Acer Aspire Desktop - Partitions

aubergine
aubergine Member Posts: 5 New User
edited March 2023 in 2014 Archives

I have an Acer Aspire desktop (Windows Vista) that was purchased brand new some years back. It has rather curious partitions:

 

ACER (C: ) (System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition) 50GB

DATA (D: ) (Primary Partition) 17GB

 

Is there any reason for the large D: partition? Could it be merged into the main C: drive without any harm? I am looking to upgrade to Windows 7.

Answers

  • laurent_14
    laurent_14 ACE Posts: 10,300 Trailblazer

    Hello aubergine,

     

    Under Windows Vista, you have exactly 3 partitions:

     

    0- PQSERVICE - The hidden partition which permit to recover your system like out factory.

    1- C:ACER

    2- D:ACER DATA

     

    Firt, don't forget to make your erecovery media (factory defaults)

    I advise you to install windows 7 on C (partition 1). If you have any problem, you'll be able to recover your system from PQSERVICE. If you merge C and D, I'm not sure you'll be able to recover it (partitions changed).

     

    Look this video (from 2:39): Destination partition 1 (C)

     

    France
  • aubergine
    aubergine Member Posts: 5 New User

    Thanks, but what is the purpose of the D: drive (DATA)?

  • laurent_14
    laurent_14 ACE Posts: 10,300 Trailblazer

    Hello,

     

    This partition is used to store your personal data (files, music, pictures etc).

    By default, Windows use My documents on C:.

    Many users save them in My documents and they forget to make a backup.

    So, when they recover the system, they loose their documents.

     

    In all cases, it's strongly recommended to have two separate partitions (OS+software, personal data) and for any windows version.

     

    France
  • yc0615
    yc0615 Member Posts: 7 New User

    I would love your partitions. I wonder why they did not make mine like yours. I need a seperate partition for my data.

    Every pc should do it like yours!

  • aubergine
    aubergine Member Posts: 5 New User

    And what if I use Windows Backup program? Does that back up the C: or the D: or both?

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    You can select what you need to backup. Smiley Happy

    I'm not an Acer employee.