We clean the system disk without programs. How to resize or increase the capacity of the system disk (C:)

Every time there is less and less space on the C drive free space. The problem of memory exhaustion is common to all computers, even those with a HDD or SSD with a large amount of free space. At the same time, Windows cannot work normally when there is a shortage of memory, so it is imperative to ensure sufficient space for the system. There are two ways to achieve this goal: remove existing files or increase the disk size. IN at the moment I'm more interested in the second direction - increasing disk space.

The problem appears due to one feature of Windows - a gradual increase in the size of the system and the constant addition of temporary files. Over time, system files, as well as temporary files, tend to take up more space. Everyone is guilty of this Windows versions, no exceptions.

Initially, the lack of space can be corrected by deleting useless programs, temporary files, downloads, etc. All the same, the inevitable situation is when only important applications are left on the disk, and, alas, there is not enough space. Some users give up, but this is not worth doing, since the system begins to process requests very slowly, programs often crash, and errors become the norm.

To continue to use local applications normally, you need to provide enough free space on drive C. So, how to increase the capacity of the C drive? We'll tell you in our article.

How to clean a disk from garbage?

The easiest way to free up space is to remove all junk. If the problem of lack of space has appeared recently, it is still possible to get by only by deleting useless data. For some time this will be enough for normal operation systems. You need to clean out the garbage in several stages.

Algorithm of actions is given below.

1. We clean temporary files (they inevitably accumulate when all applications are running). The CCleaner program copes with the task efficiently and quickly. Just download the utility from the link, on the first tab click on the “Analysis” button, and then click on “Cleaning”.
2. Removing useless files. By default, Windows browsers download all files to the “Downloads” section located on drive C. There may be a lot of unnecessary stuff here: software distributions for installation, outdated files, torrents, etc. It’s worth checking the sections where files are downloaded and deleting them everything is useless.
3. Uninstalling programs. Many users go through 2, 5 or 10 applications in search of suitable ones. Having found good utility the search stops, but earlier installed programs remain in the system. They should be removed by going to the “Programs and Features” section, menu - “Control Panel”.
4. Transfer media files to another drive. It is better to store photos, movies, music, games, etc. on drive D. Such files should be cut from drive C and moved to D.

How to increase the size of drive C at the expense of drive D?

Add free space to a logical drive With really standard using Windows or through applications. The main disadvantage of the first method is the forced formatting of the partition. The programs cope with the same task, but without deleting files, so this option is a priority.

Using Aomei Partition Assistant

A free utility with a good reputation successfully copes with transferring space and saving data.

Its advantages include:

• easy setup;
• the ability to launch several actions at once;
• reliable operation;
• Russian interface.

The entire procedure is absolutely safe for your computer and hard drive.

Main functions of the program:

1. creating and deleting logical drives;
2. transfer free space between disks;
3. formatting;
4. merging, splitting, copying sections.

Of greatest interest to us is the transfer of free space.

To perform it, you should use the instructions:

• download the application from website;
• install and run the program;
• right-click on the disk where there is free space intended for transfer and click on “Resize partition”;
• Reduce space on drive D to create unallocated space.

Important! The slider should be moved from left to right, the freed volume should appear before the other data on the disk.

• repeat step 3, but for drive C, and expand its space using the space on the right;
• In the main window, click on the “Apply” button.

Healthy! The program supports deferred action, which means that no changes occur before clicking “Apply”. Before starting the procedure, all changes can be corrected.

Using MiniTool Partition Wizard Free

This is another similar program that is not inferior to the previous one. Has the ability to move space without formatting disks. The only drawback is the English-language interface, but it is intuitive, so it’s quite difficult to get confused.

The method for adding free space to drive C is no different from the previous program. The instructions from the last section also apply to the MiniTool Partition Wizard. By using control points, initially you need to reduce one disk, and then increase the other. If you need to allocate precise space, you can specify the desired volume in numbers (indicated in megabytes).

All of the above methods create free space on the C drive, so the reader can independently choose the method he likes. Typically, after the procedure, the system begins to work much faster and failures occur less frequently.

For some reason, most computer users have a very firmly ingrained opinion that the system disk is the partition of the hard drive in which the operating system was originally installed (which one, in in this case plays absolutely no role). But more advanced users understand this term more deeply. Why there might be such a difference in opinions, we next propose to consider in a little more detail, and at the same time we will try to find out what is actually meant when it comes to system drives.

The system disk is...

Yes, of course, in most cases, a system disk or partition means an area of ​​the hard drive allocated for files and folders of the operating system.

Typically, if the system is not installed as, say, a second OS, logical partition, in Windows this is drive “C” (everyone knows this). But let’s see what other interpretations of the described term are found, and we will start not only from the user’s understanding of the essence of the issue, but also from the knowledge of many computer scientists and experts who, as they say, have eaten the dog on such issues.

Types of system disks

In general, if we approach the issue under consideration objectively, we can safely say that the system disk is a drive or, if you like, a memory area of ​​a certain device that allows you to run the operating system, and its installation tools, and recovery or error correction tools.

