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Can you expand internal storage with storage devices?

Anonymous
2021-04-03T16:41:23+00:00

So I have a desktop PC running windows 10, with 50 GB of storage. 50 GB is not enough for me, so I want to expand it, but I also don't want to spend a lot of money on new internal hard drives since the device is pretty old. But I have a lot of USBs and external storage devices, I was wondering if I can plug them into my PC and make the PC think the USBs are internal storage devices. If the PC thinks they are internal storage devices, it'll make the storage on local bigger. For example, If I plug a 32 GB USB, the PC thinks I'm adding more internal storage, and the storage in windows C goes from 50 to 82 GB.

If you ask why I don't just use a USB for extra storage. A usb is not on local, which means I can't run apps from the USB (they'll install on local anyways, which would be fine for portable apps, but I don't have any). Saving downloads and documents saves to local automatically, and it takes time and hassle to copy them from local to external and back. 

If you have a solution for expanding the storage of local by using USB's, please let me know, even if it's on beta, alpha-beta, hard to use, unreliable, if it seems to be a viable solution, let me know, I'm that desperate. 50 GB is totally used up by now, and it's only been my first day. 

Also, it's an optiplex 990(not upgraded). Intel core i5, 8GB's ram, 50 GB's internal hard drive. 

Edit: if this question is unclear in any way, please don't hesitate to ask

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-04-03T17:16:42+00:00

    Hi yikenW

    I am Dave, an Independent Advisor, I will help you with this . . .

    It is not possible to make Windows 10 think that an external drive is internal and also, if that were possible, it would not be possible to make Windows 10 extend the C drive into that space, what you can do is permanently connect that drive to yoru system and move some data to that drive

    1.

    Move all your User Library folders to D:

    Open Windows File Explorer

    In the right hand pane, right click your Documents folder and choose Properties

    Select the Location tab

    In the Location box, type D:\Documents then click Apply and Ok

    When that move completes, do the same for Pictures, Videos and Music

    Each time, provide a new folder location, for example, Pictures will go to D:\Pictures

    2.

    Move the location of all future content downloaded from the Microsoft Store

    Open the Settings App (gear icon on your Start Menu)

    Go to System - Storage - Change where new content is saved:

    Change all options you find there to D

    Also, for any Apps or games that you may have downloaded, go to Settings - Apps, then select that game or App and there may be a Move option . .

    3.

    If you are a Steam Gamer

    Stop all processes associated with Steam

    Move the Steam folder to your D drive manually

    Then open the Steam Control Panel and point that to the new location

    4.

    Please Note: this should ideally be done before you begin installing any software

    For 3rd party applications, some will allow you to choose an installation location, for those, create a new Program files folder on your D drive, then for each application, create a new sub-folder of that folder

    Other 3rd party applications will not allow you to change the installation location, and there is no safe way to move those to your D drive . . .

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-04-03T17:17:19+00:00

    Sorry, you cannot expand internal storage capacity with external media.

    Why not buy a 2.5" 500 GByte disk for less than $50.00? If your desktop PC has a SATA interface then there is no problem connecting it, in spite of your machine being a desktop PC.

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