Solved hard drive partition problem

jasonp44 · Oct 18, 2015

Can anyone please advise. My PC has been upgraded from XP to Win7. It appears to have two drives C and D. D is labelled "recovery".
When i try to download anything it tries to put it in D, which has no room left.
Can i either change the default to C, which has plenty of space, or increase the partition share of D.
My PC is Dell with AMD Athlon.
Thanks in advance.

MarkP15 · Oct 18, 2015

Hi jasonp44,

It's tricky to re-size partitions as you have to reformat the hard drive, which will delete all the data. The easiest thing to do is change the default download location for whatever you're using. Is this occurring in your internet browsers like Chrome or IE (and if so, which browsers do you use?) or is it in every program?

Kind Regards,

Mark

jasonp44 · Oct 18, 2015

Thanks for reply Mark. I'm using IE ànd Firefox and the same seems to happen in both. It seems to download Ok, but when I try to install a programme (eg. Adobe acrobat) I get a message saying there is no room on D drive. Is it possible to change the default to C drive where there's plenty of room?
Thanks again.

MarkP15 · Oct 18, 2015

Hi jasonp44,

So your problem is that if you try to install anything, it tries to install the program into your partition which has no space (D)?

If so, try changing the default installation directory for your OS:

1 - Start Registry Editor by entering “Regedit” in the search All programs.
2 - Find the following: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
3 - Right click on the value named ProgramFilesDir & change the default value C:\Program Files to the path you want to install all your programs in.
4 - Click OK and Exit.

Hopefully this will change the default directory in which Windows installs your programs.

Kind Regards,

Mark

Layback Bear · Oct 18, 2015

Hi Jason.

Completing this tutorial by Golden would be helpful. It would be nice to see how you have things set up.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

Your Recovery partition should not have a partition letter if set up properly.

jasonp44 · Oct 18, 2015

Hi Mark.
Thanks for advice. I followed it through till i got a box called "Edit string", Value name, Value data.
I changed it from D:\Program Files to C:\Program Files.
I just tried to install my printer, but still get message there's no room on D drive. Also failed to install Adobe Acrobat
(
I'll have a look at that tutorial. Thanks.

MarkP15 · Oct 18, 2015

Hi jasonp44,

Can you take a screenshot of the registry and the bit you changed please?

Also, yeah if you attach the screenshot that the tutorial will guide you with that'll be a great help too, cheers.

Kind Regards,

Mark

jasonp44 · Oct 18, 2015

OK. I'll try. Thanks

jasonp44 · Oct 18, 2015

Hi Mark. Been struggling for a couple of hours to sort out screen shots. My brain hurts... I'll try again tomorrow

MarkP15 · Oct 18, 2015

Hi Jason,

No problem, we can sort it out tomorrow.

Kind Regards,

Mark

Layback Bear · Oct 18, 2015

Is their some reason I can't get you to post one of these?

Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

The answer to your problem may be indicated there in that picture.

MarkP15 · Oct 18, 2015

Layback Bear said:
Is their some reason I can't get you to post one of these?

Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

The answer to your problem may be indicated there in that picture.

He's busy doing it, give him some time...

Layback Bear · Oct 18, 2015

Sorry MarkP15 I didn't mean to get in your way.
I thought that 9 hours was long enough.
I also thought that maybe my request wasn't read or missed.

Your in charge.
Have a nice day.

jasonp44 · Oct 19, 2015

Hi Mark
Following your instructions, after "Program File Dir" I get a box with
Modify
ModifyPrimary Data
Delete
Rename.
I select "modify" and alter
D to C

(I attached a screenshot but I couldn't post because it said i had too many characters. 44,020??)

MarkP15 · Oct 19, 2015

Hi Jason,

If you try just uploading the screenshot on its own with no text that might work. Also, if you upload a screenshot from the Disk Management window, we could see what were are dealing with exactly.

Kind Regards,

Mark

jasonp44 · Oct 19, 2015

RolandJS · Oct 19, 2015

Recovery partition should not be a primary partition. It should be hidden, no drive letter assigned. A utiltiy as powerful as Acronis Drive Director may be needed to quickly and effectively fix this. Again, recovery partition should be hidden, it should not have a drive letter assigned to it.
And, the 55MB OEM partition might be the SystemReserved partition, which Windows must have.

MarkP15 · Oct 19, 2015

Hi Jason,

I think a good idea would be to remove the drive letter allocated to the reserved partition (D) so although the files are still there, they aren't recognised as a drive. To do this, right-click the drive that you want to change, and then click*Change Drive Letter and Paths, then click Remove and then confirm.

Kind Regards,

Mark

RolandJS · Oct 19, 2015

Mark, your idea is much easier to do! I thought OP indicated something amiss with diskmanagement -- I guess I read this topic wrongly

MarkP15 · Oct 19, 2015

RolandJS said:
Mark, your idea is much easier to do! I thought OP indicated something amiss with diskmanagement -- I guess I read this topic wrongly

No problem Roland and thanks

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