I Had My Hard Disc Replaced, Now I Have 2 Hard Disc Drives. Why?

[how122255]

When my computer stopped working, I went to Tuk Com. They told me my hard drive failed and replaced it with a 500 GB hard Drive. Also they installed Windows 7. Now when I go to 'My Computer', I see 2 hard drives disc listed there. Before I always only had one showing. The two listed drives are : Windows7(C:) 150GB, and Local Disc(D:) 315GB. Why the two separate hard drives ? Also the Window7(C:) drive is filling up quickly with only 40 GB remaining. The Local Disc(D:) drive is 100% empty. Should I be storing thing in the empty Local Disc(D:) drive ?? If so, how would I do that ?? Also, when the Windows7(C:) drive is full, will data automatically go into the empty Local Disc(D:) drive. Thank you for any help with this. I am Not very experienced with computers as my many questions indicate. I am also slightly afraid to go back to ask Tuk Com for help because many times there is a problem with the tech speaking English well enough for me to understand.

[andyaus]

When my computer stopped working, I went to Tuk Com. They told me my hard drive failed and replaced it with a 500 GB hard Drive. Also they installed Windows 7. Now when I go to 'My Computer', I see 2 hard drives disc listed there. Before I always only had one showing. The two listed drives are : Windows7(C:) 150GB, and Local Disc(D:) 315GB. Why the two separate hard drives ? Also the Window7(C:) drive is filling up quickly with only 40 GB remaining. The Local Disc(D:) drive is 100% empty. Should I be storing thing in the empty Local Disc(D:) drive ?? If so, how would I do that ?? Also, when the Windows7(C:) drive is full, will data automatically go into the empty Local Disc(D:) drive. Thank you for any help with this. I am Not very experienced with computers as my many questions indicate. I am also slightly afraid to go back to ask Tuk Com for help because many times there is a problem with the tech speaking English well enough for me to understand.

 

They have Partitioned your HD. The Idea is that you keep programs on one part of the HD and your Data on the other...Not a bad idea if you need to reload yor Windows in the future..you don’t lose your data.

 

To stop using too much space move the contents from “My Documents” to the Local Disc D,,,,try adding folders with the new names...Music...Pictures,,,Videos..etc and you can organise things.

[how122255]

They have Partitioned your HD. The Idea is that you keep programs on one part of the HD and your Data on the other...Not a bad idea if you need to reload yor Windows in the future..you don’t lose your data.

 

To stop using too much space move the contents from “My Documents” to the Local Disc D,,,,try adding folders with the new names...Music...Pictures,,,Videos..etc and you can organise things.

How can I move 'My Documents'? When I right-click, that is not a option.

[Scumbag]

They have Partitioned your HD. The Idea is that you keep programs on one part of the HD and your Data on the other...Not a bad idea if you need to reload yor Windows in the future..you don’t lose your data.

 

To stop using too much space move the contents from “My Documents” to the Local Disc D,,,,try adding folders with the new names...Music...Pictures,,,Videos..etc and you can organise things.

It should be the way all computers are set up for the reason you state.

 

How can I move 'My Documents'? When I right-click, that is not a option.

Here are the instructions: Move My Documents to Another drive (Pasted below to make it easy)

 

The My Documents folder is part of Windows 7's new Documents Library. A library combines multiple folders that contain similar types of files.

 

To move your documents to the D drive:

 

1. Create a new documents folder on the D drive.

2. Right-click the new folder and click Include in Library > Documents .

3. Click Start > Documents .

4. Double-click My Documents to show its contents.

5. Drag and drop the files to the new folder.

6. Press F5 to refresh the view.

7. Under Documents Library , click locations .

8. Right-click the new folder and click Set as default save location .

9. [Optional] Click My Documents and click Remove .

[how122255]

Thanks for your help.

[murtle71]

your local drive d: is normally the DVD player

[how122255]

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for your help. Google had some info on how to do this. Problem sloved, Thanks

[how122255]

Thanks...I found some good info on Google. Thanks.

http://www.andyrathb...anding-another/

[Teddysad]

You have only 1 Hard drive  in 2 partitions.

Bear in mind that a failure as you previously has will not save your data.  You must still back up to another device either cloud based, or external HDD  or DVD

The advantage of 2 partitions is that in backing up you only need to do the data partition and not have to do all the operating system files as well

[nrvous]

And to reiterate what other people have said.....

 

You ONLY have one hard drive (one physical drive) and it has been split (partitioned) into TWO logical drives. This is an old way of doing things with a couple valuable reasons. One of the primary reasons people did this was to ensure that their data (going to D: or whatever drive letter) did not fill up the WHOLE hard drive. Back in the day, you do that, and your computer stopped. This is no longer an a crash event but not good anyway. There were also issues with partition/locical drive space that could be recognized by the OS. This hasn't been an issue in well over a decade for all major OS's (Windows, Mac, Linux). Some people still partition their drives but more out of habit.

 

Your CD drive will take the next letter available from the OS after boot, so if you have 2 logical drives named C: and D: and no other drives (or bootable USB sticks that are plugged in), the your CD rom by default should take the E: drive.

 

You should attempt to save all your DATA to the D: drive and moving your "my documents" is a good way to do that depending on the level of computer user you are (this is a good option for most everyone). This way, it will be easier to backup or transfer to another system.

 

Please note that if this hard drive fails (the physcial drive) that all partitions (both in your case) will be gone*. Make sure to backup anything you care about on at least one other external source (dropbox, an external hard drive, Microsoft Skydrive via Hotmail, Mega.co.nz).

[Para]

You have only 1 Hard drive  in 2 partitions.

Bear in mind that a failure as you previously has will not save your data.  You must still back up to another device either cloud based, or external HDD  or DVD

The advantage of 2 partitions is that in backing up you only need to do the data partition and not have to do all the operating system files as well

 

I always split my disk into 2 partitions. I keep all my personal data on the secondary partition D: and obviously the C: is for the OS and programs. That way when the OS screws its self and I have to rebuild all my data is safe on the other partition. Obviously if I had a disk failure I would lose all so best to have some kind of offline backup.