Thus, among all that is called system disks, the following devices can be distinguished in the classification:

• hard drives;
• logical partitions;
• removable boot and recovery devices;
• bootable antivirus applications.

System hard drive

As for this definition, this concept means either the entire hard drive with the operating system installed, if it is not divided into several partitions, or a dedicated (reserved) area physical memory(volume) that is used by the OS for storage own files and folders necessary for its correct operation.

In most cases, if you do not take into account the installation of a second system or virtual machine, the system Windows disk- this is section “C” (this is the default, since previously the letters “A” and “B” were used for floppy disks, “E” for optical media, “X” for bootable media, and “X” for removable USB and other devices - all others). That is, it turns out that system unit drive C is what the system defines by default. In the case of RAID arrays that combine several hard drives into one system, we use special remedy loading with the selection of the partition from which to start.

Main files and folders

But what is located in the system partition by default immediately after installing the system? It goes without saying that these are OS files (the Windows directory containing the system disk files and additional directories).

Software components that are present initially or installed by the user during operation are usually placed in Program folder Files. But these are only the objects that the user sees. If you dig deeper, in the system partition you can also find folders related to a specific user if there are several accounts on the computer.

It is impossible to see all objects. The main thing here is that they are available for viewing only when you go to the Users directory on the local disk; some folders like AppData are even in directories local user are not displayed. However, set the parameters for displaying all hidden objects not so difficult, using the view menu with a checkmark on the appropriate line for this.

Can a logical partition be a system one?

This question is relevant only if not one, but several operating systems are installed on the computer. It doesn’t matter at all that one of them is Windows, and the other, say, Linux.

Even if there are two OSes from the same developer, they will never be installed on the same logical partition. Accordingly, when you turn on the computer and after checking the functionality of the equipment in the primary BIOS/UEFI systems, control of the computer is not transferred to the system kernel immediately, but only after a special boot loader is activated, in which you can select your preferred OS. If the system is installed on disk “D”, say, the tenth version of Windows, the Windows 10 system disk will be defined as the specified virtual partition to start.

Bootable removable media

Installation media can also be equally designated by the term described. For example, a removable system disk of Windows 7 or any other OS is a medium that contains an installation distribution or recovery tools.

Using such tools, you can perform many actions that may not be available in a loaded OS. For example, the same command line, when the entire stationary system, roughly speaking, “crashes,” allows you to use standard commands to restore its functionality, despite the fact that the console itself is launched from removable media.

Separately, it is worth noting operating systems of the so-called portable type, for which installation exclusively on the hard drive is not required.

The simplest example is the same Windows version 7, the files of which are recorded on optical disk DVD, and after setting it as priority boot device You can work with the system as simply as if it were installed directly on the hard drive.

Problems when loading the system and methods for solving them

In general, I think it is already clear that a system disk is a very flexible concept, and it cannot be attributed to any one type. But let's look at some possible errors system start when standard remedy recovery (rolling back to a previous state point) does not work or simply has no effect.

Usually you can use special menu loading, which is called when the computer starts by pressing the F8 key and selecting to load the last working configuration. If this does not help, you should use the safe mode call.

The best option is to start from removable media and then call command console. There are quite a lot of tools here, but among the main ones we can highlight the checker system files with sfc /scannow recovery, online system recovery on boot network drivers DISM, as well as resuscitation boot records and even completely rewriting the bootloader using the Bootrec.exe tool, which uses several additional parameters.

Antivirus programs

Finally, it can be noted that the anti-virus system disk is one of the main tools with a built-in bootloader, which allows you to neutralize most known threats even before the main OS starts.

In this case, we mean that the Rescue Disk utility is first loaded from the removable device, in which you can choose to use GUI similar to the one provided in Windows, and then mark all the necessary areas to scan and perform the most complete scan for threats. By the way, it is precisely such programs that allow you to get rid of viruses that in a running system cannot be detected by any means at all and are located exclusively in RAM.

Conclusions

As already understood, it is impossible to call the logical partition on the hard drive selected for installing the OS a system disk, since, based on the information above, there can be quite a lot of varieties. In addition, here it is also worth paying attention to some well-established stereotypes: users call the partitions with the OS on the HDD a system disk; system specialists tend to identify system disks with removable media that contain recovery or development tools, so you won’t immediately understand which one them right. As it turns out, both are right. But I would like to hope that even such a brief consideration of the issue will still give some idea of ​​what it is.

this is the disk (local) on which we installed

The earliest personal computers did not have any disks or drives. They only had RAM and ROM. Plus, there was also the opportunity to save some data or programs from RAM to tape.

Operating system for such personal computers there wasn’t for the simple reason that operating systems appeared along with disks and were intended, first of all, to manage writing information to disks and reading disks.

Despite the lack of an operating system, the first computers were still able to communicate with the user. To do this, they placed special programs in ROM (Read Only Memory). We can consider that they became the prototype of operating systems.

