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General discussion

Running low on hard disk space -- what can I do?

Sep 30, 2016 4:38PM PDT

I am a senior and disabled with very limited income. My problem is I have a very old laptop. With Windows updates I now have used 97.6 GB of 111GB. One more Windows update and I believe this computer will "crash"! I only use it to play games with fellow shut-ins and store photographs (do not want to lose those, so I back up on an external hard drive every month). As I no longer work I can delete resumes, etc., but it will not clear much space. I know this laptop is old (as am I), but I use every day to be able to connect with friends (Facebook, etc.). Any idea on how I can stop Windows upgrades? What or how to delete some things on this laptop as I have no idea what many of these things/programs are? I know I need a tech person, but with minimal income it is difficult. Still have to pay rent.

Any info would be appreciated. Have a good day!

--Submitted by Jo C

Discussion is locked

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Is System Restore enabled?
Sep 30, 2016 11:13PM PDT

System Restore can be a good tool, especially if you install and remove new programs frequently. The down side is it can hog up valuable hard drive space. I had 10 percent of my hard drive reserved for System Restore. For me it was too much, enough to block Windows Updates that I actually wanted.

If your happy with your system now, you may want to delete some of the oldest restore points. Then you might allocate less space for system restore. Find a better description here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-delete-old-restore-points-to-save-disk/28648a45-ac7a-4f14-95b6-cb91021566f8?auth=1

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You might also try...
Oct 1, 2016 6:35AM PDT

Hi Jo, some great advice so far so I won't repeat it. Good to see you make regular back ups of your treasured photographs, etc. If you do adopt one of the earlier suggestions and move them, or anything else, off to an external disk, be sure to back up that disk as well, just as you do your main disk now.

One thing you might want to look into is whether your local council or library offers any kind of community tech support. Here in Australia, our local library has a couple of afternoons a week, where anyone can go along with their questions on PCs, phones, tablets and such like. The sessions are free, run by knowledgeable volunteers for the benefit of the community. You say you have some disability, if that includes mobility difficulties, contacting the group organizers may turn up one of the volunteers who would be happy to come to you and help out .

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The Culprit:
Oct 1, 2016 7:59AM PDT

all the suggestions are valid but sort of like trying to put out a fire with a thimble. There are 2 culprits in the Windows-is-hogging-my-C-drive: SysWOW64 and Installer.

SysWOW as i get it holds routines that translate generic Windows service calls to the specific chip architecture on the system: Intels, AMDs, etc in every flavor there ever was. The sad news is that you cannot delete or touch SysWOW as Windows will stop. Again, my understanding may not be current but google around and check.

Installer folder, on the other hand, can be handled. It contains all the info for uninstalling and upgrading all the installed software. It CAN be moved to a drive other than C:\ On my system i see that i can recover. google to find out how. i suspect you can even move it to a usb drive.

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Re: hard disk full
Oct 1, 2016 8:18AM PDT

If all the suggestions above don't help sufficiently, remember that it's cheap to buy a bigger hard disk and clone your current hard disk to it. For example, a new 500 GB SATA hard disk is $50 including cloning software.

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Good solution but...
Oct 7, 2016 9:35PM PDT

...it's always assuming Jo's machine uses SATA disks. I still have laptops in use that use the earlier IDE (PATA) disks and, believe me, replacements are as rare as hen's teeth these days. They were in common use up to around 2004-5.

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Free stuff
Oct 1, 2016 9:16PM PDT

Free stuff
Ccleaner.
Disk cleanup.
Uninstall unneeded programs.

10 buck stuff.
Get a 10 pack of dvd's.
Grab a 4GB bunch of photo's and burn that to a disc.
Verify the photo's on the disc are readable.
Delete that bunch from your hdd.
Repeat.

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I agree, but
Oct 7, 2016 10:59PM PDT

never count on a CD or DVD to keep your data safe unless you make multiple copies, especially if you buy a cheaper or less reliable brand. Always burn and verify at least two copies of every data disk. A bonus with the pictures is that CDs and DVDs are acceptable for getting copies of photos printed. You can take the CD or DVD to WalMart and put it in a machine to get your copies. It is just so much easier and nicer than it used to be.

