moving files between partititons

[Aralous]

So I recently bought an ASUS laptop and I happened to notice that there were 2 partitions on it, the OS (C) and Data (D). Problem is, the Program Files folder and other folders, that I prefer to keep my data at are all on the OS partition, which is not very big.
Is it possible to simply move all these folders to the D drive, which is much bigger? I'm mainly concerned that programs like Steam, which by default sticks most programs in C:/Program Files (x86), wont know where to send stuff if that folder is on the D drive.
Or even better, can I merge the 2nd partition to be part of the 1st partition without having to completely reformat the physical drive and reinstalling everything?

 

[meticadpa]

What OS are you using? If you're using Vista/7, try clicking "Start", hovering your mouse over "computer" and then right clicking, and clicking "Manage".

Then click disk management and try and merge the partitions from there. It doesn't always work though, so you can try and use a program called gparted that always works.

 

[Aralous]

Using 7. I'm in disk management but I'm not seeing any sort of merge option. Would I have to format or delete the D partition first to get that option?

 

[octafish]

You could boot a live DVD of a Linux distro (I like Ubuntu or Mint) and then use Gparted to redistribute the partition sizes. I think there is a bootable Gparted iso but I find it just as easy to use Linux distros and I have them handy.

Alternatively install your applications, Steam, games, and all into the D: drive. The save games files will still be in program files on C: but they don't take up much space. This is what I do with my Desktop because I have a relatively small SSD with only Windows 7, Open Office, Mozilla, and Adobe Photoshop installed on it. Everything else is on HDDs.