Editing Solid State Drive Issues

I recently got a new Toshiba computer, I love it, but Toshiba put a backup of the OS on the rather small ( 64 gig ) solid state drive, and since it is a fairly small drive a lot of it went to the backup ( which I hope never to have to use).  The computer also has a big ( 500 gig ) conventional drive, so overall space is not an issue just the precious very fast drive.  After about a month I had only about 4 gigs free on the solid state drive.

== Where is my space ==

At first I did not know why I had so little space.  Disk properties showed only about 50 gigs on a 64 gig drive.  A call to Toshiba support told me the backup copy is on a hidden partition ( making it safer from a virus? ).  And that to recover the space I would need to reformat the drive and reinstall the OS.  This is not something I am really comfortable doing, but planned to at some point in the future.

== Making a backup ==

I assume I can buy a backup copy of the OS from Toshiba at any time, I declined when I first got the machine.  So I used the Toshiba utility to create restore disks.  This takes 4 blank DVDs.  Then I did it again, I want to be sure I had a good set.  This takes as I recall a couple of hours, but you do not have to sit there and watch it.

== Do Not Reformat ==

Maybe you should for best results, but there is an easier, quicker way.  I downloaded a free partition utility ( [http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html Partition Wizard] ).  A nice feature of this utility is that it comes in a CD bootable version.  One reason why this is good is that you do not have to worry about disabling any anti virus, utility......  So I got the software, burned the cd, and booted it.  Set you computer to boot from the CD, and reboot, comes right up in the utility:

*Click on the C drive.
*Find the hidden partition in the display, click on it.
*Click on delete, and carry out the delete.
*Click on the primary partition
*Click on Move/Resize
*Expand to fill all available space, and carry out the expansion.
*Exit the utility and reboot.
*Time, about 5 to 10 minutes.

== Side Effects ==

As far as I can tell none.  Except I now have about 15 gigs free on C:

== Going Farther ==

*I should probably run a disk defrag on C:
** Intel: High Performance Solid State Drive SSD Frequently asked Questions: "Q: Do I need to defragment my Intel Mainstream Solid-State Drives?" A: No.[http://www.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/CS-029623.htm#5]
** Alexander Wolfe. "SSD Onslaught Spotlights Defrag Debate".[http://www.networkcomputing.com/storage-networking-management/ssd-onslaught-spotlights-defrag-debate.php]
** Alex Handy. "Do Solid State Disks Need Defragging?" [http://sysmannews.com/link/32501]
*There is still other junk software on C: that I should probably delete or move.  Anyone have detailed directions?
** Perhaps [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCleaner CCleaner] might be useful?
*There is still the page file and hibernation file on C:  I probably want the page file there, but the hibernation file might go as I do not use it.
*At some time some utility popped up that let me migrated My Documents to the E: drive.  Kinda lost track of the details.

== Can you contribute some tips ==

Please do so here, or add to above.

*[http://hubpages.com/hub/Windows-7_-_Moving_My_Documents Windows 7 - Moving My Documents]
*[http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/Windows-7/Windows-7-Professional-Upgrade/m-p/96585#M5277]  may help with moving applications.