You can always put the CD or DVD in your machine when you want to show off your pictures. You don't need to have them on your hard drive.

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Cheap Extra Storage
Oct 1, 2016 11:12PM PDT

After you clean out some "clutter" with CCleaner remember that you can buy a 32GB or 64GB USB flashdrive at very low cost ($15 and up), and you can use it to store some of your data or even install programs on it.

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Another space recovery possibility
Oct 2, 2016 10:30AM PDT

You indicate you have an adequate backup on an external drive -
If this is a full backup, and you have a bootable restore facility (Cd or USB stick)
Then you can probably get rid of all the restore points
(System cleanup will include an option to do that expect to find 1, or maybe quite a few.)
And - you could also delete all the windows fixes files -
using an admin level file viewer - maybe get "Treesize free"
check the size of the folder
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
on a Windows 7 or 8 there may be files for the fixes going back years - maybe 8 or 12 GB
You can (using a .bat script running in administrator authority mode delete the folder - ( you have to stop some services to get access to the folder, and then, on restarting the services the folder is re-created but without the historic sets of files needed for windows to uninstall fixes.

So that's a decision you have to make.
If you get Treesizefree it may show space taken up by files in the Recycle folder - where the recycle facility has 'decided' to hide them from you.
(Technique is to empty the recycle bin - and then run treesize in admin mode, seeing if it reports the recycle bin as empty - and if not, then drag'n'drop from the Treesize display, moving the folders that Recycle is hiding to a new folder (1 letter name) you create in the root of your OS partition (as in C:\Q) - and then see what is in those folders and files - deleting any you do not need them as you would normally do.

There are various versions of the '.bat' script - and you should check with someone (such as Lee Koo) as to the content you would need for your particular OS and system - a sample - REPEAT SAMPLE script follows:

cd %systemdrive%
cd %systemroot%

pause - going to clear out the fixes history ... Ctrl+C or close the window to NOT do that.
Pause - the following services may already be stopped, or take a while ( maybe up to 5 minutes) to end

net stop wuauserv
net stop BITS
net stop cryptsvc
rd SoftwareDistribution /s /q

Pause that should have removed the windows update maintenance files and folders
Pause - now to restart the windows processes which will create a new folderset

net start wuauserv
net start cryptsvc
net start Bits

Pause - that should be all done, and the services restarted! - press enter to continue - and see how much space you got back.

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Get a tech
Oct 7, 2016 6:06PM PDT

Their a heaps of people who may be able to help maybe even buy a new computer or hdd. I work in an aged care facility and have become somewhat of a resident techie purely because I'm only to happy to do it.
I'd suggest getting in touch with a community group etc In sure their would be someone with a good heart willing to help out

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Windows Disk Cleanup
Oct 7, 2016 6:56PM PDT

I have recovered as much as 30GB by running Windows Disk Cleanup. You will want to run it and pick your C: drive. Once it comes up with a panel, on the lower left there will be a button for "Clean Up System Files". Click on it and you'll need to pick your drive C: again. When the panel comes up again. Then, click on the "more options" tab and in the system restore and shadow copies section, click on "Clean up". If your computer is running alright, you should be able to delete all but the most recent restore point. I had bad luck with a cleaner program and had to reinstall my operating system and have since been hesitant to use them again. My computer is 8 years old, I run Windows 7 and it is as good as the day I bought it. I do have a secondary drive that I keep all my files on and you could probably find a small drive for a reasonable price. On sale, the 1 TB drives are less than $100 and since you don't seem to have a lot of personal files, you could probably find a 500GB drive for a reasonable price with a little searching.

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thank you
Oct 30, 2016 3:43PM PDT

did that and it really helped! also got 1T backup external drive (ON SALE!!) and moved pics there and that helped a lot!!!!!

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Compress the drive
Oct 7, 2016 7:12PM PDT

Go to My Comptuer and right click on it. Go to Properties and check the box "Compress this drive to save space." Click "Okay" and wait unitl the process finishes. Reboot. Compressing the hard drive may slow the computer down a bit and if this is undesireable the process is reversible.

