hard disk reorganization strategy

there are four partitions on a 500gb disk:
c (xp) 25gb
d (page) 2 gb
e (programs) 50 gb
f (data storage) 300+gb
plus unused empty space 60gb

c occasionally reches full,
so does e
all partitions are logical

60gb is wasted - I did not know about 4 logical partition restriction

the plan is

error check end defragment c
backup c
merge c with d to reduce no of logical partitions and move page to a different disk

turn blank space into a partition and use it as an extension for e

does this make sense?

any ideas increasing safety and ease?

 

There is no logical partition restriction. You can have as many logicals as you want, all within one extended partition.

The restriction in MBR disks is 4 partitions maximum in total, 3 primary and one extended or 4 primary and 0 extended.

 

It is the name that I have mistaken. The problem is all the four existing are primary.

 

Merge C with D: a "merge" is not needed. Just create the page file in C, delete D and extend C to the right.

To increase the size of E using the unallocated space shouldn´t be necessary to create another partition. The procedure to follow depends on where the free space is.

I think this partition layout is too complicated. I´d use just two partitions, one 75-100 GB "system" partition with the programs, and a "data" partition. But this layout would require to reinstall all programs.

 

C for OS, Page File and programs.
D for data.
Balance assigned as Backup Capsule for backup images.

Only you know how much space you need for each.

Too many partitions reduces HD access times (reduce long and frequent head-spans back and forth across partitions. In normal daily use, the r/w heads only travel over C and D partitions. R/W heads never travel to the Backup Capsule except for backup/restore of backup images.

 

C for OS, Page File and programs.
D for data.
Balance assigned as Backup Capsule for backup images.

Only you know how much space you need for each.

Too many partitions reduces HD access times (reduce long and frequent head-spans back and forth across partitions). In normal daily use, the r/w heads only travel over C and D partitions.

R/W heads never travel to the Backup Capsule except for backup/restore of backup images.