Organising partitions/Transfer files from C: to D:/etc? - Because my C: drive is full

[FreshFrost]

When I bought my laptop, its 160GB HDD came separated in two partitions (is that the correct terminology?) = C: drive and D: drive.

I left it that way, and so far have only used C: because 1) I have no experience in using more than one drive, 2) that's where most programs download to anyway, 3) it contains the My Documents folder where I organise all my personal files into My Pictures, My Music, My Videos, etc. folders., and 4) I had not yet run out of space.
However, despite deleting what I can and buying an external HDD on which to archive and back things up, my C: has now used 65.3GB out of 71.9GB of storage. Meanwhile D: has 71.6GB out of 72GB free (side question: my D: drive is completely emtpy - no hidden files, temps, NOTHING - so where did my 408MB go? ...).

I've read up on partitions a little and believe that that's how my laptop's memory is organised. I'd like to ask ...
is my assumption correct? and if not, what is the explanation for the memory being split into C: and D: ?

• which files are best (or at least safe) for moving from my C: to my D: drive?
• how do I go about safely moving them?
• will everything continue running smoothly after I move these files? or do I need to point programs, applications, etc. to the new location of the files?
• is there anything else I should worry about (or at least take into consideration) before/when doing this?
• there seems to be a lot of talk about the benefits of organising your files in partitions. how can I organise my C: and D: drives effectively?
• lastly, I noticed that my C: drive runs on FAT32 and my D: runs on NTFS. Why is this? And does it affect what I intend to do to either of them?

As you can see, I'm a total partition-newbie. So thanks in advance to anyone who's read this ^ and posted that v .

 

[bkshredder]

Re: Organising partitions/Transfer files from C: to D:/etc? - Because my C: drive is

First, the size of the HDD is always and estimate and usually rounded up. You haven't lost any space on it. Second, partitioning is the correct terminology. You still have one HDD, it's just "split" in two for ease of file storage. Files that are best to to move are files that you have placed on the computer such as music, pictures and documents. These files are usually stored under My Documents. Some people store items on their desktop, which isn't actually good for the computer. You should alway store most everything in sub-folders and place shortcuts on your desktop. To start, Right click on the START and click on Explore. This is basically the filing system for your computer. When the window opens it should show the files under the current user (i.e.: Desktop, Favorites, My Documents, etc.) This is all under the C:/ drive. Scroll down and you should see the D:/ drive. Before you move anything, confirm the free space on each drive in the Disc Management window. To get there click on START and right click on My Computer. Click on Manage. In the left screen of this window you should see Disc Management. As long as there is free space, you should be able to move music, pictures and documents from the C:/ drive to the D:/ drive. Just right click on the item you want to move and Cut and Paste. Also, note you shouldn't move files you didn't put there such as the actual My Documents or Desktop folders. Move only the files you put on the computer.
Hope this helps.

 

[FreshFrost]

Re: Organising partitions/Transfer files from C: to D:/etc? - Because my C: drive is

It certainly does! Thank-you!