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General discussion

Freeing up hard disk space

by scobie1knobe Jan 9, 2009 10:25AM PST

I really need some software to delete unneeded files on my hardisk (cHappy. It won't even defrag because there is only 7% free disk space and I need 15%. It would take hours to go in to C: drive and start checking files and even doing that I'm not sure what I am deleting since there are over 60,000 files in there! My system is Windows XP Home and it has had 2 hard drive replaced already in about 6 years. Is there anything out there that will check my c:drive quickly and remove files that I don't need?

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4 Posts
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Here's an easy and safe way to start
by Slikkster Jan 9, 2009 10:41AM PST

Open up My Computer. Now, RIGHT-CLICK on the icon for your C: drive. Then a menu will come up. LEFT-CLICK on "Properties" on the menu. Now, a box will come up showing you a pie chart of your C: drive. You'll also see a button labeled "Disk Cleanup". LEFT-CLICK on that button.

It might take Windows awhile at that point to scan your drive for all kinds of superfluous temp files and the like that can be safely deleted. You'll see how much space can be freed up, too. Once it does, it will display a menu with checkboxes next to each type of item you can delete. Usually they are all safe to delete.

If you see one that says "Zero Byte files" or similar, I'd skip that, as that could take awhile and won't really free up space.

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Another option to get to Disk Cleanup
by Slikkster Jan 9, 2009 10:45AM PST

With Windows, there's usually at least two if not more ways of getting to the same place or accomplishing the same task.

A better way than I posted above is using the command line.

Click Start. Click Run. Type in (without the quotes) "cleanmgr" and click OK.

or

Open up a command prompt and just type (without the quotes) "cleanmgr" and tap the enter key.


This is cool because if you have more than one drive, you'll be prompted to select which drive you want to clean up. Of course, you can do them one by one this way.

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And that Disk Cleanup
by MarkFlax Former Forum moderator Jan 9, 2009 10:27PM PST

also has another useful option. In the "More Options" tab, it allows you to delete all but the latest System Restore point backup files.

System Restore backs-up many important files, but over time these can take up a lot of disk space.

If your system is otherwise running well, removing all but the latest backup files could free up a lot of much needed hard disk space.

Mark

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It's been a while
by scobie1knobe Feb 21, 2009 9:16AM PST

Thanks for the info. You got me back on track.

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