Windows 10: Can I Extend directory when not enough space on HDD.

Hi there

I'm sure there's a way of doing this in Windows - perhaps symbolic links or whatever but I've totally forgotten how to do it or if it's even possible.

In Linux say I've only 5 GB left in the / directory ( the main / is the root directory top level) and need to create a 50 GB directory say /database which must be on the root directory. The application needs it to be on the root directory (/) -- don't ask me why -- I didn't write the application !!!!!

I can easily do this by creating the directory say on my /home/data directory and then using a BIND mount .

So I create an entry /database in the root and one in the home directory which has oodles of space on it /home/jim/data/database. This home directory can also be on a totally different HDD as well. Then link the 2 with the mount bind command

mount --bind /database /home/jim/data/database. (effectively mount --bind /olddir /newddir).

Then everything the system needs to read / write to /database gets read / written to /home/jim/data/database

Saves messing about and re-creating the system when just testing a largish database type application.

Is there a similar system in Windows -- I don't want to keep creating new VM's for this type of stuff when it's essentially 1-off testing.

Thanks to any Windows gurus out there who can suggest a decent solution.


Cheers
jimbo

:)

 

how to create partition in windows 10

I have only 100 m b of unallocated space showing.. That s not enough space for a new operating system to fit on. Can I shrink or extend to get enough space?

 

Could not update the system reserved partition

Hello Johne Smith,

Thanks a lot for your suggestion! I've installed the AOMEI software and try to extend the System Reserved Partition, unfortunately it failed, because there is not enough space on the disk. This a SSD disk. So I have to replace the SSD to the original HDD
and install the update. After this I have cloned the HDD to the SSD again.

Best regards,

John Liem

 

Hi Jimbo

maybe I can help (not a windows guru or a guru but faced similar problems)
but it's not clear what you are trying to do, is windows in a virtual machine?
if not you may use "disk managment" to extend the disk and do other management
stuff ...

 

another idea, if windows is a kvm virtual machine
you can resize the disk image:

man qemu-img

resize

 

Hi there
the problem is that the HDD is nearly full so can't be extended --if it were a VM it is easy enough to do - but the BIND type of idea seems the best as once I've done the testing I could just delete the DB file, and when I want a new one / test just re-bind to any other HDD and away I go again on the same machine !!!

I did think of kvm but I'm on a REAL machine at the moment -- re-installing Windows again is a pain as I would then need to re-jig a whole slew of HDD's -- a lot of effort for minimal pain.

I might though run a Windows VM on a Linux host --that would get round the problem - but doing intensive DB tests where you need to get access to physical reads, writes and HDD performance a VM isn't the best vehicle for that.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Ok so you need another disk (obviously) an i heard you can mount
a disk as a dir in windows file system

How to Mount a Hard Drive as a Folder on Your Windows PC

now we wait the guru for the "mount bind" equivalent for windows

in the mean time i give you an idea to make some REAL DAMAGE
not testes at all, **you know better** if it can work:

rename the database folder BEFORE mounting the new disk: database1

mount the new disk in a new "database" folder

copy database1 content into database dir (the new empty disk with full space) could it work?

good luck

 

Jimbo45, you said it yourself: symbolic links. Use the command prompt’s mklink command to create them.

 

Thanks

It was so long ago that I used those I'd forgotten all about them or if they even existed.

Problem solved.

Cheers

jimbo