What is (D:) drive for?

[Marco74]

Sorry, I know nothing about computers so I apologize for not knowing what might be a simple thing. I looked under the computer icon and noticed that the (D:) is at almost at capacity. It reads 1.97GB free of 11.8GB, what does this mean? Is it a bad thing? Do I need to free up space? Any advice would be great.
Thanks.

[Steven Schweda]

If you're running some kind of Windows, then
try asking in a Microsoft forum, instead of
in this HP-UX forum.

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/familyhome.do?familyId=116

It may be difficult for a non-psychic to
guess what your "D:" drive is, or for what
you use it, making specific advice difficult
to offer.

> Do I need to free up space?

Did you run out? Do you expect to?

[Michael Steele_2]

In windows, d is for a 2nd hard drive. C would be master, d would be slave. C would be primary mirror, d would be alternate.

2nd hard drives, like floppies, were very common with a hard disk was only 20 meg

[Steven Schweda]

> In windows, d is for a 2nd hard drive.

Drive, or partition, or USB flash EEPROM, or
almost anything. Possibly a second thing,
but not necessarily.

> C would be master, d would be slave.

Or not, depending on the BIOS configuration.

> C would be primary mirror, d would be
> alternate.

Who said that there _is_ a mirror?


Assume much?


> Any advice would be great.

You asked for it.

[Sheldon Smith]

Since D shows "1.97GB free of 11.8GB", that indicates a file system. Being "...of 11.8GB", I would strongly surmise it's a partition of a (much) larger hard drive. It's been a Very Long Time since hard drives were only ~12GB in size. It's possible it might be a USB flash drive, but those tend to be a 'power of 2' in size (1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB ...) and 11.8GB is a far cry from 16GB.

"Do I need to free up space?" Depends what's in there and whether or not you use the D drive. We could guess better if we knew _anything_ about your computer, like who makes it and what model it is. Some manufacturers, Hewlett-Packard being one, will have a rather small partition at the end of the hard drive with files that are only used with the 'Recovery CD' that comes with some systems. I am also guessing this is not a server, but a desktop or laptop computer.

If you (double-)click on the D drive, what folder names do you see? I suspect there aren't too many. That might also give a clue as for what the D drive is used, and whether or not there is a free space problem.

Steve, no one said "there _is_ a mirror". I believe Michael was just giving some examples of what a D *might* be, since Marco assumed all our crystal balls are working and gave _no information_ about the computer. For what it's worth, *my* notebook has two hard drives (60GB and 160GB) in addition to the CD/DVD drive.

[D. Jackson_1]

I would ask a windows admin to check into it or someone that knows about that system and can advise on what needs to be cleaned up.

[Dennis Handly]

As Sheldon said, my Presario XP has a D: drive for the recovery partition: PRESARIO_RP
If you click on it, it has a big warning: Recovery Partition ...

Just leave it alone.

[TGMcCallie]

oN A HP computer and quite a few other brands, the hard drive is partitioned into two partitions C: for your main partition where you store everything and D: is a partition that the company created to stor3e all your operating system. It has your windows operating system and all your programs that came with your computer. You use this partition to restore your computer back to the condition it was in when you first got it.

Do not bother the D: partition. Just let it be and don't worry about it at all. You only use the C: drive.

Tom McCallie

Thanks and hope this answers your question as other answers were not correct.....

[Mufeed]

"Marco74" if you are referring to D: (Recovery Partition) in HP/Compaq PCs, it's the Recovery Partition which contains the image of the Operating System. This is linked with the F10 hotkey. When you press F10 key (in XP), or F11 (in Vista) at the HP/Compaq logo screen it initiates System Recovery from this Recovery Partition. System Recovery re-installs the OS, and all pre-shipped applications taking your Pc back to factory settings.

Ref: Performing an HP System Recovery in Windows Vista.

https://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=uk&docname=c00814731

Regards,
Mufeed