Everything is downloadin to my D drive

[patmac6075]

Thank you for viewing my post
I recently (today) reformatted my computer and did a clean install of WIN XP PRO my processer is an Athlon 2.16 GHz, with 512 Ram and 120GB HDD.
I've gotten my computer up and running very well, but as I've tried to do all the driver and software updates it is saying I am running criticaly low on resources.
It seem everything is loading under my "D" drive (updates), even when I try to save to my "C" drive (which was 100GB free) when I try to install it is directed to the "D" drive.
I feel like I'm almost there, but I've flipped a switch somewhere along the path, and cannot find it!
Can anyone help?

[TurcoLoco]

It sounds like you might have done an incorrect partitioning there. The entire 120GB should have been formatted as C drive but it seems you have also created another partition (D drive). 120gb would actually give you 111-112GBs of usable space, so you have a 100GB C drive and a possibly -almost- full D drive with about 12GB of space at the most.
Is that what you really have? Did you create separate partitions like this on purpose? Where is Windows actually installed at C or D drive? Please provide further info about your system and what you actually have done during the installation process.

[patmac6075]

I'm pretty sure you are correct about where I'm at currently....how I got there is a different story.
My system is a Compaq S4500NX Athlon 2.16 GHz, with 512 Ram and 120GB HDD. I ran a clean install because I had had a bug which I could not get rid of.
The D drive was created to store the operating system (or so I was told by the chat help desk at HP). I though my kid had done it to save his stuff. So the answer is I'm not sure.
I believe the operating system IS in the D partition.
As far as what I did....a lot! But the last time, I used the Compaq recovery tool, then did a fresh install with Win XP Pro (the system was loaded with XP home). Then I went to the various web sites (microsoft, Compaq, and so on) to get the latest drivers. It was while I was installing Service pack 2 that I noticed I was filling up, then when I tried to install Office Service pack 3 it filled up completely. Now there is about 20 Mb left (it won't let me finish installing some drivers).
BTW, other than the D drive reminding me it's full the system is running very fast and very smooth.
Any help is appreciated.
Pat

[Red Squirrel]

If its a compaq, D is probably the "restore" partition. Instead of giving you an actual legal OEM copy of windows they just use the same disc and put it on that drive. if the HDD fails you're SOL and need to find all the drivers and stuff, which is next to impossible with compaq hardware. But that aside, C is really the only place you should be putting stuff, with that setup.

Though the best setup is usually a small C, and big D, and D is for all the data, but compaq does it the other way for the restore drive.

[patmac6075]

Can you help me fix the problem?

[TurcoLoco]

Can you help me fix the problem?

Just as Red mentioned with those OEM companies they had this cheesy configuration where the Operating System, programs and all other stuff the user installs would be on the C drive which is naturally formatted in NTFS and instead of giving you a Restore CD or even better a bootable XP copy, they created this secondary paritition (D) which is generally formatted in FAT32 and is much much smaller than C and the user is not to use that 'read-only' partition for any purpose other than to restore the system from.
As Red mentioned, this half-baked recovery configuration would not help if the Hard Drive crashed. You would have to buy a new HD and also somehow obtain a bootable copy of the OS or perhaps get in touch with the vendor (Compaq) and hope they provide free help.

Bottomline, since this does sound like an installation problem, the best would be to backup whatever data you created since the last installation that you might lose and then do a fresh install by initiating the restore processes through the proper channels. Normally, you would see the related options within a folder in the [START > All Programs] list. It should be named something like System Restore or Recovery with the name Compaq or not.
If that doesn't help then you will have to provide the details on how you guys installed the OS the last time.

[patmac6075]

Thanks I'll give it a shot.....
Is there any way to just make the partition larger? I can't imagine the drivers for my printer and other stuff need that much more room....could this work?

[TurcoLoco]

Thanks I'll give it a shot.....
Is there any way to just make the partition larger? I can't imagine the drivers for my printer and other stuff need that much more room....could this work?

Again, if you have done the re-installation using the vendor provided method, you would not have to mess with partition re-sizing, etc. You should only have and use the C partition, as far as the end user (You) is concerned the D partition doesn't even exist.

Now, if you have done the fresh install using your own 'Mickey Mouse' method, I'd strongly suggest re-doing it correctly but to answer your question, you should be able to re-size the existing partition using Partition Manager or Partition Commander type commercial 3rd party apps, heck there are even some free ones available that could do the job.

Regardless of which program you pick, I suggest you backup all data that is on the machine that you can't afford to lose if something went wrong during the re-part process.

Good Luck!