Solved Moving Partition from 'Disk 1' to 'Disk 0'

chris98

Member
Messages
73
Location
England, United Kingdom
Hi.

A while back, a friend of mine partitioned my hard drive and added in a virtual machine for Windows Vista, which was 100 GB in size. This was fine at the time, however now my Windows 8 seems to be randomly shrinking. Over the past few weeks I've lost about 100 GB and I can't understand why. I'm still actively investigating, but I'm now down to 39 GB free of over 400 and to tide me over until I can find out what's happened (and why) I want to remove 50 Gb of my Windows Vista and add it to my Windows 8.

This sounds like a really easy thing to do, but... the problem is that they are on two completely separate hard disks. Disk 1 contains Vista and Disk 0 contains the rest. I do have another couple of questions about removing certain unnecessary partitions on Disk 0, but I'll wait until I get this solved first.

To start with, I shrunk my Vista down by 50 GB, and then I attempted to simply move it across to the C drive. But it wasn't until then I realised that that it wasn't going to be as easy as just merging partitions or even just 'extending' my C drive.

I have also downloaded this tool which has helped me understand slightly more what's going wrong, but I'm still struggling to understand how it can be done. I've searched and have been unable to find any kind of answer on this; people either seem to give up or it isn't related to my issue. I'm not sure how well I've explained this, so I'll also attach a screenshot of the Windows partition manager so you can see what exactly I'm talking about. When it comes to the more hardware side of things, I'm not exactly the best person, but I would really appreciate any help I could get on this. partition.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer
    CPU
    2.90 Ghz
    Memory
    8 GB DDR3
    Internet Speed
    Really bad
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malware Bytes Pro/Microsoft Defender
Of course you cannot add partitions from one disk to another. A 500 GB hard disk is a 500 GB hard disk whatever you do, it will not become a 550 GB hard disk by adding 50 GB from another disk. You don't get a three liter Coke bottle by adding a one liter bottle to your existing two liter bottle. It's impossible.

I don't see any issue here; use the free space on disk 1 as storage space for your Windows 8. Simply create a new partition using all unused space on disk 1 and store your files there. You can create totally normal folders there and for instance add those folders to your existing Windows 8 libraries.

Kari
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ENVY 17-1150eg
    CPU
    1.6 GHz Intel Core i7-720QM Processor
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 Graphics
    Sound Card
    Beats sound system with integrated subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" laptop display, 22" LED and 32" Full HD TV through HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1600*900 (1), 1920*1080 (2&3)
    Hard Drives
    Internal: 2 x 500 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 7200 rpm
    External: 2TB for backups, 3TB USB3 network drive for media
    Cooling
    As Envy runs a bit warm, I have it on a Cooler Master pad
    Keyboard
    Logitech diNovo Media Desktop Laser (bluetooth)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX1000 Laser (Bluetooth)
    Internet Speed
    50 MB VDSL
    Browser
    Maxthon 3.5.2., IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender 4.3.9431.0
    Other Info
    Windows in English, additional user accounts in Finnish, German and Swedish.
You're completely right. As usual, I'm trying to overcomplicate things.... :rolleyes: I've made a new partition which has the 50 GB remaining in under a new drive name, A.

However, about my shrining space issue, is this common? I turned my computer on today, and yet another 20 Gigabytes have disappeared over night leaving me with now only 17. I've attempted to optimise my C drive, ran defragmentation, ran Disk Cleanup, checked for errors, and even checked if there were any quota settings being enforced (even though I'm the only person who uses this machine) and everything appears fine.

I don't consider it to contain a lot, I often download backups of my website and move them from my Windows 8 to Windows Vista, but I wouldn't have thought that it should take up so much space. When I come to delete old backups, it does say that it's too big to be recycled and has to be permanently deleted- could this somehow be affecting it?

Just for clarification, I have also removed temp files, deleted my browsing history and cache, as well as other such files on my PC, but this only cleared up roughly 500 MB for me.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer
    CPU
    2.90 Ghz
    Memory
    8 GB DDR3
    Internet Speed
    Really bad
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malware Bytes Pro/Microsoft Defender
First: drive letters A and B are remains from floppy disk era. They are meant for removable devices like floppy disk drives. It is recommended not to use those for hard disks or partitions on hard disks. Just to mention one thing why not, Windows does not index drives A: and B:.

