Local disks. Changing the automatic installation location of programs

One of the frequent wishes of computer and laptop owners is to create a D drive in Windows 10, 8 or Windows 7 in order to subsequently store data on it (photos, movies, music, etc.) and this is not without meaning, especially in the case if you reinstall the system from time to time by formatting the disk (in this situation it will be possible to format only the system partition).

Creating the D drive using Windows Disk Management

In all latest versions Windows has a built-in Disk Management utility, with with help which, among other things, can be divided hard drive into partitions and create disk D.

To launch the utility, press the Win+R keys (where Win is the key with the OS logo), enter diskmgmt. msc and press Enter, through short time Disk Management will load. After that, follow these steps.

At the bottom of the window, find the disk partition corresponding to drive C. Right-click on it and select context menu"Shrink Volume" item.
After searching for available disk space, in the “Size of compressed space” field, enter the size the disk being created D in megabytes (by default it will be indicated there full size free space on the disk and it’s better not to leave this value - there should be enough on the system partition free space to work, otherwise problems may occur, as described in the article Why is the computer slow). Click the Compress button.
Once the compression is complete, you will see a new space labeled “Unallocated” to the “right” of the C drive. Right-click on it and select “Create simple volume”.
In the wizard that opens to create simple volumes, just click “Next”. If the letter D is not occupied by other devices, then in the third step you will be asked to assign it to the new disk (otherwise, the next ones in alphabetical order).
At the formatting stage, you can set the desired volume label (signature for drive D). The remaining parameters usually do not need to be changed. Click Next and then Finish.
Disk D will be created, formatted, appear in Disk Management and Windows Explorer 10, 8 or Windows Utility Disk Management can be closed.

Note: if at the 3rd step the size of the available space is displayed incorrectly, i.e. the available space is much smaller than what is actually on the disk, this indicates that non-removable disks are preventing the disk from being compressed Windows files. Solution in in this case: Temporarily disable paging file, hibernation and restart the computer. If these steps do not help, then additionally defragment the disk.

How to split a drive into C and D on the command line

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Everything that was described above can be accomplished not only using GUI Windows Disk Management, but also from the command line using the following steps:

Run command line On behalf of the Administrator and in order, use the following commands. diskpartlist volume (as a result of executing this command, note the volume number corresponding to your C drive that will be shrunk. Next - N).select volume Nshrink desired=SIZE (where size is the size of the created D drive in megabytes. 10240 MB = 10 GB )
Create partition primaryformat fs=ntfs quickassign letter=D (here D is the desired drive letter, it must be free)
Exit

This will close the command line and new disk D (or another letter) will appear in Windows Explorer.

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Using the free Aomei Partition Assistant Standard program

There are many free programs that allow you to split your hard drive into two (or more). As an example, I will show how to create disk D in free program in Russian Aomei Partition Assistant Standard.

After launching the program, right-click on the partition corresponding to your C drive and select the “Partition Partition” menu item.
Specify the sizes for drive C and drive D and click OK.
Click “Apply” at the top left of the main program window and “Go” in the next window and confirm to restart your computer or laptop to complete the operation. After a reboot, which may take longer than usual (do not turn off the computer, provide power to the laptop). After the disk partitioning process, Windows will boot again, but in Explorer there will already be drive D, in addition to system partition disk.

You can download the free Aomei Partition Assistant Standard from the official website Http://www. disk-partition. com/free-partition-manager. html (site at English, but the program has a Russian interface language, which is selected during installation).

I conclude with this. The instructions are intended for cases where the system is already installed. But you can create a separate disk partition during the installation of Windows on your computer, see (last method).

Instructions

If you are sure that all the necessary drives are physically connected (all the necessary cables are in the connectors intended for them), check the drives through the “System” component. You can call it in several ways. First option: via the Start menu, open Control Panel, in the Performance and Maintenance category, select the System icon. Another option: from the “Desktop”, right-click on the “My Computer” element icon and select “Properties” from the drop-down menu.

In the “System Properties” window that opens, go to the “Hardware” tab and click the “Device Manager” button in the group of the same name. A new window will open. From the list of available devices, select required disk and double-click on it with the left mouse button to open its properties window. Click the General tab and make sure that the Device Usage group is set to "This device is in use (enabled)."

Call the Computer Management component and make sure that the disk is given the correct name (sometimes it happens that the letters “fly off”). To call the specified component, open the “Control Panel” through the “Start” menu. In the Performance and Maintenance category, select the Administrative Tools icon and the Computer Management shortcut. This component can also be accessed through the Documents and Settings folder. An approximate path might look like this: C: (or another drive with the system)/Documents and Settings/[user account]/Main menu/Programs/Administration.

In the left part of the “Computer Management” window that opens, expand the “Storage devices” item and left-click on the “Disk Management” item. In the right part of the window, select the disk you need from the list and right-click on it. From the drop-down menu, select Change Drive Letter or Drive Path. In the new window, highlight the current name and click on the “Change” button. IN additional window Use the drop-down list to assign the desired letter, click OK and close the window.

