altering drive letters - C: (boot) drive too small

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With multiple drives in use here along with two versions of Windows I keep a degree of files in storage folders and assign one drive as the storage/backup medium. By moving unnnecessary files from the OS drive into custom folders on a second partition even if not a totally separate drive you free up valuable space for the paging file used for virtual memory if created and installing larger programs with space still left free.

Here I plan to even go with a larger drive for throwing just about anything on that to free up the second sata now used for storage as seen here.

 
Hi Makaveli213 - Are either Acronis or Ghost available as a demo download? I don't own either one. (and PS Your wife has a great smile - too rare these days!)
I dont think there is a Demo download for them. but your best bet would be to check Softpedia or download.com to see if they have a demo there. If you are using XP there is also a Drive Image app that works great for that OS that doesnt work on Vista. Drive Imager i think is the Title. EricB got me turned toward that app.
 
Here's an odd one found! XXClone is a freeware for cloning and backing up XP drives seen at XXCLONE, A New Way of Cloning the Windows System Disk

I should suggest that to a friend who saw XP keep locking up and even going to choose any options in the F8 boot menu and a repair install would freeze solid. bad cpu, memory, drive? That's another mystery to solve soon.
 
But at the same time moving the stuff over does it fix all the applications? does it fix the boot? I mean everything will be remembering the C:\ drive while that just looks like it moves it to another drive letter. How can everything still run??
 
Companies with corporate licensing will see drive cloning performed since they many identical systems. For the average desktop it's simply far easier to perform a clean install to insure the best results as well as the new mbr needed. When going to install Windows on the second drive the first should be unplugged already however.

Otherwise you end up with C being D instead since the boot information will be on the first drive not the second with the fresh copy of Windows. I ran into one recently when forgetting to unplug the ide drive where Vista is on when installing XP on the first of tow satas. Windows Explorer listed the drive there as D.

(Unplug the ide drive and reinstall Windows all over again...:rolleyes: )
 
I fully understand that. I do drive images and clones all the time. But that program looks as if it doesnt clone but it moves the data. Which is not like a clone. Moving the info will not keep the same drive letter.
 
The problem being seen is simply the OS drive being filled to capacity leaving no room for the paging file. One freeware good for finding other things like now useless temp folders chewing up drive space is nicknamed the crapcleaner otherwise known as CCleaner. CCleaner - Home That also cleans up the IE history and off line content in order to free up drive space.

For increasing total capacity with a larger drive the smart move is to simply perform a clean install of everything which naturally then sees that as the new C drive when Windows is running on it. The cloning done by companies is usually seen with a server edition of Windows or Linux not XP. For desktop versions you still need to see the installer create the new mbr there.
 
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