# Can someone help me properly install Windows 8.1?



## cantthink278 (Oct 3, 2013)

Hey guys, so i have a little problem.

A couple years ago I bought a laptop from dell. It came with a 128gig SSD and a 1 TB HDD. Well fast forward to now I dont have my warranty, but basically about 6 months or so ago I redid my laptop and reinstalled windows on it. Im not sure what I did, but now I have 2 drives when I click on my pc. Local Disk C which is my windows install, and Local Disk D. Local Disk C is starting to fill up, im guessing when my dumbass tried to reinstall windows I partitioned wrong (not sure why i partitioned in the first place) but basically im just wondering if theirs a way I can reinstall windows properly, so that the SSD is JUST for windows and I wont have to worry about this. Also I would really love if i could save all of my files or at least some of them, but if I have to lose them I will.

So basically I partitioned like an idiot when reinstalling windows 8 and now my SSD is filling up and I need that not to happen. Would like to keep my files from my D drive if possible. Also, is there a way I can see my CD Key? Pretty sure I lost it -.- but it is registered and activated to my live account/this laptop.


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## cantthink278 (Oct 3, 2013)

just saw i can compress that folder actually, i am seeing if that frees up alot of space. would like a permanent fix obviously but this should help


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Dell should have a factory reset partition which will image the drives exactly as they came from Dell is that what you used the first time?


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

You do not have to reinstall Windows "the correct way". There are ways of reclaiming storage space.



> I partitioned like an idiot when reinstalling windows 8 and now my SSD is filling up


Are drive C and D on the SSD? If so, you can merge them into one partition (requires third-party software). Your data on D won't be lost, but will be stored in a directory inside the resultant partition. EaseUS Partition Master will do that for you. Grab a copy from the link in my signature.

Caution: This operation will involve moving around system critical files (reboot is required). It must not be interrupted, so make sure NOT to run on battery power. Interrupting this process is disastrous.

Alternatively, you can copy all of the data from D to an external drive or to the 1TB drive if it is has enough free space then delete partition D and finally resize partition C to occupy all of the unallocated space that was initially occupied by partition D. I'm not sure why you aren't using the SSD for OS only. The OS will definitely enjoy a performance boost, but for data storage, HDD is adequately fast, no reason not to store your data elsewhere other than the SSD (just a suggestion, it all comes down to your preference). I would however be cautious using SSD for storing crucial data because SSD is fairly new technology and is still glitchy.

You definitely need to retrieve your Windows key(s), you do not wanna be in a situation where you need Microsoft to resend one, they most likely won't and would instead advice to repurchase a license! I'm not sure i can help with that though (forum rules). Google is your friend :wink:


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## cantthink278 (Oct 3, 2013)

Grabilla screen capture: 2014-03-30 15:00:23


that is a picture of my partitioned drives. i dont want to use my SSD for anything other than my windows install but I guess when i wasnt thinking months ago and redid this, for some reason it wasnt installed properly and now some things just automatically install there. Drive C is the SSD, drive D is my normal drive. I have all of my main files/games/videos on D besides for like drivers and stuff which are installed on C. I would like to basically figure out a way to let C ONLY be for windows. I dont want other things installing on it.

Wrench I do not see that partition unless that is the recovery partition on Disk 1. I will continue to look into this more and figure it out, I dont want my C drive to fill anymore as it is almost halfway full already and keeps filling up and forcing me to go into it and manually delete things.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

From that screen shot partition C occupies all of the SSD's space and 52GB is occupied. I suggest you run disk usage analysis to find out what is occupying that space. Space Sniffer is my favourite for this. You can also post a screen shot of the analysis so we can advise on stuff that can be deleted or migrated elsewhere. For example, you can move the location of the videos, music, pictures folders in your profile directory to drive D. You can also create a Program Files folder in D and use it for large program installations such as games and multimedia suites. You can then uninstall these large programs from C and reinstall them on D. 
Note that some program components will still be installed in locations on C even if you chose to install the program on D, especially shared components.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

There is no good way to move now that I know of, Dell would have had it set up using what's called a answer text on a unattended install process. That should have been on the Dell recovery partition but I have a feeling you formatted and erased the original recovery partition it would have been between 2 and 6 gig depending on what your system shipped with for software.

The process to do it is very complex and can be found on the MS Forums in a post by Mark L. Ferguson dated August 19 2009 scroll down the page here> Win7: how do I move user folder to a different drive - Microsoft Community


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

I actually meant moving the media folders only and not the user profile folder. It's these media folders that are likely to occupy the most space in the users profile. 

While moving the whole of the user profile is possible, it's no easy feat, especially for non advanced users and it simply isn't worth the effort. 

The media folders i speak of are Music, Videos and Pictures. You could even move the my documents location to D if it occupies some reasonably huge space.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

Bump

When you right click any of those media folders and select-click Properties, there's a Location tab. You can then type in or browse for the new location (example: a Music folder in D) then apply the changes. You'll be prompted to move the %USERPROFILE%\Music folder to its new location (eg D:\Music). This is a neat feature because the Music folder in the users directory is not moved to D, but rather only its contents are moved to the new location (its actually a shortcut to the actual storage location)


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