Sources:

• Problems installing the game

Some users prefer to use several physical devices at once disks when working with a desktop computer. This method allows you to increase the degree of reliability, because failure system hard drive will not result in file loss.

You will need

• set of screwdrivers.

Instructions

Explore technical features the motherboard used in your computer. Open the case system unit, having first disconnected it from the network AC. Find out what types of hard disks can be connected to motherboard.

To do this, consider the available connectors. Most boards work with IDE and SATA hard drives. Based on the information received, purchase a suitable hard drive. Don't forget to check the type of power being connected. This is very important because there are transitional models of SATA hard drives with IDE power supply.

Remember that to desktop computer You can connect a hard drive from a laptop. In this case we are talking only about hard drives with SATA interface. If you are using this hard drive, be sure to remove the mounting carriage that holds the device inside the mobile computer.

It is not always possible to create the required number of local disks during the installation of the operating system. For some users, this need arises during the operation of the computer - an overabundance of information requires order. In this case, the flexibility of the Windows 10 operating system allows you to configure the hard drive at any time.

How to allocate local disks on Windows 10

Why is this necessary? Initially, when installing Windows on a new machine, there is only one media, known to most users as the letter “C”. It stores the operating system itself, everything system files and programs installed during operation. If you don't split the hard drive, then that's it. user files(movies, music, photos and documents) will be saved here. Then in case of failures or reinstalling Windows these files will disappear along with the system files if they are not transferred to some third party media(which takes a long time and is quite inconvenient).

All these problems can be solved simply - before proceeding using Windows, it is advisable to divide the hard drive into several partitions (maximum 4) and store user files on a separate partition from the system.

How to distribute a hard drive and create a partition on it

Distributing the hard drive into partitions is possible using third party programs, and by means of the operating system itself. And as long as standard tools help manage disk space, we see no point in using other methods. Therefore, we will describe step by step how to create partitions using Windows 10 itself.

1. Right-click on the Start menu.
2. Select “Disk Management” from the list.
3. Now let's allocate free space to create a partition. Select the signed media (C:), right-click, and select “Compress volume.”
4. In the dialog box that appears, we see information about the total size of the hard drive before compression begins and the space available for compression. In the “Size of compressed space” field, we enter the amount of memory that we want to free.
5. After we are sure that we have entered everything correctly, click the “Compress” button and wait. After compression, look at the bottom band in active window. A new sector with unallocated (that is, free) memory has appeared on the right. This is a place vacated as a result of our actions.
6. Right-click on the sector and select the first item - “Create a simple volume”.
7. Then everything is simple - click the next button. If we decide to assign our own letter of the alphabet to the storage, we do this in the third window (in the picture).

   In the next window, in the “Volume Label” field, we can also enter the desired name for disk space. We don't change anything else. At the end, click “Done”.

8. Now open “Explorer” and in “My Computer” we see the disk we created.

Important! The size is indicated in megabytes. 1 gigabyte contains 1024 megabytes. This means that if we want to free up 10 GB, then it will be equal to 10240 MB. Please take this into account when entering a number.

How to change the logical drive letter

In general, why all this walking through the English alphabet? Sometimes the reason is the desire to “beautify”. Another reason is habit. For example, on the old computer there was a certain system for arranging sections, and on the new one I want to transfer this order. But mostly this is necessary for order in Windows itself. The fact is that when installing Windows 10, letters are assigned to automatically: the storage with system files receives the letter C, the DVD(CD) drive receives the letter D, and the remaining letters are “distributed” local storages and USB devices.

Changing the name for the media occurs in the same Disk Management utility in which we created new section(local). Select the desired media, right-click on it, select “Change drive letter...”. Then everything is simple. And, of course, you understand that simply swapping letters won’t work. First, we assign the letter F to drive D, for example. Then we change the carrier E to D. And only then we return to F (former D) and give it the letter E.

How to remove a local disk

Everything happens in the same Disk Management utility. Select the media to be deleted, right-click, select “Change drive letter...”. In the dialog box that opens, click the “Delete” button and agree with the question that appears. Ready. Now we see the freed up space as a memory sector labeled “Not allocated”.

Important! Before deleting, transfer all necessary data from one medium to another, since deleting will erase all data.

Why can't I delete a volume?

There are several reasons for this:

1. The local drive that stores Windows system files cannot be deleted. boot files or the so-called “swap file”.
2. At your account no System Administrator rights. Then try going to the control utility via “Start” - “Control Panel” - “System and Security” - “Administration” - “Creating and formatting hard disk partitions”.
3. Well, sometimes they confuse the impossibility of deleting a volume with the impossibility of deleting a partition. If you cannot delete a partition, then first you need to delete all volumes from it (remember about copying necessary information) and only then delete the section.

"Reserved by Windows 10"

The section with this inscription contains service data necessary for Windows operation(parameters Windows boot loader and data for hard drive encryption). The disk itself, as a rule, takes up little space - about 100–350 MB. Sometimes the user has a desire to remove it, despite its small size. However, removing this drive requires special skills, so we will describe a method to hide this drive from File Explorer.