Modern operating systems are so large in volume that they cannot be placed in any reasonably sized ROM. However, even if we go for this, which is technically quite possible, the operating system will lose its customization flexibility, and the computer will lose its versatility and turn into a special one. a product such as an on-board computer of an aircraft, rocket, or submarine.

In this regard, the following approach has been adopted today: the entire set of programs that represent the operating system is recorded on the hard drive where it is stored.

After pre-booting the computer, when all system routines have completed BIOS, a special area is accessed hard drive, where the operating system should be located. Then it is reloaded into RAM, and it begins full-time job computer.

The operating system cannot be written to the disk haphazardly. Strictly defined tracks and strictly defined sectors must contain certain information. We will definitely talk about this in more detail.

The correct location of this service information makes the disk systemic. Only from it can the computer start.

It is generally accepted to use drive C: as the system drive, that is, the first logical partition (if there are several) of the first physical hard disk. That's why to hard drive special requirements for reliability are imposed. If something happens to it, the computer becomes temporarily inoperable.

Whomakes the disk system?

The hard drive is “not born” as a system drive. To make it system, you need to perform two special operations:

• partition the disk (this operation is called formatting),
• install the operating system on it from the CD.

If the computer was purchased complete with a pre-installed operating system, then usually the C: drive is already the system drive and the operating system is installed on it, so you can start working right away. When a computer is assembled from individual components or restored after a disaster, these operations are performed independently.

The CD on which the operating system is distributed is called distributive. Each computer must have its own distribution CD for the operating system installed on it. Typically, such a CD is stored complete with accompanying technical documentation and warranty obligations. If you purchased your computer ready-made, this disk should be available. If the computer was assembled to order, ask the contractors how to obtain a distribution copy of the operating system.

Transfer your distribution disk to strangers should not be for the simple reason that they must also have own disk. You should also not use other people's distribution disks to install the operating system. The disk will have to be returned to the owner, and then the absence of the disk will sooner or later, but will certainly have a negative impact if an emergency occurs.

After carefully studying all the comments on the previous post about people with little you-know-what, I came to a surprising conclusion. Exactly 50% of readers create extra partitions on the disk! Let's figure out what partitions are for and how many of them are actually required.

Disk Management Mystery

First, I want to show you one interesting inconsistency in the equipment diskmgmt.msc to help you appreciate the importance of terminology and fine detail when it comes to disk management.

Can you tell which partition is the system and which partition is the bootloader? In theory, the bootloader should be on the active partition, but on the other hand, it is clear that the system will not fit on a 100 MB partition! But why is it written the other way around in the equipment?

And why then did I write about 6 mistakes made by people with a small system partition, if I myself have a tiny one? :)

I was always confused by these terms in the equipment, and I decided to turn to the main Windows boot expert - Arkady Pilipenko, MVP and my colleague on the forum. He confirmed that the generally accepted terminology is exactly the opposite of what Microsoft proposes.

On Windows it is considered that systemic section contains the files needed for system startup, and the reserved partition without the letter contains the Windows Boot Manager.

He in turn transfers control operating system loader(winload.exe), which is located in the System32 folder. Therefore, the section where the system is located is called bootable.

The logic is valid, but Microsoft had to clarify this confusion in a special knowledge base article (KB314470).

Fortunately, people managed to translate it into Russian, because the newfangled machine translation would have guaranteed a brain explosion. Below I will show another interesting inconsistency in terminology, but first things first.

General information about disks and partitions

Despite the modest appearance, the disk management snap-in is crammed with various information. In the picture you see the layout by sections, which was kindly provided by the reader Hector in the comments to the previous entry.

Officially, Microsoft has adopted the following concepts, which I will continue to adhere to.

Disk is a physical or virtual disk that contains partitions or unformatted space. You cannot create more than four partitions on an MBR disk (do you know the reason for the limitation?), but GPT disks do not have this problem.

Chapter– this is an area of ​​​​the disk that appears to the system as a separate disk (for example, in Explorer). A section can be primary or secondary.

• Main section. Windows Boot Manager can only reside on the primary partition, which must be active. A disk can only contain one active partition.
• Additional section. If you need to have more than four on an MBR disk volumes, you can create an additional partition and split it into logical drives. You can install an operating system on a logical drive, but it will not start without a boot manager on the primary partition.

Volume– this is the area of ​​the hard drive, formatted With file system. Composite Volumes can include multiple physical disks. But we will only talk about basic volumes, which in the “Type” column of the snap-in are designated as... basic.

Here the problem is exclusively in Russian localization, because the term Basic can be translated in different ways.

In this case, it is better suited base volume to avoid confusion with main section. But the translator was clearly impressed by the film Basic Instinct :)

However, enough terminological delights! Let's quickly define why partitions are needed on the disk, and then it will be easier to understand how many of them are needed.

What are sections for?

