To prevent the C: drive from filling up, it is a good idea to set the database default location. To do this:
1. Open SQL Server Management Studio
2. Right click the server instance
3. Select “Properties”
4. In the Server Properties window, select “Database Settings”
5. Under “Database default locations”, specify path for “Data:” and “Log:”, for example: “D:SQLDATA”
Additionally, if space on the C: drive is limited, check the properties of the TEMPDB.
This can be found under the “Databases” –> “System Databases” branches in the server’s tree-view.
First, since the tempdb does not autoshrink, you can manually shrink it by right-clicking tempdb and selecting “Task”–>”Shrink”–>”Database”.
Next, right-click the tempdb database and select “Properties”. Then select “Files”. You can set the “tempdev.mdf” file to be restricted growth and add an additional database file that is unrestricted on another drive.