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Possible to move system files to D drive and space up c drive?
My laptop is inspiron 5204 with 512 GB SSD partioned in c,d,e,f drive.
My c drive is almost full 8 GB is free now.
Can I move system files to D or E drive?
If possible then how?
How can I increase C drive space ?
Can I increase partitioning again? How?
Please help..
Kflash08
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July 17th, 2021 18:00
You can't move the System Restore files, but you can configure how much space System Restore uses. Decreasing the amount of space reserved for System Restore reduces the amount of restore points that Windows creates, which limits the chances of successfully restoring to a working state should there be a problem with Windows or an application.
If you want to clean up additional non-essential files such as temporary files, you can use CCleaner. After which, use Disk Cleanup in admin mode to further remove unnecessary and unneeded files. While this won't drastically free up space, it maybe enough to temporarily stop the low disk space messages from appearing.
Kflash08
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July 25th, 2021 07:00
What is on the D, E & F drives? Those are way to big to be any kind of recovery or system partitions, so I'm kinda confused at what they are used for. Can you provide a screenshot in disk management?
You can't move the C: drive to the F: drive without reinstalling Windows first, and if you do, you would have the option to delete all the existing partitions and create one big one of 458 GB before installation. On the other hand, if D, E & F serve no recovery or system purpose, you can use disk management to delete those partitions and resize the C: drive to fill in where D, E & F existed, adding 357 GB to C:. Before deleting those partitions, you will need to copy/backup any files that you want to keep, either to C: or an external device, and uninstall any programs that have been installed to those drive letters as well. (They can be reinstalled later after the extension).
jphughan
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July 15th, 2021 06:00
@Swaraj66 You can't just move system files to another drive. You can potentially switch applications to other drives, but that would involve uninstalling and reinstalling them, since most applications will break if you just move the folder somewhere else. In terms of changing your partition sizing, look at MiniTool Partition Wizard. Or you could make an image backup of your entire system, then restore it and choose custom sizing for the restore.
Mary G
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July 15th, 2021 07:00
Have you checked Disk management to see the size of each partition? Are you storing personal files on the D drive or is it a big empty partition? Windows automatically installs and downloads everything to the C drive so you must always check where files are going so you can change the destination to the D drive. I'm hoping Windows 11 will address this. Some personal files might be able to be moved to the D partition.
Kflash08
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July 15th, 2021 08:00
You normally shouldn't be seeing a E: & F: drive, unless you manually created those partitions on the SSD. By any change, do those drives have labels? Like WINTOOLS, Image & DELLSUPPORT? If so, those are system partitions that are normally hidden and you shouldn't delete or alter their contents as that can cause things like system recovery to fail.
You can always upgrade the existing M.2 NVMe SSD to something bigger, though you will likely have to reinstall Windows, your programs, and copy all your files over to the new drive. The contents on the existing drive can be cloned to another SSD as your system has a second M.2 slot for another NVMe SSD. However, you may need to order a mounting bracket from Dell, though I assume that's only for a 2230 M.2 module. After cloning, you will have to switch out the existing NVMe SSD with the new NVMe SSD in that same slot so that the computer can boot off of it.
You can also install a new NVMe SSD in the second M.2 slot along with the existing SSD and just use it for additional storage as previously stated. If you have personal files that are very large, such as pictures, music and videos, I recommend that you move them there to free up space on the existing SSD. Any programs that you want on the secondary drive will have to be reinstalled and during installation, the install path would have to be changed from C: to .
Swaraj66
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July 17th, 2021 12:00
can I move these files C to D anyhow?
Will they work then?
Are those files necessary?
Swaraj66
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July 24th, 2021 22:00
Thank you for your advice.❤
My storage is 512 gb ssd where
C(101GB)
D(118 GB)
E(118 GB)
F(121GB)
Can I make the F drive C drive?Is it possible?
Will it harm any system performance?
Swaraj66
26 Posts
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July 25th, 2021 18:00
Thank you very much
This really solves my problem extending c drive.