Partitions can be created for anything, but on home computers the real need arises in two cases:

The issue of the number of sections is resolved very quickly, thanks to a simple algorithm and a visual diagram that I have prepared for you.

How many sections are needed?

There is no universal answer to this question. I will consider all options only from a technical point of view, in order to insure myself against the invincible counter-argumentation “But I’m used to it!” :)

Algorithm

For simplicity, I will assume that there is no need for additional sections for operating systems, because Windows 7 or Windows 8 are installed on VHD if you have “Maximum” (you can add partitions for other operating systems yourself).

In this case, the following factors need to be taken into account:

1. Your own approach to storing user data.
2. The presence of other drives in the system, including external and network drives.
3. Backup strategy.
4. The curvature of your hands (objectively:)

Don't you find it surprising that there is no mention of disk size? However, everything looks exactly like this if you look at the situation unbiasedly, discarding for a moment the long-term habit of splitting the disk into sections.

Trying to formulate the algorithm in words, I realized that there were too many “ifs” in it. Therefore, the solution process is best demonstrated by a diagram that I will break down further.

Explanations

Each node in the diagram corresponds to one of the factors listed above.

Storing your files and documents separately from the system

From the comments to the previous entry, including in the forum, it became clear that I did not clearly formulate my approach. Some diagonal readers decided that I think it is wrong to store personal data separately from the system.

Everything is simpler - do it as you feel comfortable, because at home this approach has no technical disadvantages.

However, please note that placing your files on another section has nothing to do with backup. You just save yourself the headache of reinstalling the system.

Availability of other drives

I start from this factor first of all, and I can easily explain it with an example. Working for three years with a single 120 GB HDD, I kept all documents, as well as new music and films, in my profile. Everything else was on the external drive.

Now my system SSD still has a capacity of 120 GB, but Thanks to the second internal drive, the strategy has changed.

Now I only have current documents in my profile, and I keep all the heavy files, including ISO, music and video, on the second disk - it’s more convenient, of course.

If I had one big disk, I would have broken it the same way. But not at all because it is important for me to keep my files separate from the system, as you will see below.

Backup Strategy

I consider this factor to be the most important, because from a technical point of view it is directly related to the approach to storing your data. I regularly make backup system images, and their size matters!

When personal files are stored in a profile, the image size increases greatly. This increases disk space requirements and delays the backup process.

My selection of music and films is not difficult to restore, so I don't see much point in including them in the image. However, it does include the current documents because they provide a lot of value to me and don't add much to the size of the backup. In this situation, I no longer need to regularly archive frequently used files.

I want to emphasize once again that it makes sense to use the second partition on the disk only for storing personal files on it in order to reduce the size of the backup image. However there is no point in storing backups on another section the same disk. If the drive fails, you will lose all data on it, including backups. They should be stored on another disk.

Hand curvature

It is clear that few people admit that their arms need straightening :) Therefore, this factor is on the side of the scheme.

If you have nowhere to write a backup image, then the need to store your data on another partition depends solely on how often do you reinstall the system.

When there are other disks, Gates himself ordered to make an image of the system. To do this, it is logical to use two partitions, saving on the size of the backup copy.

If you are hoping for chance, you will have to remember the last time you reinstalled. In the diagram, I set the mark at six months, believing that if it hasn’t fallen off during this time, it will last for a long time.

Conclusion: two sections are enough!

I currently have two disks - 120 GB for the system and 750 GB for data, and neither of them is partitioned. If I had a single 1 TB disk, I would create two partitions, allocating the same amount of space for the system.

As you can see from the diagram, there is no need to create more than one or two partitions, and their number does not depend in any way on the size of the disk!

There are no technical prerequisites for creating other sections other than installation old Windows or open operating systems.

Along the way, the answer to the question of whether it is necessary to create an additional partition with logical drives appeared. It is not necessary, since the physical disk will have no more than three partitions, including the system reserved one, which is automatically created during installation.

What about the sections for...

Did you see my output and are indignant because you are used to creating 100500 partitions? Let's see why you need them.

... other operating systems

For OS Windows Vista and XP, as well as Linux, will need their own partitions, of course. If you only need one such system along with Windows 8 or Windows 7, you need to use the primary partition. In this case, the total number of partitions will still not exceed four, i.e. there is no need to create an additional partition.

...data storage

You have already seen the right picture in the article about mistakes people make with a small system partition.

Judging by the names of the sections, they only store data. There is no need to create 10 partitions since they are not used for operating systems. In other words, instead of ten sections, two are enough, as the left picture shows!

In the context of data storage, I don't see any advantage of partitions over folders. What about you?

Moreover, partitioning has the disadvantage that it is likely to waste disk space, especially on small disks.

Let's say a 120 GB disk is divided into three partitions (20, 40, 40) and each of them has 4 GB free. And although 10% of the disk space is not occupied, you will not be able to save a file of, for example, 4.36 GB in size;)

... ease of navigation

I doubt that in the “Computer” window the presence of sections used as folders somehow speeds up navigation. I don’t take roundabout routes, but rather get to specific frequently used folders as quickly as possible using favorites in Explorer (this feature is also available in other file managers).

