New SSD help

The-Hive · Nov 27, 2021

Hi, I am adding a 3rd SSD to my Area51. I just wondered, when I activate it and assign it drive letter E, do I have to give it the volume label Hard Disk or leave it blank as I want it to show up as Hard Disk E in windows explorer like my other two in the pic. attached.

BunnyJ · Nov 27, 2021

The-Hive said:
Hi, I am adding a 3rd SSD to my Area51. I just wondered, when I activate it and assign it drive letter E, do I have to give it the volume label Hard Disk or leave it blank as I want it to show up as Hard Disk E in windows explorer like my other two in the pic. attached.

View attachment 14618

I think you should be able to leave it blank and let Windows assign a default value.

The-Hive · Nov 27, 2021

BunnyJ said:
I think you should be able to leave it blank and let Windows assign a default value.

Thanks Jeff, I did wonder that, hence the post as it has been a good while since I did the last one.

BunnyJ · Nov 27, 2021

The-Hive said:
Thanks Jeff, I did wonder that, hence the post as it has been a good while since I did the last one.

Keep in mind I don't recall doing that but from my understanding Windows will assign a default. Or you can just use 'default' when you format the drive for use.

cereberus · Nov 27, 2021

The-Hive said:
Hi, I am adding a 3rd SSD to my Area51. I just wondered, when I activate it and assign it drive letter E, do I have to give it the volume label Hard Disk or leave it blank as I want it to show up as Hard Disk E in windows explorer like my other two in the pic. attached.

View attachment 14618

Why would you want to do this - it is like marking all your kitchen containers as "Kitchen Containers" instead of Tea, Coffee, Sugar etc.

The point of labelling is to make it easier to identify which drive contains what. You can tell it is a hard drive by the icon.

The-Hive · Nov 27, 2021

cereberus said:
Why would you want to do this - it is like marking all your kitchen containers as "Kitchen Containers" instead of Tea, Coffee, Sugar etc.

The point of labelling is to make it easier to identify which drive contains what. You can tell it is a hard drive by the icon.

It is very easy to identify, Hard Disk C, Hard Disk D and Hard Disk E can't get easier than that as I know what each drive contains and I never have a problem

Ghot · Nov 27, 2021

The-Hive said:
It is very easy to identify, Hard Disk C, Hard Disk D and Hard Disk E can't get easier than that as I know what each drive contains and I never have a problem

Even after the new drive is up and running you can edit it's "label". :)

Right click any partition, and choose: Properties.

These pics are from Windows 10, but I have Windows 11 set exactly the same.
The 8TB is just a copy of the 4TB, but with bigger partitions. The 4TB was starting to fill up.
By the time Windows 15 rolls around, I'll probably need a 16TB.

The-Hive · Nov 27, 2021

Thanks @Ghot If I click on any partition other than than the Hard disk I just get help and all options greyed out, anyway whatbyou suggested would work fine on the new SSD thanks

Ghot · Nov 27, 2021

The-Hive said:
Thanks @Ghot If I click on any partition other than than the Hard disk I just get help and all options greyed out, anyway whatbyou suggested would work fine on the new SSD thanks

I'm lost. I get that "properties" menu, no matter which partition I right click. Including the C:\ partition.

Right click and choose: Properties

The-Hive · Nov 27, 2021

@Ghot Ahh the reason is I was clicking on recovery partitions duh! I don't normally partition a disk on this one. I got C which is OS and stuff that will only install on C like Office 2019 etc. all programs go on D

Ghot · Nov 27, 2021

The-Hive said:
@Ghot Ahh the reason is I was clicking on recovery partitions duh! I don't normally partition a disk on this one. I got C which is OS and stuff that will only install on C like Office 2019 etc. all programs go on D

Yeah... I also get greyed out on the EFI partition.
I have a Recovery partition on Windows 11, but at the moment, I'm on Windows 10, where I don't have a Recovery partition.

It may be, those partitions have to have drive letters, to get a usable properties sheet.
A program like Minitool Partition Wizard can assign a drive letter... but I don't want to test it on the EFI partition.
Next time I'm on Win 11 I'll try it on the recovery partition.

Brb, Imma get on Win 11.

Nope... I could give it a drive letter, but that didn't help.

I just got rid of the Recovery partition and moved the EFI partition over next to C:\
Brb, Imma see if this still boots. :)

Still boots.

Weird. It made the EFI partition bigger. It was 100MB, and now it's 337MB, and that's as small as I can make it.

Ghot · Nov 27, 2021

HA!

Minitools Partition Wizard couldn't resize the EFI partition, but EaseUS Partition Master could... (had to reboot to do it).

The Recovery partition WAS between the EFI partition and the C:\ partition.
So when I got rid of the Recovery partition, I could "move" the EFI partition to the left, BUT Minitool couldn't move the data ON the EFI partition, which is why I couldn't make the EFI partition smaller than 337MB. When I tried to move it to the left it got snagged on the data inside the EFI partition.
EaseUS could move and resize it, but had to reboot to do it. I guess that's why I could resize the EFI partition back to it's normal 100MB size.
I'm surprised Minitool didn't do the same.

