On a computer with an advanced or custom configuration, a system drive is one used by Windows® for its internal operations and may contain any of the following:

• A system folder such as Windows, Desktop, Documents and Settings, My Documents, etc.
• The Windows® TEMP folder used for temporary storage.
• The cache folder used by an Internet browser such as Internet Explorer to save information from recently visited web pages.
• System page files.

There can be many system drives. For example, drive C may contain the Windows folder and drive D a page file.

If a drive is not a system drive, it is a data drive, containing only user programs and data.