Complete newbie question

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  1. Posts : 7
    Windows 7
       #1

    Complete newbie question


    Hi everyone,

    Bought myself a new laptop last week with Windows 7 (64 bit) pre-installed. As I've jumped from Windows XP to 7, missing out Vista I'm still finding my way around, so I have a question which is probably so stupid, I apologise in advance!

    Windows 7 was pre-installed. I have 2 HDDs showing "OS(C)" 58gb and "local disk (D)" 397gb. Having searched for the answer to my question I believe that Windows has been installed to a partition? My question/problem is that all the programs already installed are on C: and any new programs I want to add are also defaulting to install there, therefore my bigger HDD is completely blank expect one file "msdia80.dll". Is this going to cause me problems? Should I move things to D: while I haven't got much installed? How do I default installation to the D drive?

    On my old PC with XP I just had 1 HDD where everything lived, I never bothered with partitions.
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  2. Posts : 1,018
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
       #2

    Some people believe in partitioning. I believe it's a waste of time in many cases though. What you can do in Windows 7 (assuming there isn't anything important on Drive D:), go to Computer Management (Go to Start --> Right-Click on Computer, Click on Manage). After that, click on Disk Management, then look for where partition D:, assuming it's all on one drive, right-click on the D: partition, and hit "Delete Volume". Then to use that dead space, you can right click on the C: partition and hit "Extend Volume" and extend it to the maximum space and you should have full use of everything on the C: drive.
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  3. Posts : 7
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Darician said:
    Some people believe in partitioning. I believe it's a waste of time in many cases though. What you can do in Windows 7 (assuming there isn't anything important on Drive D:), go to Computer Management (Go to Start --> Right-Click on Computer, Click on Manage). After that, click on Disk Management, then look for where partition D:, assuming it's all on one drive, right-click on the D: partition, and hit "Delete Volume". Then to use that dead space, you can right click on the C: partition and hit "Extend Volume" and extend it to the maximum space and you should have full use of everything on the C: drive.
    Literally the only thing on the D drive is a file called "msdia80.dll", so am I safe to delete this and basically merge my 2 drives?
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  4. Posts : 2,963
    Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit
       #4

    You should be safe to, but some people have problems resizing the primary partition from within windows. The people that do believe in partitioning, just move their personal files, like documents, music, pictures, etc. to the second partition. The choice it up to you. If you have trouble resizing the partition, let us know and we will get you sorted in no time.
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  5. Posts : 3,371
    W10 Pro desktop, W11 laptop, W11 Pro tablet (all 64-bit)
       #5

    If you indiscriminately delete that file, you may cause some program to stop working. You'd be better off moving it to a folder in your Path such as \Windows\System32 or someplace like that.
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  6. Posts : 10,994
    Win 7 Pro 64-bit
       #6
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  7. Posts : 7
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       #7

    I've looked there and the file exists in the C drive, so can I delete the entry on D?
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  8. Posts : 1,018
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
       #8

    You should be able to.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 2,963
    Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit
       #9

    I would move the file to the desktop on C, in case you have problem. Then you can restore it at a later time, if necessary.
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  10. Posts : 1,965
    win 7 X64 Ultimate SP1
       #10

    Hidden Files


    When you look at the partition are you displaying hidden and system files?
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