Member Avatar for Bouraq

Help Please. This request will indicate my knowledge is strictly limited. I have an ACER 5500Z that works just fine. The original config showed (and still does) two HDD's (C and D). My belief is that this is more a compartment config rather than two separate physical drive units. My C drive is almost full, my D drive is almost empty. How does one normally 'manage' this situation and gain more optimum use of the D drive ? Any help greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

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Dani AI

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Short, practical checklist for the C:/D: situation on the Acer 5500Z (builds on 's suggestion to move data).

First, confirm whether D: is a separate physical disk or a partition on the same disk. Open Computer Management -> Disk Management (or run diskmgmt.msc). Look at the bottom: if C: and D: are listed under the same "Disk 0" they are partitions; if they appear on Disk 0 and Disk 1 they are separate physical drives. That determines your safe options.

If D: is a partition and you want more room on C:, consider these safe paths: 1) Back up everything first (image the drive). 2) Check D: for OEM recovery tools or folders named like "RECOVERY", "FactoryImage" or "Acer" — do not delete those unless you have recovery media. 3) Either move data off D: and delete the partition so you can extend C:, or use a reputable partitioning tool (GParted, MiniTool, EaseUS, etc.) to resize/merge without losing data. Built-in tools are limited; imaging before any change is essential.

If you prefer not to resize partitions, move large user data in a way Windows will track it: right-click Documents (or other user folders) -> Properties -> Location -> Move, and choose D:. Change browser download and media library locations. For advanced users, create an NTFS junction so a folder on C: is transparently redirected to D: (Vista+):

mklink /J "C:\Path\Folder" "D:\Path\Folder"

Run that from an elevated prompt and use caution.

Short-term freespace tips: run Disk Cleanup, uninstall unused programs, clear temporary files and old restore points, and defragment if on a mechanical disk. If uncomfortable with partitioning, copy important files to an external drive and seek hands-on help.

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Member Avatar for John A

Usually the easiest files to move are your data files, since they don't require any special configuration after they're moved. Programs might work too, but it's probably easier to reinstall them on the D drive rather than manually moving them, because they'll be expecting files in the wrong spots.

To move files in Windows Explorer, simply drag and drop the files from the C drive to the D drive. This will copy them, not move them, so once the copy is completed, you can delete the old copy that exists on the C drive.

Hope this helps

Member Avatar for Bouraq

Thanks joeprogrammer, I'll give it a try in a while (after I've finished my morning mail).

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