C drive full how to use D drive

if you have saved a lot of data on C such as photo or video that are large size files simply copy those and paste in D.  after those files are checked to be readable on D, delete the original ones on C to free up space

@RoHe​ Windows 10 Home

@PGUn  - Just follow the instructions at that link for Win 10 to move the default folders to D: and set Windows to save new files on D:

@RoHe​   Thanks, Ron.   My problem now is that I followed some instructions to "Delete Volume" on D drive to try to extend C drive, but that did not work.  The result is that the computer now does not assign a "D" or any letter to the second hard drive.  It does not show up under "this PC" .  I can see it with a partition recovery software, but cannot access it or make it recognizable even after restarting.  So I'm not sure how to recover and be able to use the second hard drive at this point.   Any ideas?

Open Windows Disk Management and see if you can set the drive letter for that drive there.

May need to reformat D drive in Disk Management and assign a drive letter.

Well, you guys saved me big time on this one.  I didn't know what to do.  I didn't even know windows had "Disk Management" until you told me.  I started it and it showed the second hard drive.  After a little poking around, I right clicked on the unallocated part of the drive and it gave me the option to create a simple volume which I did and followed the prompts.  Disk management assigned "D" to the drive and it was good to go. Didn't need to format it in this case. Then I followed the instructions in the link you sent to move files to the "D" drive..  Worked great.  I did need to create folders on the "D" drive to hold the files but that was no problem.   So now I have plenty of room on my "C" drive and I know how to use the second hard drive.

Thanks!  What started with a lot of frustration for me has ended up working out very well.

You're welcome and well done.

How much space did you free up on your C:  drive?

Keep an eye on your apps for a while to make sure they're saving all new files on D: drive.  If you notice any that aren't automatically saving their output on D:, look for a Preferences option on that app's toolbar which will allow you to specify the drive letter and folder where you want its output saved. 

Now that you've move all those files off the C:, you should optimize this drive.  Click Start>Search>optimize. Click it on the results list. When that opens, select the C: drive and click Optimize button.  If C: is an SSD, this will "retrim" the SSD. If C: is a HDD, it will defrag the HDD.

Note: If Optimization isn't automatically scheduled, it's a good idea to turn it on and set a schedule - maybe monthly, so it does it automatically in the background. Be sure to select which drive(s) to be optimized on whatever schedule you choose.

And if your questions have been answered, please mark a post(s) in this thread as Accepted Answer. Thanks.

I now have free space on the "C" drive.  59.3 GB free of 223 GB.   And I have started saving all new stuff including apps on the "D" drive, so the "C" drive should remain as it is.  Thanks for your advice and the links.

Still not a lot of free space on that SSD, but hopefully enough for Windows to use when installing big updates, etc.  Have you trimmed that SSD since cleaning it up?

You could also enable Storage Sense in Win 10 and see if it can free up any additional space...