Hmmm, tricky for a novice to sort out.

This is not a trivial five minute task without danger!

 

Perhaps:

Make a list of the programs you use.

List where photo files are and anything else that you want to keep - documents etc.

Ask the office IT person to remove all the other not used programs and associated data.

Also ask this knowledgeable person to move the data files to D: and correct all program/registry links.

Have them ensure that the windows system and used programs are up to date.

If you use something like MS Word/Excel etc, have them create data folders/files on D:

(Same for any other program that saves data by default on C:)

Have them perform a disk and registry cleanup.

Have them show you how to install new programs but with the data files on D:

Have them show you how to browse and delete individual photos to free up space.

Don't forget to have C: defragmented after all this movement.

 

Maybe such hand holding will help you learn how to manage things better in the future.

Make a notepad file with details of what to do and how to do it.

You can read these notes in the future when you can't quite remember everything.

 

PS

I have done work like this for novice friends and put the notepad file on the desk top.

The friend only has to double click that file and the notes pop up on screen.

I also include notes on how to create your own notes where you can put in short cut reminders and other things you are trying to learn.

Once you are happy that you will never forget a point, then delete the reminder and re-save the file.

Friends have found this to be very useful, especially in remote locations where there is no one knowledgeable nearby to help out..

 

Best of luck with what ever you decide to do.

 

Edited November 22, 2016 by laislica

[humqdpf]

If your computer works without a problem, then don't change a thing. There may be a reason why your hard drive was partitioned into C and D (assuming that is what happened and D is not some sort of moveable drive!)

 

[JSixpack]

Funny nobody has suggested first using a disk space analyzer. I usually use

 

http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

 

But there are a number of them, e. g., http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/index.html.

 

Probably data of some sort, esp videos & photos, that you can just move as noted above.

[seancbk]

On 11/21/2016 at 9:28 AM, overherebc said:

Thanks for the answers. I can see myself really screwing this up so will probably get SWMBO to get the office IT section to do it.

Basically it's the massive photo files from holidays that my nearest and dearest downloads.

Buy an external hard drive and drag all the image files your nearest and dearest has downloaded from the folder on the PC to a folder on the external drive.

Once they are all copied across you can then delete them from the computer (don't forget to empty your trash).

 

[KhunBENQ]

18 minutes ago, JSixpack said:

Funny nobody has suggested first using a disk space analyzer. I usually use

 

Maybe a bit too well hidden

 

19 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

A heretical proposal.

I would analyze what this waste of space on C: is.

With and without tools.

 

I still love this age old visualizing tool (SequoiaView), it's from 2002 and still works well on my W10.

http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

 

Used space on my C drive, shown down to 2 directory levels:

 

 

And don't try to delete Windows\SxS

[KhunBENQ]

First and simple step:

Use the Windows drive cleanup function.

After first run repeat for system files.

Double digit GB might be released.

 

After that the intelligent review with tools.

Find the multi GB dirty movies etc.

[Shiver]

Another way that will give you a visual idea of what is going on if you're not sure about cut/paste methods is as follows:

Open Explorer and select the C: drive and get it to show the files you want (hopefully a folder with all your images).

Open another Explorer and place it at the side, and look at the part of the D: drive you want the files to move to.

 

So, in the first window if you click on a folder or file you want, you can drag it to the destination area on the other explorer.  You will notice that there is a small "+" sign on the icon if the file you are dragging.  Now without letting the file drop just yet into the new folder, hold down the Shift key and you will see the + sign go away.  The + means it will make a new copy, no sign means it will move the file rather than copy.

 

An alternative is just to make a copy of the files on C: to D: and when you're sure you have all the files you want on D: then you can delete them from C:  That way you will at a certain point have 2 copies until you're confident you can wipe down C.

 

When all that is done and you're really sure, you can clear down the Recycle Bin so that they no longer reserving space on the Source drive.

That all sounds a bit complicated when written down, but it's really just a couple of clicks.

When you're more confident that it's doing what you want, you can simplify it further by using shortcuts with Ctrl (Shift, Alt) +C, A, V, Z, Y etc and get much faster at it.

 

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Whats a Luddite? is it Biblical?

[billd766]

44 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Dave said:

Whats a Luddite? is it Biblical?

 

Old English.

 

The Luddites were 19th-century English textile workers (or self-employed weavers) who, believing that technology would render workers obsolete, formed a movement between 1811 to 1816 to protest against newly developed technologies.

As a result of this group, the term has since developed a secondary meaning: a "Luddite" is one opposed to industrialisation, automation, computerisation or new technologies in general.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite

 

[Khon Kaen Dave]

billd766

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my question with such a knowledgeable post.Its at times like these when you realise that there are some intelligent guys(ladies too) out there and will take the time to educate some one less knowing.

Once again,thank you.