I won one of those really cheap laptops with the tiny drives. (I would never buy something like this.) The latest windows update is bigger than my left over space on the drive. I have Win 10 on it - nothing else. Extras were removed to clear up space.

I placed a card in the computer which has a LOT more space than the C drive does.

What are your feelings about extending partitions? Any other suggestions?

I am considering Linux.

It won't hurt to try - the card could be used in any one of my cameras. I really feel sorry for a parent who buys one of these things for their child because they are inexpensive. A month later there would be problems.

...Deb

Hi Deb, what make and model is that computer. I have a cheap (really slow) laptop that I take on trips with me for photo backups, BiaB, and emails. I installed a larger hard drive. Maybe you can do the same.

I did try Linux on it. It ran faster but my camera software and BiaB wouldn't work with it. I put BiaB on it so I could play an acoustic guitar with backup in the evenings. So if you are thinking about Linux make sure that the software you want to install is compatible with it.

It is a HP stream Laptop 14-ax0XX. It doesn't have any hatches to access the insides as near as I can see.

...Deb

I recently took an old PG 1.5 TB AP USB drive apart and placed its drive inside my Dell Precision laptop, as it had an empty 2.5 HD bay. Hardest part was to find matching small screws, but it works like a jiffy ...F

According to the Maintenance and Service Guide you can replace the motherboard with one with 32GB of ram. This should give you enough memory to run Win 10.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c05227771

But it looks like an involved process so if you want to spend the money for the board and a technician to install it it can be done. This is assuming that you have a 2 GB system now.

So that is how you get into it!

I'm thinking that the extended partition is the way to go.

I spent $5.00 on the raffle ticket and would probably only use it to check Facebook. (I have Dell laptop and desktop with BIAB on it and my other music software.)I almost gave it to my niece but it would have been problematic for her - she doesn't watch what she installs on her phone. This laptop would have been worse.

Thanks for the help!

...Deb

???
Exactly how do you extend a partition when you're out of space?

Paj
8^?

It really depends on where you have the extra room. Without getting too technical, you shrink a drive that has room. Then move drives about until the extra room is beside the area you wish to increase. This requires lots of patience and prayer (if you are on good terms). Then you add the space to the drive you wish to increase. Note: The drives must be on the same physical drive. It is usually easier to add another drive (external) shove a heap of non critical and or backups onto the external drive.

There are many programs about to make it easier but would you trust them.

I recently ran out of C drive space which I had set to 200gig (thinking I’d never use it). My solution was to replace the C drive with a 512gig SSD drive. I was then able to use some of the extra 200gig freed up, though I didn’t need it. It was easier and more time efficient than moving drives about and possibly losing vital stuff.

A lot of people have stuff such as pictures, downloads, audio files etc sitting on a C drive. If this is the case move it. For example, I have my BB folder on my C drive (now I have the spare room) but my RealTracks and RealDrums live on another drive. Even BB and RB live and run quite happily from drives other than the C drive.

My Sonar files and Audio stuff on another drive. Reaper renders etc somewhere else. I name my drives to suit.

My thoughts

Tony

Yes, I have a near full C drive but a near empty D drive. So you can go into disk management and do exactly what Tony is suggesting.

I just got busy and did not follow up.

...Deb

Just to be safe do an image backup of your drive(s) just in case something goes wrong. If something does go wrong you can return your system to its original state from the backups.

Good luck.

I used EaseUS Partition Magic for years for these types of resizings without any problems---but they do take a bit of caution and, sometimes, a lot of time. Now, drives are cheap, and external eSATA and RAID bays are reasonable. Even though you never really can afford not to backup, I backup more now because I can more easily afford it.


Your experience may vary but I would like to mention something that I have become cautious about: backing up data via USB to more than one drive at the same time (e.g., copying one set of files to drive X: and another set to Drive Y: at the same time, both drives connected via USB). Every visual indication and message indicates that all is being multi-tasked ok but I have later plugged in a drive and had Win10 report the need for an error scan. I never lost any data but that pesky error message can take a whole day of scanning for a 4TB drive, and it still ends up being a mystery at the end of the scan. I eventually just re-cloned the drive from my second backup.

Paj
8^)

Thanks bunches!!!!

...Deb

Another free choice is +++ Lazesoft Recovery Suite Free +++ . I like Lazesoft because the GUI is task based. By that I mean there are maybe three or four buttons and each button is labeled with a task you might want to perform like "Disk Image" or "Recover Windows Password". Press the button and the software walks you through the process step-by=step.

Nobody mentioned it but both the +++ Seagate +++ and +++ Western Digital +++ websites have free storage drive utility programs that you can use to manage hard drive partitions.

Thanks, Jim.

I will have to check those out.

...Deb

Hey Deb,

With these economy laptops, they often aren't worth putting much effort into.

Getting the drive replaced, or upgrades will cost more then the machine.

Partitions are not exactly needed anymore, as high capacity drives became cheap years ago. I would just get a nice External Hard Drive, a Powered USB hub, and only keep critical applications like Windows on the machine.

These laptops were not designed to install much of anything ,as the name implies, it is more for streaming content from the internet.

Sweet win though, a Economy Laptop can't be beat with a $5 price tag!