At the top of my favorites I have permanent folders, and the list at the bottom constantly changes depending on the current tasks and projects. Notice that in the Explorer navigation pane, Favorites are located above the Computer section, eliminating unnecessary scrolling.

Does it happen that you open another drive by mistake? This has happened to me and that's why I find it inconvenient large number disks, because among them they get lost removable media and mounted ISO images.

Have you found any extra sections?

I remember that last time many of you already gave your breakdown of disks and partitions and described your approach. So now I'm interested to know did my story make you think? over the true need to split the disk into partitions. If nothing like this happened, justify your approach!

If you find any extra sections, please tell me. why do you prefer them to regular folders?. Do you have any technical reasons for creating these sections? Be sure to write about it in the comments and I will add the material!

You can mark fragments of text that interest you, which will be available via a unique link in the address bar of your browser.

About the author

My system and programs are installed on RAID1 of two 750 GB disks. This is S. There is a terabyte on which music, films, family videos are stored - cataloged and, in case of reinstallation, connected to libraries. Eat physical disk E - 320 GB for junk, virtual machine files, backups and more.
I used to create separate partitions, but then I realized that it was easier to take a separate physical disk, because... it is more reliable, faster and simpler.

MCat78

After reading it, I started thinking... I only had one extra section, which, in general, can be eliminated. But it's a shame to waste time on this :)

Dmitry

About 3-4 years ago, I created (then still on XP) at least 3 partitions, including the OS. Now RAID0 (2x500 WD RE4) and there are two partitions on it: System -50GB, remaining for the second partition. The last time I installed the system was more than six months ago, and only because I was building a new PC on this PC. In the near future I plan to reinstall again, because... decided to replace M/B

Anton

On the topic: 5 years ago I came to the same conclusions, and since that time I have 2 partitions on all my computers. 30+ GB of system space and everything else for everything else :) Moreover, I move the “my documents” folder from the system partition to the second one, so as not to worry.

Dmitry,

IMHO it's a waste of time, because if one screw from a partition breaks, ALL the data will be lost.

Sergey

During the New Year holidays, I switched to an organization with one section (previously there were two). All data except movies (that is, music, photos and documents) is stored in the profile. My music collection is not very large (4 GB) and is rarely replenished

Available external HDD, which stores:
1. Movies and large distributions of rarely updated programs (Windows 7 and Visual Studio 2010);
2. System backup image;
3. An archived copy of the data (libraries and AppData - that is, the profile) - in the form in which the tool offers Windows archiving 7.

On the one hand, there is duplication of data from the profile - it is stored on an external drive both as part of the image and as part of a backup copy of the data. On the other hand, I won’t need to restore the entire system from an image because of a few lost photos/documents. In addition, my music collection is not so large (4 GB, which, combined with the external drive’s capacity of 400 GB, does not take up much space) and is replenished/changed extremely rarely (that is, with subsequent archiving, the music will not eat up more and more space).

Dmitry

On a beech disk there is 100 Gigabits. split in a ratio of 30:70, XP (32 bit) and Windows 7 (64 bit) installed. XP is needed due to frequent connections of specialized systems when configuring equipment controllers, 7 is used as the main one working system, and I regularly use Norton Ghost to backup to an external drive.

I would really like to hear the opinion of experts on using a specially prepared and stripped-down Unix for the purpose of simultaneous use of 2 or more OS on a computer.

Alexander

6 hard drives from 1.5 to 3 TB, the first is divided for the system (about 70-80 GB) and the rest, the rest are not divided.

During installation, you can make sure that the 100 MB trim is not created. IMHO it’s more convenient when there is nothing superfluous.

Sergey

The breakdown is approximately the same as that of the author.
I have one 120Gb SSD for the system and main programs (C:) and two 500Gb hard drives in hardware RAID-1 (D:) for everything else. By the rest I mean: photo archives, video archives, music, documents, game saves, games themselves, virtual machines and libraries. All backups are made to a separate home server running W2K8 R2 (it also has a lot of interesting tasks :) except backup) and to a separate disk, which is then put away on a shelf.
The explanation for this configuration is simple - historically, since Windows 95, documents and everything acquired should be stored separately from the system. And now, when the system is on SSD, given their “reliability”, even more so.
As a result, everything turns out quickly and quite reliably. Perhaps a little redundant, but I somehow experienced data loss a long time ago and therefore know a lot about backups.

artem

I can’t stand this situation - I remember exactly that I read something, I can roughly imagine the content, but for the life of me I don’t remember the source. In this case, it seems that it was the eternal Raymond Chen, but no confirmation could be found. So maybe it was a dream.

We are talking about unusual terminology with “System Partition” and “Boot Partition”. These definitions go back to when Windows NT first appeared. And as a rule it was installed second OS - after MS-DOS. Thus, the first partition with MS-DOS (and Windows boot loader) was a system one - in the sense that the OS was originally installed on it. And then the second partition also needed to be called something - so they came up with the idea of ​​calling it boot. In the sense that the new OS was loaded from it.

