Hi, my laptop Hard disc drives 2, acer (c), is at red, only 2.62 free, of 31,5 gb, but Data (c) has 25.6 free of 31.36 gb, now I was told that my OS, is in (c), but why is everything going to (c), as I think this is slowing down my laptop.

Hope this makes sence,

cheers

hmmm Im lost lol

The 2 'big' folders will always be on the same drive as the OS by default. These are program files and my docments ('user' in Vista).

Leave program files where it is. Once a program is installed it makes registry entry which makes it difficult to impossible to 'retcon' the program files folder to a different location. Not that I'm suggesting you move program files on a fresh install; some programs do not work properly if program files is not on the root of the drive the OS is installed on.

However, you can, and should, move your user data to the other drive.

In XP it's as easy as right clicking on my documents, select properties and change the target location. Then wait for the files to finish moving.

In Vista you can either drag and drop the folders in your \user folder to the other drive, or edit the registry key at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList to change the location. Note - editing the registry won't take effect for the default and 'in use' user folder locations until reboot.

Before you do any of this though, back up any data you are moving to another source (CD/DVD, external hard drive, USB stick etc). All the above is done at own risk!

Agree with little pob, put your data on the other drive. Most progs will allow you to change where it is your data is saved and if you make those changes you will not have to do that. So check out the options on any you are using.

You should also use the second drive for a backup of the main drive just in case you have problems at some time with the main drive.

If you have any old files you want to keep, but don't use them often, put them in a folder and compress them to save space. But make sure you don't do this with any operating files.

Ok, thanks guys.

One thing I will say is that just because your HDD is getting full, doesn't mean this will be slowing your computer down. The only time this would be the case would be if it was eating into your virtual memory but I doubt thats the case.

Try click start, Run, typing msconfig into the box that appears and clicking the startup tab. Look through the list and take out everything that relates to an "update" or a program that does not need to run on startup such as quick time and adobe reader. Just make sure you keep anything relating to your anti virus program ticked.

Then download CCleaner and run both cleaner and registry (make sure you save a backup of your registry, ccleaner will offer to do this for you when you attempt to fix the issues). This will delete all the temporary rubbish from your computer and speed things up a bit.

Thanks for the info.

cheers