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Running low on disc space
Oct 7, 2016 8:26PM PDT

hi I had the same problem, I did all the things that have been suggested, made a little bit of difference.
I bought 500gb external drive and copied all of my photos and music over to it. Not a back up.
Some photos are large files.
That made a difference. Or let google store all your photos for you. Costs nothing.
Go to adde and remove and get rid of any programmes that you do not use.
cheers
Gill

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thank you
Oct 30, 2016 3:45PM PDT

thank you

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If you are in eastern Massachusetts or southern NH...
Oct 7, 2016 8:30PM PDT

I do hard drive replacements and upgrades all the time. New hard drives are cheap. The process of cloning a hard drive is simple. I just start up the cloning software and walk away to do something else. When I come back and the cloning is done, it's usually a few minutes more to replace the small hard drive with the cloned drive.

Spoiler alert! Replacing a hard drive is not so simple with some newer Dell Inspirons and other poorly designed laptops. Instead, you have to tear the whole system apart to get at the hard drive. Clever, eh?

Since the original request involved a system with a 120GB hard drive, odds are very good that it can be removed easily.

You can find me easily by looking for my name. If you are outside the Boston-Worcester-Nashua area, I cannot help. Too much travel.

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Try this
Oct 7, 2016 8:30PM PDT

Download and install free Geek uninstaller, Privazer and AOMEI Backupper.
Use AOMEI Backupper to do a system image to your external drive. Geek Uninstaller will identify all your installed software. Uninstall what you don't use.
Remove the pictures from your laptop. 128GB flash drives run about $30 and one should store all your pix with space to spare.
Privazer will clean up the rest of the crud you don't need.
Good luck.

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Some really good ideas here
Oct 7, 2016 9:47PM PDT

But we have had a number that suggest moving your pictures to external HDD, external Flash or Cloud storage Google etc). If you do that, PLEASE, Please, Jo, do back up that external storage - as Bob P. repeatedly says, "What we don't backup, we lose".

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I'm with you on this
Oct 7, 2016 10:14PM PDT

I have read the previous answers here and think most are probably too technical for old chaps like us. You have not said what version of windows you have but if it's XP you wont have to worry about more updates unless it's for Office programs. You have probably cleaned up your HD with Ccleaner etc. and saved very little space. If you back up to an external drive you have what you want to keep on that. I assume that s only your files? I suggest you do a mirror image. You mention that you have stuff on your HD you know nothing about? Download "Should I Remove It" available free here http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/index.aspx. It will give you a description of the product and the ability to remove it safely should you no longer have a use for it. That could be a big gain for you. You should also try to back up your external drive if possible.

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Get rid of photos
Oct 8, 2016 12:29AM PDT

You say that you have your photos and back them up onto an external hard drive.
Photos take up a lot of disc space. So get another external hard drive and move all your photos across. You will have two back up hard drives with the photos on, so now you can safely delete the ones on your PC which will give you a lot more disc space.

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Remove superseded Win Updates
Oct 8, 2016 3:59AM PDT

Click the Start button and look in the list for an item labeled Command. Right click on Command and in the box that pops up Left click on Run as Administrator. In the black box that now appears on screen type
dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded 
and hit Enter.
then type
dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup
and hit Enter again.
This should get rid of all old Windows updates that have been superseded by a Windows Service pack.
Also run cCleaner as recommended elsewhere
Good luck

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Get your own tech person.
Oct 8, 2016 6:05AM PDT

I have used Glary Utilities for many years now. They're at http://www.glarysoft.com/ or you can download it from CNet.

Once installed, everything is contained in one window interface. Don't be confused by it all, read quietly and you will see this is your own tech. I chose this from others since I have not had any unexpected damage to my PC from using it.

Click on the Advanced tab. This will give you all the different choices of tasks to clean and consolidate the data on your drive. There are utilities that will do everything in one go, but I prefer to see each one does. It will prevent you from doing anything without understanding the result.

When you click on the Trashcan it will open the app to remove unwanted programs. It can also clean data, defragment the disc, (when it becomes very slow) and a whole variety of other necessary tasks.

Click to open all the tasks and read what they do first. Bookmark the Glary site, you can talk to them. They are quite responsive to queries. Then you can also ask specific questions on CNet.

If you are tired or do not understand anything, simply close it up and come back to it tomorrow. This goes for any program that you may use.