1. Nowadays, a disk can be not only physical, but also virtual. (In fact, you yourself mention this several times below)..
2. And what does it mean “from the system’s point of view, the partition looks like a disk”? And the disk management snap-in you are referring to is not from a system point of view? How about a look from the astral plane, or what?
3. In general, we must admit that our terminology is complete crap. Why is a logical disk and not a partition? Initially, there were still sections, and it was much clearer that way. Three types of partitions were contrasted with each other - basic, extended (additional) and logical.

Personally, I consider it bad manners to translate “basic” as “basic”. This is not a translation, but a tracing paper. Because it doesn’t add any clarity. With the same success, this term could be left without translation at all. But “main” is a more than appropriate option in this context.

Well, storing personal data on a separate partition does not reduce any headaches - since no one forces you to format the partition when reinstalling.

Argument about backup copy I don’t quite understand - why is it stopping you from simply excluding a number of types (like iso) from copying?

Well, everything else in this section sounds extremely ambiguous. For example, storing a backup on the same physical disk makes little sense. And if you don’t include personal data from your profile in the copy, then why the hell is it needed? :)

Those. I roughly understand what you were thinking when you wrote this. But I think it wouldn’t hurt to be more precise. (And where necessary - in detail). If I myself didn’t agree with you, I would definitely find something to dig into :)

Maxim

I didn’t find any extra sections.
System (Win7) + files + Linux + Linux (SWAP). It seems to be the same.
Only now a question arose about the very first picture from disk management. On it, the bootloader is located separately from the system in a small section, System reserved. For me, “” also falls on system partition S, but the hidden cannot be seen at all. Did you specifically put the bootloader and the system in different partitions or is it not like normal people?))

artem

Dmitry: I would really like to hear the opinion of experts on using a specially prepared and stripped-down Unix for the purpose of simultaneous use of 2 or more OS on a computer.

Ummm. I understand correctly that the problem statement is something like this: "use two OS in order to use two OS"?

And on the topic - one partition per physical disk. Well, because you can’t have less :) The exception is a 100-200 megabyte system disk, which is still needed. Including for BitLocker.

artem

Maxim: Just a question arose about the very first picture from disk management. On it, the bootloader is located separately from the system in a small section, System reserved. For me, both “system” and “boot” are on the system partition C, but the hidden partition is not visible at all. Did you specifically put the bootloader and the system in different partitions or is it not like normal people?))

This is the picture you get if you install the OS (Vista or older) on a blank disk. Then she breaks it down into sections herself. And it specifically highlights the small system disk.

As I understand it, partitions already existed on your disk. In this case, the installer does not change anything.

Alexander

artem:
This is the picture you get if you install the OS (Vista or older) on a blank disk. Then she breaks it down into sections herself. And it specially selects a small system disk. As I understand it, partitions already existed on your disk. In this case, the installer does not change anything.

You can also get rid of this partition during a clean installation.

artem

Vadim Sterkin: 3. Logical drive, not partition because on additional section You can create several “parts” without calling them sections again. And here, by the way, there is complete coincidence with English terminology.

Exactly what to call it. Because “from the point of view of the system”© (i.e. “Explorer”) - both the main section and the logical section look absolutely the same. This makes much more sense than calling primary and extended (additional) partitions, and logical disks.

I don’t argue with the fact that here we have a completely adequate translation of English terms, if we talk about the names in the Section Manager interface. I'm saying that the terms themselves (or rather, the term logical disk) are not very successful, for my taste. And in the industry, as far as I remember, the concept of a logical partition is almost more common.

Alexey

I was convinced in this article that 3 disks in the hospital are justified for me))
***
I bought a netbook. there are 4 partitions: System (100), Recovery partition (15), 2 disk, 10MB of something protected)
From a purely technical point of view, there is no desire to lose the warranty on the laptop and repartition the disk. 320 GB total. I would be glad to see an SSD there instead of a hard drive. One section there would be quite suitable.
And so 1 partition on a netbook is quite enough)

artem

Vadim Sterkin: When creating a system image, file types cannot be excluded. And why bother with this if you can keep them on another partition? :)

Well, something can be ruled out. Let it not be a type, which means that you can probably exclude directories. I don’t remember well, I almost never use the built-in tool - the specifics affect it. And creating separate partitions, and then balancing between them - for my taste, fussing is much longer than a once configured backup scheme.

artem

Vadim Sterkin: I don't see the problem - why do I need ISO and movies along with the system if I have a second disk?

Second disc - ok. After all, you need to store something on it :)

But to allocate a separate partition for this within one disk is, in my opinion, not worth the trouble.

