I Never Knew Dell Computers Intentionally Partitioned Internal Hard Drive Space

[TheMoneyShot]

I have this Dell computer sitting in front of me. Has Windows 7 on it. Websites claim this older model laptop has a 500GB hard drive. The C drive where the OS is stored reads 70gb of hard drive. 20gb being used with 50gb of hard drive space left. Ok... well where the hell is the other 430gb of free space?

I've owned HP computers towers and laptops my entire life... all prior Windows 7 configurations though. Mostly with Windows XP installed. My point is... never once was the HP Hard drive partitioned. Is this a corporate choice or a Windows 7 feature? Usually HP computers puts the hard drive at C: and Recovery at D:

Dell computers puts the 70gb of Hard drive space at C: and the extra 430gb at D: (Local Drive) which is a partitioned Hard drive.

Why the fuk do they do this?

After reading numerous threads about this via the internet on researching this crap... I found out I'm not the only person pissed off. Many people have called Dell Tech Support and asked why does your corporation do this? Most of the reps claim the D: Hard Drive area was made for your Music, Photo, Document Files. Where As The C: Hard Drive area was made for simple (short term) storage. Makes no sense to me. Dell also claimed that it's easier for them to diagnose the situation in regards to operating system errors on a smaller drive. I find that ridiculous too. So I have a few questions for computer gurus out there... Like Russian Rocket... or anyone else...

1. Let's say you had a PC game you wanted to play. You stored it on the C: Drive (Hard drive). You simply have insufficient space to save anymore files on that C Drive. An expansion Disc or upgrade to your game came out a year later. You want to add it to your computer but again... you don't have anymore room on the C: Hard drive area. The only way you can save it... is to the D: (2nd partitioned Hard Drive - Dell's Genius Idea)... after you store in on the D drive... will the full game still run??? Even though sections of your game are stored on the C drive and D drive? I'm just wondering if anyone ran into this problem before?

This is a real pain in the ass. Does anyone have the slightest idea why Dell does this???

[PerfectGrape]

That is how the partitions are set up on my Asus laptop as well. If you have to reformat or reinstall Windows it makes things easier. With 2 partitions, you can move all your files to D: temporarily and then reformat C:. If you had 1 big 500GB partition, you would have to backup all your files somewhere else.

Why does it bother you if there are 2 partitions? You said there is still 50 GB left on C:. That should be plenty for all your games and programs. Games should work fine if they are split over different partitions. When you are playing the game, the game accesses the hard drive for the files and loads them into the RAM. It doesn't matter if the files are on C: or D:, it takes the same amount of time to access the files from the hard drive and they will ultimately end up in the RAM.

There are ways to resize the partitions but I wouldn't mess around with that as it may screw it up if you don't know what you're doing.

[swordsandtequila]

In my experience most heavy users run their operating system along with applications on one drive and use separate drives for miscellaneous files (music, video, etc.). Partitioning one drive for the same purpose seems kind of silly. Add a second drive if you have the capability (and want the extra space), if not then read up on how to make a bootable clone. Basically make a copy of your drive, boot into said copy, wipe your original drive clean (erasing partition), then copy back all your data. Not as complicated as it sounds and end result is one 500GB drive. I'm a Mac guy, simple process in OSX. I think Winclone does the same on the Windows side. I'm sure others will chime in.

[Russian Rocket]

That is how the partitions are set up on my Asus laptop as well. If you have to reformat or reinstall Windows it makes things easier. With 2 partitions, you can move all your files to D: temporarily and then reformat C:. If you had 1 big 500GB partition, you would have to backup all your files somewhere else.

Why does it bother you if there are 2 partitions? You said there is still 50 GB left on C:. That should be plenty for all your games and programs. Games should work fine if they are split over different partitions. When you are playing the game, the game accesses the hard drive for the files and loads them into the RAM. It doesn't matter if the files are on C: or D:, it takes the same amount of time to access the files from the hard drive and they will ultimately end up in the RAM.

There are ways to resize the partitions but I wouldn't mess around with that as it may screw it up if you don't know what you're doing.

Money you can reconfigure partitions - it's not that hard to do...but I don't think you really need to do that in this particular situation.
50Gigs is plenty of space to run a game.

[Russian Rocket]

In my experience most heavy users run their operating system along with applications on one drive and use separate drives for miscellaneous files (music, video, etc.). Partitioning one drive for the same purpose seems kind of silly. Add a second drive if you have the capability (and want the extra space), if not then read up on how to make a bootable clone. Basically make a copy of your drive, boot into said copy, wipe your original drive clean (erasing partition), then copy back all your data. Not as complicated as it sounds and end result is one 500GB drive. I'm a Mac guy, simple process in OSX. I think Winclone does the same on the Windows side. I'm sure others will chime in.

the best way to go about storing your media crap is to use a cloud...there is no need nowadays to clutter your HD with things like photos, music and vids

[swordsandtequila]

the best way to go about storing your media crap is to use a cloud...there is no need nowadays to clutter your HD with things like photos, music and vids

Rocket, I have a home theater setup that consists of a 12TB ZFS array (10 usable TB) with apprx. 9.5TB of video (movies, etc.), plus 2 separate Raid1 arrays of music (1TB lossless, 500GB mp4), and another 500+ GB of music videos (concerts, etc.). I'd still be uploading if using the cloud .

[Russian Rocket]

Rocket, I have a home theater setup that consists of a 12TB ZFS array (10 usable TB) with apprx. 9.5TB of video (movies, etc.), plus 2 separate Raid1 arrays of music (1TB lossless, 500GB mp4), and another 500+ GB of music videos (concerts, etc.). I'd still be uploading if using the cloud .

hahaha...nice library buddy

[Spedizzo]

swords

do you ever get fresh air?

its good for you buddy

[Microbetter]

Moneyshot move your games etc to D: drive. only use C: for temp files. You nedd to pay attention when downloading in the future, because they will automatically suggest downloading to C:xxxxx.xxx You will have to manually key in the drive and directory you want the game etc to be installed.

[swordsandtequila]

swords

do you ever get fresh air?

its good for you buddy

Accumulated over long period. Funny thing is I haven't watched a majority of the movies, more into music. Started collecting music videos (concerts, bootlegs, rarities, etc.), then friends wanted this and that. Doesn't take long. With my setup I can stream anywhere so comes in handy when traveling, visiting relatives and whatnot. More a hobby than anything.