some basic help please

rockybee · 24 Nov 2010

Hello,
I am new here. I just got a new computer with windows 7. My previous was xp. This is a little overwhelming some of the changes.
I am not sure if my question belongs to this forum or if i should go to the manufacturer's forum
I have a partian on my computer
~OS is c drive, and that is where the program files seem to be going iwith 116 gb
~then there is a Data D drive with over 320 gb
~then a Q drive which is in accessable with Office 2010 on there...which i removed from the program files and installed office 2007

1. how do i get rid of q drive...it will not let me access?
2. am i doing right by placing the program files into c drive?
3 is d drive for all data files...ie a word file or excell file?

Oh yes, I did do a system recover back up on 5 CD's before i started anything.

Your help would be greatly appreciated and in advance thank you!

essenbe · 24 Nov 2010

If it will help you, C drive is always your operating system drive, you do not want to mess with it. It is where windows 7 is located and where you normally install programs. D drive is a data drive - it is where many people place their data. That would be used for things like your my documents, my photos, my music etc. You would do that for several reasons. If your system becomes corrupted or inoperable you would not lose some of your most valuable things. Some things like family photos, many of your documents and such are difficult to replace. It also saves space on your C drive. If your system becomes inoperable, it will most likely be the operating system. That and your programs can be replaced. Without knowing, I cannot tell you about the Q drive.

Who installed your operating system? If Asus installed it, it could be a recovery partition or something, but usually they are not given a drive letter like Q. If Asus installed it, there should be an explanation in your owners manual.

I would suggest that when you first come on this site look in the very top on the right side. There is an extensive collection of tutorials. They are written by members of this forum and are very good. You can learn many things that you can do with windows 7.

If that does not help, you come back but you should provide us with an image of disk management. You can get there by typing disk manahement into the search box when you click on the windows button on the bottom left of your screen. then while in disk management, click on the button again and type snipping tool. click on that and it will open in disk management. The arrow next to where it says new will allow you to select the window. select that then click on the window, on the file button click on save as and save it to your desktop. When you come back, type your message and look at the top of the window for the paper clip icon. that will allow you to upload into your message the file you just made with the snipping tool and you can place it in your message so we can see. In the tutorials section there are tutorials on that which are much better than I explained.

The easiest way for you to find out about the Q partition is probably in you owners manual. They should explain how your computer is set up. It will just take some time to get used to, but you will like windows 7.

I hope I have helped a little. If you have other questions come back here. We will help you out.

kword88 · 24 Nov 2010

did you uninstall office 2010 from add/remove programs? i think if you uninstall all of the office 2010 components,that should remove the Q: drive also.

essenbe · 24 Nov 2010

kword, what do you think the Q partition is?

gregrocker · 24 Nov 2010

Q is a drive installed with Office 2010.

If you've uninstalled Office 2010, then check in Computer>Q that there are no files you want on Q and try deleting it in Disk Management.

The benefit of having a separate Data partition is that you can save a Win7 backup image of your OS/Programs partition which is leaner, so that if Win7 becomes irreparable you can simply reimage its partition and your Data is current and waiting in a separate partition.

This is how to link Win7 active User folders to the Data partition: User Folders - Change Default Location They should still be backed up externally using regularly scheduled Windows 7 Backup or manually.

Here is how to save a Win7 backup image of the OS externally: Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

rockybee · 24 Nov 2010

Thanks for the help.
I went into the add remove programs and i found another MS office thing. I removed it and the q drive is now gone....one problem solved

But i developed another problem.

I tried the file transfer and picked out data files i wanted to save. I started small. I installed the program first and then transfered the data. I even picked out what i wanted to tranfer. But a whole lot of other stuff got transfered. Like my desk top background and some windows settings which were not needed. Now i have an (x86) file. The program i installed and the data did not seem to mesh. When I searched the files I have duplicates and such.
Oh yeah, when the data got installled it went into C drive automatically....uggg

I think i bit off more than i can chew here, and so i am looking at backing up the data from my old computer to my external hard drive.

but i would like to get rid of all the tranfers junk first

Any ideas??

gregrocker · 24 Nov 2010

This is why I never use Easy Transfer or any other Transfer or Backup program because it uses a shotgun approach when all I need are my active User files dragged onto external and then back into folders. You don't want hidden AppData copied over anyway (except target Ofc files/settings) as it is a corruption path from old OS.

Unfortunately System Restore will not roll back the files even if it rolls back the transfer program.

See if you can access the actual folders in the Transfer program (what a concept!) to copy what you actually want out of them. If so, then you might create a new User Account with same privileges, copy in just the files you want, make sure all Programs work for the new User, then delete the old User account after making sure you have everything you want from it and the new account works correctly.

kword88 · 24 Nov 2010

the Q: drive is part of the "install on demand" feature of office 2010. it makes the initial installation faster and supposedly saves disk space by not installing a lot of add-ons and components until you actually need them.
that was probably the program that you just uninstalled, since the Q: drive is now gone.

rockybee · 24 Nov 2010

Thanks for the help.

I hooked up my external hard drive to the old computer and will back up the necessary data files there. I have had this thing for almost a year and never used it...just never got around to it. Most things are on many many CD's.

I tried hunting up all files transfered and not having much luck with the deleting some. They seem to have attached themselves somewhere inappproriate. I called the place where i bought the system from and they suggest since there is no data, to reformat the new computer with the recovery discs i made.

That easy tranfer thing....not so easy.

rockybee · 24 Nov 2010

Thanks for all your help. I did a system restore, backed up all data files on the external hard drive and got windows live mail up and running. I have posted a help question in the hard drive section with an image
Thanks again.
I am afraid that me helping someone with windows 7 is out of the question at this point....but if you need help with cows or bees....

Thank you