Shoutbox

I have a 4GB drive which is overflowing with stuff i download from frostwire, utorrent etc. and a 40GB system drive which I want to partition, say, 10GB, and make the computer think that the partition and the 4GB drive are the same:

Downloads (D:\) (14GB)

Is there any way to do this, because frostwire/utorrent/etc. only lets you choose one file save location (logically...)

Thanks

Yes, it might be possible, but probably not without formatting / partitioning. What you are trying to is create a spanned volume set. I'd have to dig out my VPC to figure out exactly how to do it, but I know for sure that XP has this feature built into it.

HOWEVER, even using a third party tool, the data space on the disk to be changed must be blank first before making partition changes. That means that you will probably need AT LEAST 10GB free in sequential area on the 40GB disk, and an empty 4GB disk.
In the case of fault tolerance with this method, if either disk fails, the data on either part of the partition will become inaccessible, even on the good disk.

An alternative and much easier way IMO, would to be to mount the 4GB drive onto the 40GB partition (assuming it's an NTFS partition. If not, that can be fixed quite easily). Under the disk manager in XP, you will have logical drives listed at the top and physical at the bottom. With the logical 4GB drive, right click it and select "Change Drive letter and Path..." You can then choose to add a path and maybe choose to remove the drive letter for it as well. You can mount the logical partition as a virtual folder on the 40GB drive. The 'folder' name will be the same as the volume label.

In order to mount it, the destination folder must exist, and be empty. This method is very quick (30 seconds, if that!), does not require a re-boot, is completely reversible, and there is no risk of losing data.

You can mount the 4GB disk as a folder in the other disk.

Or with Windows XP Pro you can use Software RAID and then you can add both partitions together to make one big one.

I'm not sure how to use RAID, so I'll go with MeEtc's idea.

My 4 and 40GB drives are both NTFS.

The only problem I can see now is that there's no "new partition" button here...I used to see it a lot when I didn't need it, now it's gone. Probably off the screen.

How do I make a new partition? (I actually should know this, and most of it I do, but the situation here confuses me)

(PS, my idea is sometimes known as a type software RAID)
Control panel > Administrative tools > Computer Management (Starts MMC app) > Storage > Disk Manager.

This will get you to the spot where to make changes to partitions, volumes and folder mounting.

Be careful though, if you delete any volumes here, any data on that volume is not recoverable!

I am not positive, but I think that some of these options that I have described are only available with XP Pro.

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Originally posted by MeEtc
I am not positive, but I think that some of these options that I have described are only available with XP Pro.

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Indeed software RAID is only available on WINXP Pro.

There is a way tho, google on the internet and you can find hacked files to enable software raid on home. It's a bit tricky, but it does work, another way is to make them yourself, there's a tutorial for that too, just google for it

Also for spanned disks you need to convert your disk to a Dynamic one, i'm not sure if Win XP can boot of a Dynamic Disk.

The folder thing is possible with Home, but the spanned disk thing will give better results.

yes, but the spanned method requires that there be nothing on these disks first...

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Originally posted by Ryxpia
I have a 4GB drive which is overflowing with stuff

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As I said, I recommend the folder mounting record unless you can BACKUP ALL 44GB FIRST

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Originally posted by Ezra
You can mount the 4GB disk as a folder in the other disk.

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Hmm... how?

I have XP Pro, and everything, but I can't find how to mark a new partition.

See attachment.

as i said, you cannot mark a new volume because there is no unpartitioned space on either drive. To do this with only XP, you will need to DELETE BOTH VOLUMES FIRST, LOSING ALL DATA ON THESE DRIVES!

XP cannot resize volumes and definitely cannot merge two existing volumes to a span set.

There is no way to go about creating the spanned disks as you want without losing data on these drives. If you are REALLY persistent about getting this done, make a backup of EVERYTHING first. Do this OUTSIDE of Windows (learn how to use the DOS command xcopy). You also cannot delete the volume that Windows resides on while Windows is running, you'll have to use an XP CD and the Recovery console to do this.

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Originally posted by Vilkku
Hmm... how?

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on the screenshot Ryxpia made, right-click on any of the drives listed on the top half and select "Change drive letter or paths..." Further instructions are in my first reply.