There are several reasons for your missing gigabytes. Shadow copies (restore points) is one. See this tutorial at our sister site for how to delete unnecessary shadow copies: Shadow Copies - Delete - Windows 7 Help Forums
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ENVY 17-1150eg
    CPU
    1.6 GHz Intel Core i7-720QM Processor
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 Graphics
    Sound Card
    Beats sound system with integrated subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" laptop display, 22" LED and 32" Full HD TV through HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1600*900 (1), 1920*1080 (2&3)
    Hard Drives
    Internal: 2 x 500 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 7200 rpm
    External: 2TB for backups, 3TB USB3 network drive for media
    Cooling
    As Envy runs a bit warm, I have it on a Cooler Master pad
    Keyboard
    Logitech diNovo Media Desktop Laser (bluetooth)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX1000 Laser (Bluetooth)
    Internet Speed
    50 MB VDSL
    Browser
    Maxthon 3.5.2., IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender 4.3.9431.0
    Other Info
    Windows in English, additional user accounts in Finnish, German and Swedish.
Well you can not move unallocated space from one physical drive to another! Maybe if your disk were dynamic.
Your best solution is to move data off your Disk 0 to your disk 1 you don't need unallocated space to do this.
Your system is UEFI so deleting partitions would be detrimental to your system and gain you very little space.
You either need a bigger Disk 0 or install a third Disk 2 and move your data to that disk.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro MC
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus G75VW / Z97 Pro
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3610QM / I7-4790K
    Motherboard
    Z97 Pro
    Memory
    16 GB Hyundai HTM315156CFR8C-PB PC3-12800
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (GF114M)
    Sound Card
    VIA 6.0.10.1600
    Screen Resolution
    1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256, Samsung 850 Pro 1TB
    Internet Speed
    30 down 3 up
    Browser
    Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    NIS and Malwarebytes
First: drive letters A and B are remains from floppy disk era. They are meant for removable devices like floppy disk drives. It is recommended not to use those for hard disks or partitions on hard disks. Just to mention one thing why not, Windows does not index drives A: and B:.

There are several reasons for your missing gigabytes. Shadow copies (restore points) is one. See this tutorial at our sister site for how to delete unnecessary shadow copies: Shadow Copies - Delete - Windows 7 Help Forums
Kari, I use A and B for Back up drives do you think this is a mistake? My thinking was that there just unused drive letters which I've thought were great for back up drives especially removable back up drives?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro MC
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus G75VW / Z97 Pro
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3610QM / I7-4790K
    Motherboard
    Z97 Pro
    Memory
    16 GB Hyundai HTM315156CFR8C-PB PC3-12800
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (GF114M)
    Sound Card
    VIA 6.0.10.1600
    Screen Resolution
    1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256, Samsung 850 Pro 1TB
    Internet Speed
    30 down 3 up
    Browser
    Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    NIS and Malwarebytes
Your system is UEFI so deleting partitions would be detrimental to your system and gain you very little space.
You either need a bigger Disk 0 or install a third Disk 2 and move your data to that disk.

This is actually something I've been thinking of for a while, and I may attempt this just to keep Windows and my files separate.

First: drive letters A and B are remains from floppy disk era. They are meant for removable devices like floppy disk drives. It is recommended not to use those for hard disks or partitions on hard disks. Just to mention one thing why not, Windows does not index drives A: and B:.

Thanks, I've changed the drive letter from A to F now. I had deleted all the shadow copies and prior restore points apart from the most recent, however your thought of backups gave me the idea of checking file history. For some reason, the option to run less frequently than "daily" is not available, and the least amount of time that a backup can be kept for is one month. Since the option was set to daily, it explains the 20 Gig of missing space today.

So over the past few months, I've had over 16,900 items in a backups folder sitting around slowly eating away this available space. I've removed all but the most recent one now and it's freed up 300 GB of space. I've also turned this feature off so it won't happen again.

Thank you!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer
    CPU
    2.90 Ghz
    Memory
    8 GB DDR3
    Internet Speed
    Really bad
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malware Bytes Pro/Microsoft Defender
This is actually something I've been thinking of for a while, and I may attempt this just to keep Windows and my files separate.

Yes it is always a good Idea to keep your data on a separate physical hard drive. I run a 256 GB SSD for my OS and program files its less than half full all my data is on a separate physical hard drive, and then back up to USB portable hard drives.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro MC
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus G75VW / Z97 Pro
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3610QM / I7-4790K
    Motherboard
    Z97 Pro
    Memory
    16 GB Hyundai HTM315156CFR8C-PB PC3-12800
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (GF114M)
    Sound Card
    VIA 6.0.10.1600
    Screen Resolution
    1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256, Samsung 850 Pro 1TB
    Internet Speed
    30 down 3 up
    Browser
    Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    NIS and Malwarebytes
This is actually something I've been thinking of for a while, and I may attempt this just to keep Windows and my files separate.

Yes it is always a good Idea to keep your data on a separate physical hard drive. I run a 256 GB SSD for my OS and program files its less than half full all my data is on a separate physical hard drive, and then back up to USB portable hard drives.

I use this method, relocating the whole Users folder with all user profiles, AppData, Temp and so on to another drive. Works flwlessly, a simple procedure to do once and forget. In the future, each new user account created will automatically be created in for instance X:\Users instead of C:\Users.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ENVY 17-1150eg
    CPU
    1.6 GHz Intel Core i7-720QM Processor
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 Graphics
    Sound Card
    Beats sound system with integrated subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" laptop display, 22" LED and 32" Full HD TV through HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1600*900 (1), 1920*1080 (2&3)
    Hard Drives
    Internal: 2 x 500 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 7200 rpm
    External: 2TB for backups, 3TB USB3 network drive for media
    Cooling
    As Envy runs a bit warm, I have it on a Cooler Master pad
    Keyboard
    Logitech diNovo Media Desktop Laser (bluetooth)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX1000 Laser (Bluetooth)
    Internet Speed
    50 MB VDSL
    Browser
    Maxthon 3.5.2., IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender 4.3.9431.0
    Other Info
    Windows in English, additional user accounts in Finnish, German and Swedish.
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