C: is 950gb
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Thread: C: is 950gb

  1. #1
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    C: is 950gb

    Hi there,

    Trying to assist an elderly neighbour, who is quite compute literate, with his new Lenovo desktop and W8.1. My first time with W8.1 since I use XP, so the learning curve is steep!

    Looking at Disk Management, he as about six partitions of which C: is about 950gb and reports 77gb used. How come? Although there are a lot of preinstalled crap, how come 77gb? How can I find what is taking up that amount of space?

    Attachment 12463

    (This screenshot is not actually his computer but one that I found while Googling a solution and is virtually the same)

    Would DeCrapify get rid of a lot of the preinstalled rubbish (Amazon / Comet Buy-Online / unwanted games / all kinds of links to social networking sites that he doesn't use / etc.?)

    All partitions are marked and healthy, most are about 500mb but no drive letter. Then there is the EFi System partition. I have been Googling this one; some say it is necessary for booting W8.1, other imply it can be deleted. What is the truth?

    Then there is the 25gb System restore partition, probably part of the Lenovo crap (what is the point of restoring to the factory default?)

    Can I merge all the partitions, leaving just C:? Then create some new and useful partitions; D: for Document files; E: for holding an image of C:.

    Sorry about so many questions.

    Many thanks

    Rex
    What if the Hokey Cokey IS what it's all about?

  2. #2
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    I have almost exactly the same layout on my ASUS 8.1 tablet drive although it's much smaller so the sizes of the system and restore partitions are different.

    The restore partition D: should not be deleted. It contains the Windows factory restore point... the same data that would be on a Windows install disk.. in case you need to wipe the drive and start from scratch. The Lenovo programs would also be there but some of them, esp drivers are necessary for the initial setup of the computer. The other small partitions are also necessary for the smooth booting and running of the computer and should be left alone too.

    The important thing for now is to not delete or merge the other partitions.

    EDITED- removed comment about the unallocated space since it isn't actually from the computer we're talking about.
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  3. #3
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    My computer is a Dell desktop, when purchased had Vista installed and all the recovery partitions, and other c**p. First thing I did was reformat the HDD and install XP onto C:. All the other partitions I created are for data storage of one sort or another.

    What has MS done to change that? Does W8.1 need two, small, unallocatied partition before C: then the EFI (whatever that is) just to boot up? As for the Sys Recovery partition, I imagine that is the factory recover default partition, which frankly, I would loose altogether.

    My plan, if the neighbour agrees, would be to create a larger 'recovery' partition, onto which would be copied an image of the OS. I have never seen the point of in one year's time, if the computer goes AWOL, recovering to the factory defaults. What about all the programs that I have installed? They are lost and would have to be reinstalled, as well as remove all the factory c**pware. Seems like a waste of time to me, but what do I know.

    Also, since the 'recovery' partition in my neighbour's machine is 25gb, but the used space on C: is 77gb, what does the recovery partition actually recover?

    Rex
    What if the Hokey Cokey IS what it's all about?

  4. #4
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    As for the Sys Recovery partition, I imagine that is the factory recover default partition, which frankly, I would loose altogether.
    Note that partition is also used to repair Win8.1, since you don't get a boot DVD. I wouldn't delete it. You can do a clean factory restore if you want.

    The first two partitions appear to be for boot. Don't mess with those either.

  5. #5
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    OK. Presumably not altering whatever has come as a factory pre-set, does not alter what I would suggest, which is to partition the 950gb into a number of partitions, have one for data storage and another for an image of the OS.

    Presumably if running Acronis True Image (for example), that would restore the OS, whatever all the other factory-set partitions are? (Is that clear?)

    Rex
    What if the Hokey Cokey IS what it's all about?

  6. #6
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    Presumably if running Acronis True Image (for example), that would restore the OS, whatever all the other factory-set partitions are? (Is that clear?)
    That's if you want to do a full restore to whenever you created that backup image. If you need to run a System Restore to a restore point, you still need the recovery partition. Like I said, there is no Win8.1 DVD, so the recovery partition acts like a boot DVD to run a System Restore.

    Give us the exact Lenovo model number.

  7. #7
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    And yes, 77 gigs is considerably larger than a relatively clean win 8 install. Does he have a lot of media like movies etc on the drive?

    Some tools to search drives for large files...

    https://www.raymond.cc/blog/find-out...-drive-spaces/

    I sometimes use #7. WinDirStat
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  8. #8
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    The first two partitions appear to be for boot. Don't mess with those either.
    Boot and restore.

    Be sure to make the recovery dvds / USB drive.

    Laptops you will find have lots of Manufactor programs installed that eat a lot of space and cpu cycles. I normally disable them.

  9. #9
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    Thanks.

    Will get TreeSize and SpaceSniffer (I have them both on XP.) No, he doesn't have a lot of movies or other media on the drive (to the best of my knowledge.) He is 80% blind, so watching movies is not really his thing!

    Also ran PC Decrapifier and it found nothing. The second section of Decrap.... looks like a normal uninstall program.

    Rex
    What if the Hokey Cokey IS what it's all about?

  10. #10
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    Don't know where the 77 gb of used space when checking C: Properties is coming from, but SpaceSniffer found that the OS installation plus all his files, is taking about 56gb.

    Don't know how W8 divides up the HDD for saving files, but it looks pretty messy to me. Personally, I have all files that I create, saved to D:, but his W8 seems to have not only MyDocs but various User folders. Hey ho, not my problem, I can only offer my suggestion.

    Rex
    What if the Hokey Cokey IS what it's all about?

  11. #11
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    W8 doesn't change the Users folder structure. That was changed from Win Vista and up.

  12. #12
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    That was changed from Win Vista and up.
    That was done so they could use Junction files.

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