Question Storage and new Windows install ?

[gillc]

Hi
My PC has Disk 0 with 55GB storage and Disk 1 with 1TB storage.
I kept running short of storage on C drive, showing 52.45GB used on disc 0.

I tried deleting everything i could and moved what files i could to my D Drive on Disk 1 but that didn't make any difference. So i decided to do a fresh install of Windows, but when trying to install it back on to the C drive there wasn't enough space ( i didnt realise it wouldn't delete or overide the existing Windows/files on there when doing the install) so i put it on Disk 1 and Windows is running off that atm .

My question is, can I now delete whatever is on the old C Drive and reinstall Windows back on there, or
will I still run into storage issues?

Or is it ok to leave Windows where it is running on Drive 1?

Recovery partitions are still on Drive 0. any suggestions?

I will add an image if i can work out how to - tried google drive share but it won't upload.

Thanks

 

[SkyNetRising]

I will add an image if i can work out how to - tried google drive share but it wont upload

Show screenshot from Disk Management.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[gillc]

Show screenshot from Disk Management.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

https://imgur.com/a/MzqkWWn

View: https://imgur.com/a/MzqkWWn

Hope this works. 1st image is screenshot before and 2nd is after the new windows install. 3rd image is what files are in what used to be the c:drive.

 

[USAFRet]

Can you determine the make/model of the C drive, Disk 0?
55GB is unusably small in 2025.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Hope this works. 1st image is screenshot before and 2nd is after the new windows install. 3rd image is what files are in what used to be the c:drive.

You can delete D : partition.
Note small 100MB EFI System partition. That is your bootloader.
If you delete bootloader partition, your system will not boot anymore.

 

[gillc]

Can you determine the make/model of the C drive, Disk 0?
55GB is unusably small in 2025.

The pc itself is an old acer predator. Works great with i7 processor but its just the storage thats the issue.

 

[gillc]

You can delete D : partition.
Note small 100MB EFI System partition. That is your bootloader.
If you delete bootloader partition, your system will not boot anymore.

Thankyou
So just to confirm - i can clear everything that is currently on the D:drive partition and reload windows back onto there.

It seems mad to have a 2TB storage and not really use it - is there any way around the small 55GB and 2TB disc sizes - bearing in mind im not really that techy lol

 

[SkyNetRising]

It seems mad to have a 2TB storage and not really use it - is there any way around the small 55GB and 2TB disc sizes

55GB is not enough for windows.
I'd use that drive for some other purpose.

Absolute minimum for comfortable use would be 120GB (250GB recommended).

 

[cruisetung]

As suggested, 55GB is too small nowadays for Windows and 128GB should be minimum,
use that 55GB SSD for Linux will be very comfortable however.

Create an empty partition (use free Minitool Partition Wizard for example) in the front of 2TB disk and install Win11 there.

==

You can install win10 temporary on that small 55gb disk first to install a partition manager

 

[Moonstick2]

What is the exact model of your Predator?

It seems pretty likely that this is a 64 GB SSD and a 2 TB HDD. You can install Windows on the 2 TB HDD and have a lot more space, but it will perform more slowly. I'd be more inclined to buy a new SSD to replace the existing small one and install Windows on that. If you feel techy enough to follow instructions it's something you can do yourself, or you could pay a local computer shop to do it for you.

 

[Misgar]

I tried deleting everything i could and moved what files i could to my D Drive on Disk 1 but that didn't make any difference.

If you want to clear up disk space on a boot drive, run Disk Clean-up and select System Files. It might find 9GB of Windows Updates you can get rid of.

In addition, if you switch off Fast Startup and delete the Hibernation system file you can save a considerable amount of disk space. The down side is Windows will take marginally longer to boot up and you won't be able to use hibernate.

https://www.howtogeek.com/856514/how-to-disable-fast-startup-on-windows-10/
https://www.howtogeek.com/868748/how-to-disable-hibernation-on-windows-10/

Between these two options, you might save 10GB+ space.

I removed my last 64GB SATA SSD from an old media PC last year and fitted a 120GB. More recently, I've started to use 240GB as the minimum size now that prices have dropped.

If you want a faster boot drive, buy a 250GB Samsung EVO 870 SATA SSD. The inclusion of DRAM cache in the EVO gives Windows a new lease of life. You pay significantly more for the DRAM cache, but it does make a difference.
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-Internal-Solid-MZ-77E250/dp/B08T1TWQS9/ref=sr_1_5

I use much cheaper Patriot SSDs in old computers because I'm too mean to pay hundreds of dollars for a large box full of Samsungs. The Patriots lack DRAM and will wear out faster than the EVOs, but they're one third the price.
https://www.amazon.com/Patriot-P220-256GB-Internal-P220S256G2510B/dp/B0BS9WKNXV

i didnt realise it wouldn't delete or overide the existing Windows/files on there when doing the install

There's normally an option when installing Windows to perform a "Custom Install" (second option near bottom of screen).

You should be greeted with a menu allowing you to select and delete all the partitions (or just some of them) and clean (empty) the drive.

I delete the 16MB EFI partition, the 100MB partition, the main Windows (C: drive) partition and the 540MB Recovery partition, in turn.

If your computer BIOS is set to boot CSM and not UEFI, you probably won't see a small 16MB partition. Partition sizes vary.

If there's an additional data partition on my SSD which I've created and labelled drive D:, I sometimes leave this partition intact (not deleted), but I never assume data will stay safe when installing a new OS in the space cleared by wiping other partitions.

Finally, you select the free space cleared by deleting unwanted partitions and Windows gets on with the task. Of course all data in any deleted partitions will be lost, so backup important files first.