question regarding my new laptop hard drive partition

[oerba]

i just bought a laptop that had an advertised 750GB hard drive.

its an msi ge60

460 GB is in C:

where all the programs and stuff are installed

and 230GB is in Data D:

217GB is free in D: it says

which is basically empty but has some hidden files.

why does it reserve so much space?

 

[SchizTech]

Some manufacturers like to include a separate "data" partition as a backup or safe area in case the C: drive is infected or corrupted. To me an external hard drive offer more complete protection since it's on an entirely separate drive; a partition doesn't protect against hard drive failure. Besides, most customers who bring in such a laptop never seem to use the data partition.

I'm not sure what hidden files are on that data drive. The ones I've come across are usually 100% free by default. It should be safe to clear the partition and let C take over the whole disk.