Alexander

Vadim Sterkin, then, so that there is no unnecessary

gendozz

For almost two years now (since the last reinstallation of win7prof) my laptop has two partitions: system - 50 GB and for multimedia - 180 GB. on the first there is a system and all programs, on the second I store documents, a bit of music, some videos and installers of programs and utilities necessary for work. Also, everything from the Internet is downloaded to the second section. There is also an external HDD - 500 Gb. I store photos on it, best video, pictures, selected collection of music. I drain it periodically best files to an external drive, and I delete all the junk. The system works stably and no problems have been noticed over two years of operation.
Of course the update is included, backup and archiving.
In my opinion, I don’t have any extra sections. And this configuration is most convenient for me.

Alexander

Vadim Sterkin,

Vadim Sterkin: Alexander, this is not an answer. Where do you have excess – in the equipment? So you don’t sit there for hours, I suppose. Can you explain why you should delete the 100 MB partition on which the bootloader is stored? Do you understand that you will have to fix the download later?

no, not in the equipment, but during installation. Once, I deleted it, and that’s it - nothing extra.
What does it mean to repair the download? Why should I fix it if it doesn't break? When you delete a 100-MB partition, all files from it are installed on the system partition. This way functionality is not lost. As far as I understand, a separate section is made for security only.

drshura

Vadim, everything is correct, everything is fine. But all this is true for home use. Other situations are not considered.
Example: when doing design and the like, there is a need to keep clipart on disk, consisting of a bunch of relatively small pictures. Sometimes 200-500 thousand files and folders. In this case, selecting a section for them is not only logical, but also expedient (tested by practice) - the speed of access to a specific file, folder, and simply the speed of navigation through them

Andrey Bayatakov

Always 1 disk - 1 partition. Except for the system one, I always put the OS in an unallocated space, allowing the system to decide for itself. Currently there are 4 partitions on the system disk (80GB):
Recovery - 300MB
EFI System Partition - 100MB
MS Reserved - 128MB
The rest is under the OS.
Multimedia, documents, programs, etc. are located on an external drive, where everything is organized into folders, which, after installing the system, are simply included in the corresponding libraries. I only store current files in my profile.

Alexey

Vadim Sterkin:, that came “out of the box” - in addition to the large partition for OS/data, there was a reserved partition (100 MB), a recovery partition (15 GB), some small HP Tools... But I deleted their drive letters, and they don’t bother me in the conductor. But there is no need to use this space yet.

Manufacturers have become smarter) The volume label was made in such a way that the contents could not be read by standard system tools.

(do you know the reason for the restriction?)
uuuuff...as far as I remember, this is a limitation of dinosaur times (bios and ms-dos), i.e. only in MBR markup
There is no such restriction in GPT

Max

Why don’t we talk about the speed of access to information at all?

If you make 3 partitions on your laptop, then the information from the last partition will be read much slower, and many small files will be slow. Please explain why this is so.

It is better to separate information from each other depending on the frequency of accessing it and rewriting it, especially if there are 2 hard drives. And in general, there will be no problems with defragmentation.

My configuration is simple: disk1, partition1 - only the system and all installed programs; disk1, partition2 - temporary files, as well as everything that is downloaded from the Internet immediately goes here to the general heap; disk2 - files for long-term storage, everything is neatly sorted.

Vitaly

I would not recommend encrypting BitLocker. Most likely it has bookmarks for special services. Well, it is not available in all editions. Most have Home Extended where it doesn't. I recommend TrueCrypt as a reliable tool with open source code, tested by thousands of paranoids.

Vadim Sterkin: But this provides the only technical justification for creating a second partition - reducing the size of the backup system image.

They also say that access to data at the beginning of the disk is faster. And since the system is created first, the section with the system will work a little faster. In addition, a separate section somewhat limits the spread system libraries on the disk, and this should also have a beneficial effect on access speed. So there should be a separate section for the system.

Vadim Sterkin: Last time I asked readers to please me with at least some arguments on the topic of data access speed in the context of disk rotation speed. I didn't see anything.

I once conducted a partition reading speed test, and the far one showed the worst results. So it's not a myth.

zoog

1 - on the initial 10% of sectors, access time (= speed) is 1.5 times better than on the entire disk.
2 - I defragment the partitions with the system and programs by moving them to the largest partition and back. This is many times faster and more reliable than any defragmenter. Auto-defragmentation worsens the health of the disk - and in general, often any auto-is evil.
3 - if, on the advice of the Divine Bill, you store everything in this place - gigabyte films, megabyte programs, down to the bytes - the result will be such a horror that no defragmentation can save you. Especially on NTFS, which has problems with this.

Max

Vadim Sterkin,

1. I start from personal experience. I have a laptop, 5200 rpm, sata, on which I stupidly made 3 partitions. On last section Small files are read very slowly even when there are a lot of them. Even if I store one file, but which is accessed frequently, I also see huge brakes, for example, the database from Evernot. This is not fiction or theory, this is personal experience.

2. Is the fact that the load on the disk increases significantly is also an untenable argument? But if you store information depending on requests, this does not happen. In addition, if you have many, many small files, for example when developing websites there are a lot of scripts in the CMS, then no defragmentation will save you.