Open the Disk Management utility, select the partition labeled “Reserved by the system,” right-click and select “Change letter...”. Click the “Delete” button. In this case, we will confirm the deletion twice - as a warning about the use of this section will appear. Now you need to restart your computer. Done - the disk has disappeared from Explorer.

How to create a network drive

It is necessary for the possibility of simultaneous access to data via local network(office work, schools, universities).

In Explorer, right-click on the My Computer icon. Select the item “Connect network drive" Select a letter for the name. Choosing the path to shared resource(the folder that will be in public access) by clicking on the “Browse” button. Next, enter the login and password of the account with which we will connect to this medium.

Ready. Now in Explorer there is the network drive we created.

The flexibility of the Windows 10 operating system allows you to configure local disks using standard tools while working with the system: create, merge, rename, delete. The main rule of all manipulations is to retain information before each serious action. Successful work!

Local disk- This is the place where we will store all important information.

There are many different icons, buttons and inscriptions on the computer. Some of them we use (or will use), and some we will never need. You will learn about all these icons and buttons in the following lessons. And in this lesson we will talk about the most important icons on the computer - Local Disks.

Open My Computer. This icon may also be called “Computer”. It is located either on the Desktop, that is, on the screen, or in the “Start” button.

When you open “My Computer,” you will see several icons in the center of the window. We will talk about most of these icons in the lesson “How to open a disk and flash drive”. Now we are interested in the icons called “Local Disks”. There is always at least one such disk in the computer, but there may be more. Most often, there are two of them.

A local disk is a section of a computer in which all information on the computer (videos, music, documents, photos) is stored. You can compare it to a room in an apartment. If there is only one local disk, then we can say that you have a one-room computer.

It is best when the computer has two or three local disks. Now we will try to figure out why they are needed and what they are used for.

There is always one local disk. It is called “Local Disk C”. Open this icon and you will see several folders with English names.

Inside these folders are other strange folders and files. They are “responsible” for the operation of the computer. That is, these folders and files are computer system or, as it is also called, operating room Windows system.

If you and I break something here - we delete some folder or file, change the name - then the computer may fail. Therefore, it is better not to “touch” anything in drive C. It's best not to go into it at all. At least until we learn to use a computer fluently.

We are more interested in other Local disks. Close the window and open My Computer again.

If you only have one Local Disk, then this is not very good. It is advisable to divide it into several parts. True, it’s better not to do this yourself. Invite a computer geek or computer technician you know.

And other drives are the most important computer icons. In them we will store all our information - books, music, photos and pictures, documents and so on.

Open some drive (D or E). If you recently bought a computer, then most likely there will be nothing in it. But if you used the computer, then Local Disks will contain files and folders with information. You can “walk” through these files and folders. Let me remind you once again: we will store all our information in Local Disks. This applies to drive D and any others except C (the system is located there, and we have nothing to do there).

Many people unknowingly store their information in “My Documents” and on the Desktop (on the screen). This is a big mistake. Let's check how things are going on your computer. Close all open windows. Look at what is on your Desktop (on the screen). Ignore the folders and files with arrows. They are called shortcuts and are not of interest to us for now. See if there are folders and files without arrows. They should not be on the Desktop; they should be in Local Drive D or any other drive other than Drive C.

You can learn how to transfer files and folders to Local drives from the lesson “Copying"

Also open "My Documents". This icon is located on the Desktop or in the Start button.

If there are several folders, for example, “My Pictures”, “My Music”, “My Videos”, and these folders are empty or almost empty, then everything is fine. But if there are a lot of files and folders in My Documents, and you know what is in them important information, then you will need to transfer them to Local disks (D or E).

The fact is that the Desktop, as well as the “My Documents” folder, are actually located in drive C. That is, where we have the Windows operating system. And if suddenly something happens to the computer, for example, the system becomes corrupted or a virus gets in, there is a high probability that everything from “My Documents” and from the Desktop will be erased. And in addition, Local Disk C may become full, and the computer will start to work very slowly or stop working altogether.

It’s better not to take another risk and “put” all important folders and files into drive D or any other Local drive except C.

When buying a new computer (), it often happens that when you go to My Computer you see only one unpartitioned hard (local) drive.
For example, if the volume is 500 GB, then there will be one local disk C with a capacity of 465 GB.

By the way, for those who don’t know why this happens:
From your computer science course at school, you should know that 1 byte contains 8 bits (the minimum unit of information), 1 KB contains 1024 bytes, 1 MB contains 1024 KB, 1 GB contains 1024 MB, etc.
But marketers and manufacturers “decided for everyone” and they have not 1024, but 1000. As if it were easier to count, but in fact you pay for more bigger place than it is.
And also file system For his own needs, he immediately takes a certain amount.
So it turns out that on a hard drive that even says 500 GB, you get actual space of 465 GB.

And here there are 2 situations: when the operating system is already installed on the disk, and when it is empty.
But in any case, it is inconvenient when there is only one local disk on the computer.

For information:
Hard drive- device. You can touch it and see it
Local disk- what you see in My Computer in the OS.

So, how to split a hard drive into several local ones using standard means Windows?

1) The easiest way to “get” to what you need is to right-click on the My Computer icon on the Desktop or in the Start menu and select from the context menu Control: