XPS 8930, extend SSD to HDD?

No you cannot do that. There are 2 separate diff type drives in your computer- not diff partitions on the same hard drive. What makes you think you only have one drive? SSD drives are much different than hard drives and are not partitioned. Open Disk Management to see a visual representation of all the drives on the computer. The ssd drive should not be used for file storage. The ssd drive is for fast access to system files. All files and programs that you add should be stored and installed on the large 2TB hard drive. The default download and install drive is usually C so if that is the ssd drive, change the default download drive to the big hard drive. which will have a diff letter designation.

Do some research on ssd drives.

You can make the 2 TB hard disk drive the default location for data storage if you are using Windows 10. Go to All settings, then System, then Storage, and then click on "Change where new content is saved" under "More storage settings". In the "Change where new content is saved" windows you can use the drop down menu under "New documents will save to" to select your 2 TB hard drive. There are also options for where app, music, photos, etc. are saved.

---

@nancygail wrote:

 

1. my new 8930 and it includes a M.2 256GB PCIe x4 SSD + 2TB 7200 rpm Hard Drive.

2. There is only one drive so I assume its partitioned?

3. Is there a way to  extend it into part of the 2 tb area?

 

---

1. If this is true, there should be TWO DRIVES ... C: and D:

2. They both have to be partitioned and formatted before use.

3. You can install programs to D: and you can save files to D: 

One more thing you should know. Only new content will be stored to the location you specify. Existing content will remain in the old location useless you move it to the new location.

thanks for the info. I mainly wanted to be able to keep files on my desktop for quick access but I'll just have to adjust how I do things a bit. 

Thanks Mary. I was just not sure how this solid state drive worked. I couldn't easily see two drives in the machine. I'll take another look. Ü

I didn't clearly see two drives in the machine so I'll take another peek. It's been 4 years since I upgraded my computer and never had a solid state before.  I mainly wanted to be able to put larger files on my desktop but I'll just change how I do things to accommodate my smaller c drive. 

Thanks!

From Mary's discussion I believe Mary is assuming the SSD is acting like Optane memory, a cache for the HDD. That is why she said the SSD is not partitioned. The problem is that the OP thinks the SSD is being used as the boot drive and has the OS and is also being used to store her data. The OP said she has lots of large files and is running low on space on the SSD, so 1) if the SSD is being used as a normal disk drive it could be running low on space and the OP needs to start using the HDD for storing data or 2) if the SSD is a cache for the HDD, then there is only one drive (the OP said she "couldn't easily see two drives"). If the SSD is a cache for the HDD and if the OP is running low on space then the OP must have a lot of large files in order to fill the 2 TB HDD. The results from running Disk Management and Intel Rapid Storage Technology could easily resolve this.

---

@Tesla1856 wrote:

---

@nancygail wrote:

 

1. my new 8930 and it includes a M.2 256GB PCIe x4 SSD + 2TB 7200 rpm Hard Drive.

2. There is only one drive so I assume its partitioned?

3. Is there a way to  extend it into part of the 2 tb area?

 

---

1. If this is true, there should be TWO DRIVES ... C: and D:

2. They both have to be partitioned and formatted before use.

3. You can install programs to D: and you can save files to D: 

---

Why does Mary say ssd's aren't partitioned and you say they are?

---

@nancygail wrote:

I didn't clearly see two drives in the machine so I'll take another peek.

---

Open File Explorer and click on "This PC". Under "Devices and drives" on the right, tell us in detail what you see.

Understood. Appreciate the details on how this works. 

No such thing as extending one physical drive into another or merging partitions on separate physical drives into a single partition.  The 256 is full because with swap and recovery and os etc 120 gigs is already used by the OS and Pagefile and Swap etc.

---

@546insp wrote:

---

---

Why does Mary say ssd's aren't partitioned and you say they are?

---

Whether the drive is HDD or SSD, it must be Partitioned and Formatted before normal (storage) use.

---

@Tesla1856 wrote:

---

@546insp wrote:

---

---

Why does Mary say ssd's aren't partitioned and you say they are?

---

Whether the drive is HDD or SSD, it must be Partitioned and Formatted before normal use.

---

What do you think of Optane and do you think it will be around for a long time?