Alexey

Vadim, the wording is incorrect. Section ID (as translated by the Paragon section manager).

About slow speed in the “distant” sections: I think this should concern energy-efficient drives. At the edge of the disk, the distance between tracks/sectors becomes large, and the head requires longer time, consuming the same energy, perform operations r\w. This shouldn't happen on a 3.5 inch drive.

The crankiness of the manufacturer also plays an important role) Firmware errors... etc. (here it seems to me that seagate is in the lead in this problem rather than wd. The opinion is not theoretically substantiated in any way, but I like the sound of wd better)

Well, our favorite subjective factor)

xela

Well, Vadim, the article is informative. I’m just thinking about organizing the system, because... In the fall I purchased a couple of external storage units (0.5 and 2 TB), just for such purposes.
The system itself has two 0.5 TB disks. Each has two sections, which, given the current situation, of course, make no sense. On vacation I'll start redistributing the space. For recovery I use a program from Acronis. True, there is a question about RAID - is it worth it or not? With respect to all commenters, xela

Anton Smal

I don’t have any extra partitions, since they exist to store personal data of other users who have real access to this computer.

Sincerely.

Sergey

The system has 3 partitions. Historically, there were 2 hard drives, 250 and 500 GB (bought as free space decreased). I consider it unacceptable to give away a completely 250 GB disk for the system (win7). I store most of the data on a separate partition, incl. and to create smaller cuts. copies of the system. System partition - 60 GB. (39% free after more than a year of use), the rest of the space is given to 2 sections for various archived data that does not require constant access, videos, images, etc. So in my case, the correct number of sections is 3.

Andrey

Well, about 100 MB it has long been clear that it is needed to start the system and there is no escape from it. I completely agree with two sections. As for the two systems (I didn’t read all the comments, maybe someone mentioned it) isn’t it easier to install on win 7? virtual machine, i.e. XP, which Microsoft itself invented for those cases when good old XP is needed. It works great and all the software is installed.

- hard drive, which is physical media information. The hard drive, in turn, can be divided into so-called local disks. Those. A hard drive is a physically tangible object that you can touch with your hands. But local disks are partitions on a hard drive that the operating system perceives as several virtual media. To make it easier to understand, imagine an apartment with rooms. In this example, the total area of ​​the apartment is divided into several rooms. There can be one, two or more rooms. Those. we can say that rooms are local disks on one physical medium.

Hard drive is a physical object designed to store information. You can look at it and touch it. Located in the system unit.

Local disk is a virtual storage medium that does not exist in a physical state and is located as a partition on a hard drive.

Why do we need local disks?

Why do we need local disks, because you can use the entire hard drive, “scattering” all the information into folders? Of course, you can do this and in this case you will have one logical drive that occupies the entire volume of the hard drive. Let's return to the apartment analogy. Let's say you have a sufficient size of the total area, in which there is no division into rooms. The living room, bedroom(s), kitchen and bathroom are located in one room without partitions or doors. It is unlikely that you will be comfortable living in such an apartment. Likewise in a computer, dividing the hard drive into logical drives serves to conveniently store information and provide normal functioning operating system. For example, on one disk you have the operating system and the programs you need installed, on the other you store music files, sorted into folders; on the third are video files and (or) photos, also sorted into folders.

You can see what disks you have in your system and their capacity by left-clicking on the button "Start", select menu item "Computer".

Creating local disks and storing information on them.

Local disks are created during the installation of the operating system using prompts installation program, the so-called installation wizard. It is possible to create, delete, split and merge local disks even after installing the system. There are special programs for this. The operating system must assign all local disks Latin letter: C,D,E, etc. In addition to the letter designation, you can also give the disk a name or rename it. For example, name the drive “System”, and drive D – “Documents”.

Using Windows 7 as an example, to name the disk or rename it, left-click on the button "Start" in , on the right side of the menu, select "Computer". A window will open with available local disks. Select required disk, and right-click to call context menu, where select the item "Properties". In the window that opens, enter the name of the disk and click the button "Apply". In the properties window you can also see the overall size local disk, how much space is occupied for files and folders and how much is free.

Depending on the size of the hard drive, you can create several local ones. They can be the same size or different, depending on your needs. Let's say you will store a lot of movies and photos on your hard drive. In this case, it would be reasonable to allocate a larger volume for the video collection than for the photo disk, because video files are large.

No matter how much local partitions you have in the system, the most important one will be drive C, which is called the system drive. The vast majority of programs are installed here by default. It is recommended to allocate 50-60 GB of space for the system partition. It is not recommended to store your documents on drive C, because... If there is a need to reinstall the operating system, you risk losing all your data. During system installation, all data on this partition is erased. Therefore, make it a rule not to store your documents on partition C, despite the fact that by default in Windows, data to be saved is sent to the “My Documents” folder on this particular partition. Any existing local disk will do for this.