Maybe the regular EaseUS couldn't either. I have the EaseUS Technician Edition.

I seem to remember a similar thing happening with the Page File on XP. You could only shrink the C:\ partition to the left, until it snagged on the immovable Page File.

Assume BLUE is the data on the C:\ partition and GREEN is the Page File.
On XP, when you tried to shrink the C:\ partition, you could only shrink it until it hit the Page File...

I remember having to disable the Page File to shrink the C:\ partition properly. Then I could re-enable the Page File.

The-Hive · Nov 27, 2021

Thanks @Ghot MTPW has never let me down, I only use parts of it to increase a partition and it worked fine. I will just put the new SSD in initialise it and off I go. I did it with the D drive but cannot remember how I did it. here is mine as it is at the moment.

Ghot · Nov 27, 2021

The-Hive said:
Thanks @Ghot MTPW has never let me down, I only use parts of it to increase a partition and it worked fine. I will just put the new SSD in initialise it and off I go. I did it with the D drive but cannot remember how I did it. here is mine as it is at the moment.

View attachment 14672

I'd find out why you have a 17GB Recovery partition. Unless that's the laptop's factory recovery partition.

Are you just gonna use the D:\ drive for storage?
Or are you gonna move everything from Disk 1 to Disk 0?

Whatever you're gonna do, I would shrink that C:\ parition down to about 300GB.

Something like this...

Then you could do one of two things...

1. Just use Disk 0 for storage.
2. Make an IMAGE of all of Disk 1, and restore it to Disk 0... then clean and use Disk 1 for storage.

Then, whichever way you go, you can use the unallocated space for whatever you want.

Currently, you're only using 7% (about 133GB) of the C:\ partition, so you may as well shrink C: down to 300 or 400GB.
That would make the unallocated space almost 1500GB, which you could use for something else.

If you do decide to shrink C:, you will have to temporarily set "No Paging File". Then shrink C:, then turn the Page File back on.

The-Hive · Nov 27, 2021

I always wondered why it was so big? I don't know how to find out what it is.
Both my C and D drives are un partitioned except for recovery partition. C has the recovery and Os on D is all data and programs, the new one when it arrives will be for backup games and projects and again not be partitioned as I don't need to I just use the whole physical disk. I am not moving anything, just adding another disk. All three are Samsung 2Tb disks so I am not short of space

Ghot · Nov 27, 2021

The-Hive said:
I always wondered why it was so big? I don't know how to find out what it is.
Both my C and D drives are un partitioned except for recovery partition. C has the recovery and Os on D is all data and programs, the new one when it arrives will be for backup games and projects and again not be partitioned as I don't need to I just use the whole physical disk. I am not moving anything, just adding another disk. All three are Samsung 2Tb disks

I saw that. But, like I said... it's easy to shrink C:
Just turn the page file off, shrink C: (it will need to reboot to do that), then you gain an unallocated space of almost 1500GB.

Brb... I'm goin back to Windows 10

Yes folks, he's faster than a speeding turtle with broken legs.

/edit

I pretty much did the same thing. I only have approx. 40GB on C: so I made C: ....a 200GB partition.
And even that is probably too big. :)

The-Hive · Nov 27, 2021

@Ghot As far as I can make out the 17.27Gb partition was created by Alienware and contains the image and I believe all the drivers as well ( as far as I can work out ) Its funny how this thread is going as originally I only wanted to know about naming my new Hard Disk when it arrives. Time to shut down for the night here, we have severe gales and storm warnings in southern UK. cheers

FDretired · Nov 27, 2021

He can use windows "disk manager" and give it a name (properties) and change the Drive letter if he wants to.

Ghot · Nov 27, 2021

The-Hive said:
@Ghot As far as I can make out the 17.27Gb partition was created by Alienware and contains the image and I believe all the drivers as well ( as far as I can work out ) Its funny how this thread is going as originally I only wanted to know about naming my new Hard Disk when it arrives. Time to shut down for the night here, we have severe gales and storm warnings in southern UK. cheers

Have a good one. And yeah, that's most likely the Factory Restore partition. It's about the right size for that.
Windows and drivers... 17GB... check.

Slavic · Nov 27, 2021

Ghot said:
Assume BLUE is the data on the C:\ partition and GREEN is the Page File.
On XP, when you tried to shrink the C:\ partition, you could only shrink it until it hit the Page File...

View attachment 14671

I remember having to disable the Page File to shrink the C:\ partition properly. Then I could re-enable the Page File.

I used to solve the problem with "unmovable" page file quite easily: need to boot OS from USB drive and delete this file in command prompt or any shell which works in this mode (like Total Commander). After restart, OS re-creates page file more close to begin, so the previous place will be freed. If need, you can repeat this again. Then the drive can can be squeezed and repartitioned, if need. (Never tried the same in Windows 11 yet, but I don't see a reason why it will not work.)

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