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General discussion

New computer-2 hard drives; when do I use one vs. the other?

Dec 8, 2004 1:54AM PST

I got a new computer that advertised a 200 gb hard drive.

When I went into "my computer" it actually showed 2 hard drives: c and d. c has like 30 gb and d has 167 gb. I've never had 2 before. In the past, I would download something and it would just go to my hard drive!

Now,when I'm downloading or saving, do I select one or is it automatic? And is there a benefit to using one over the other for certain things? And can I make one the default? Or should I?
Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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Ido, Are You Sure It's Two Separate 'Drives' ?
Dec 8, 2004 2:19AM PST

Many of the newer computers have two separate "partitions" which are simply "divisions" of the same physical drive. They appear to be different hard drives in "My Computer", and can be used like they are, but they aren't. Normally, the operating system and programs are installed to the "C" drive while other files such as pictures and music can be saved to the larger "D" drive. You should be able to determine whether it's two different physical hard drives a number of different ways. First, you can take the cover off and look...or...If you're using Windows XP, RIGHT click on "My Computer", choose "Properties", then click on the "Hardware" tab, then click on the "Device Manager" tab. When that opens, click on the + sign next to "Disk Drives" listing. If it's two separate physical hard drives, it will display two different devices.

As to where you want to download files to, it will depend. If you're going to download pictures and "fluff", then you might want to direct it to the "D" drive. If you're going to download program installers, then you probably should download it to the "C" drive where it will install correctly. Then again, maybe you want to "protect" the "D" drive from corruption so you'll want to download ALL files to the "C" drive first, then place them in your choice of locations later. It's your choice.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Re: New computer-2 hard drives; when do I use one vs. the ot
Dec 8, 2004 7:41PM PST

You can use the D drive to install programs without any problems as long as it is the destination choice during the installation process. Most programs will default to the C drive. To change that, you need to manually change the drive letter from C to D or click on browse and pick the other partition.

If you are the type to install then uninstall programs, like games or demos, using the D drive would be a good choice. It is also a good place to create folders to save your data, photos,videos, etc.

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Re: New computer-2 hard drives; when do I use one vs. the ot
Dec 11, 2004 4:04AM PST

Everything defaults to c for download. How do I change that? Do I want to change the default installation path? (I read that somewhere, and apparently, a little knowledge IS a dangerous thing!)

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Re: New computer-2 hard drives; when do I use one vs. the ot
Dec 11, 2004 4:17AM PST

I make new folders for everything I download. Therefore, I don't need or want a default location. So I can't help you with that.

When downloading, select the drive and folder you want. Most browsers will default to the last location used. So, if you create a folder for downloads on the D drive, choose it and download something, the next time you download, chances are your browser will go back to that folder. Try it and see if it works.

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question
Jan 13, 2005 5:24AM PST

i was using my d drive for all music files, but there was a problem and i had to recover my entire system because of it. the recovery created 2 logical drives again, and both hard drives are formatted as FAT32.

i just want to make sure this is all correct, and that i won't run into another serious problem.

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Re: New computer-2 hard drives; when do I use one vs. the ot
Dec 8, 2004 10:43PM PST

Not reading the other posters answers here are my thoughts. You probably have 1-physical HD, but "partitioned into 2 drives(partitions). In effect it acts like 2 HDs. They have set it up so when you do install new pgms. I suggest you use the D-drive. That way only the OS related s/w uses the C-drive. Data and such can use the D-drive where it won't effect the C-drive which can happen plus the added benefit when you back-up, you route to that drive and any OS related stuff to the C-drive. Under the XP OS, it makes for a better situation. Should you ever need to reload the OS, maybe to correct some boo-boo or such at least your data may not get hosed, or you can more easily recover, put it that way. Just remember, to use the D-drive as you main work drive, in most cases pgms want to install on C by default, thus be sure when prompted to route it to the drive and directory, desired. Otherwise, you'll can easily fill-up a 30gb drive faster than a 170gb drive which defeats its purpose.
Just my 2-cents...

good luck -----Willy Happy

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Re: New computer-2 hard drives; when do I use one vs. the ot
Dec 8, 2004 11:30PM PST

Thanks, ya'll!
Your responses have really helped. And willy, you hit the nail on the head with your last sentence! That's exactly what happened to make me look into the issue in the first place! So, I've got some work to do!
Thanks again!

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Ido, One Note About Installing Programs On 'D' Drive
Dec 9, 2004 1:58AM PST

Many will do perfectly fine when installed on a driver other than the "C" drive, but most antivirus programs and some firewall programs "prefer" to be installed on the same drive as the Windows installation. Usually that's the "C" drive. With all the automatic updaters that are being used by antivirus programs now, it's normally safer to install those programs on the "C" drive.

McAfee, in particular, should be installed on the C drive. It's not a guaranteed failure rate but it's better to be "safe than sorry".

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Re: New computer-2 hard drives; when do I use one vs. the ot
Dec 9, 2004 1:26AM PST

I have the same setup you do and treat them this way;
I made a short-cut for "D" drive on "C" Desktop. With this I could also make a new short-cut in the Send To list for the "D" drive. This lets me download everything to "C" because it is easier to use, then transfer to D as needed. A Ghost image of "C" on "D" was a very good suggestion for disaster recovery.
The exception being backups of DVDs, which use a lot of space. DVDShrink sends them straight to D. Good luck. chuck

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Re: New computer-2 hard drives; when do I use one vs. the ot
Dec 10, 2004 3:24AM PST

chuck, how did you make the D shortcut on the C desktop? And where's the C desktop? Okay, where's the D desktop???

Aiee!

And how do you choose C or D as the default download location?

Sorry, this C/D thing is all new to me, but I keep getting a warning that my C (drive?) is almost full and I don't know how to move things so they still work.

Oh, and why do they do this, C and D split? It seems awfully complicated!

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Re: New computer-2 hard drives; when do I use one vs. the ot
Dec 10, 2004 8:52AM PST

"And how do you choose C or D as the default download location?"

You really don't need to choose a default download location since you have the choice of where to download each and everytime you do. Do you know how to create folders? Do you know how to pick a destination for a download? Learning those are two skills will answer the rest of your other questions.