Good luck!

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This really must be quite an old system
Oct 8, 2016 7:03AM PDT

111 GB is what Windows would usually see of a disk drive that the manufacturer would sell for a 120GB disk. That dates your machine quite reliabily. SO ...

The age of your system and the fact that you can't spend a fortune on the solution mean a few things that so far not all contributors have kept in mind with their suggestions.

item: your Windows version is probably XP or older (good news - not a lot of updates likely to come anymore - bad news - no more updates coming ...)

item: There were lots of great tips about freeing up space on a Windows system disk, but experience shows that there is not much hope that you will free up a significant portion of your 120GB drive under Windows. And considering that you are likely to collect more photos rather quickly and it is a nuisance to have to plug in an external drive evey time you want to look at them, you do want your C-drive to be a good deal bigger.

item: your 120GB disk in all probability has an IDE (or ATA or PATA - all the same thing) connector, and I doubt if anyone ever made a larger disk with that interface in a 2.5" form factor (which is what is used in laptops.) I would love to recommend that you get a, say, 320GB or 500GB drive to migrate your system and data to, but you won't find one and if you did it wouldn't be cheap - but try ebay and similar second hand sources, anyway ... Drives with the SATA interface that is in use nowadays are readily available up to 1000GB (1TB) in 2.5" format but they can't be used in a computer with the IDE interface - in a desktop system you would have space to use an adapter - but in a desktop you could also find 3.5" IDE drives with up to 500GB.

item: It gets worse: I was starting to look for a larger IDE drive for my wife's laptop and was just getting frustrated by the lack of results, when the machine just unceremoniously packed in. She's got a newer laptop now with a biger drive, which is SATA. So, bear in mind that your whole machine may also not last forever.

So we are getting to the last remaining question - how can we get you set up with a newer machine with a bigger hard drive and a newer operating system without breaking the bank. Like SlamX (gdepetro) I would also like to help, but I live at the southern tip of Africa and anything I could send you would cost more to ship than it is worth.

Anyone here have an idea how to do this? Crowdfunding?

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Use SpaceSniffer to identify files to move or delete
Oct 8, 2016 7:56AM PDT

A free utility I find invaluable for disk cleanup is SpaceSniffer. It creates a rectangular graph of any large drive connected to your computer. In your case, pointing SpaceSniffer at your "C" drive (the drive with Windows on it) lets you see what how much relative space files and folders consume, plus how much free space is left.

http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/

Any large files and subfolders inside your Pictures, Documents and Download folders can typically be moved to external storage [external hard drive or large USB flash drive].
You can double click on any folder in the graph to open it up in Windows Explorer.
Then you can drag and drop picture and movie files that take up a lot space and don't have to be on the C driver.

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thank you
Oct 30, 2016 3:36PM PDT

Got a different external hard drive and moved all my pictures.....helped a lot !!!! thank you so much (especially as it was on sale!...even better....on my limited income it was worth it..now have gone from used from 111 GB to 47.4 used!)

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Remove Windows Error Reporting files
Oct 8, 2016 7:56AM PDT

I had the same problem on my Windows 7 PC. In my case the problem was the log files created by Windows Error Reporting (WER). The easiest way to remove these unnecessary files is to use the built-in Disk Cleanup tool. Check the box "Cleanup System Files". You should see two items about system error reporting files. Check both of these and run the tool.

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thanks for the suggestion
Oct 30, 2016 3:33PM PDT

This helped a lot!!!! Did not know this existed but thank you so much.

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Upgrade Now
Oct 8, 2016 8:07AM PDT

Jo I understand you dilemma but you need to upgrade your laptop ASAP they are very inexpensive now days. Like you I have a 10 year old Lenovo desktop and I looked into upgrading it using more modern Ram, and maybe a Solid state drive. But for difference of few dollars more I bought a used I5 Dell Laptop for $250. If that not an option then look into getting a dropbox account & place your excess files in there. I hope this helps

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Are you joking?
Oct 8, 2016 2:18PM PDT

Didn't you read the original post? Are you such an idiot as to think that anyone on a fixed income can do this? If you want her to upgrade, then you buy her a computer. Sorry, but this is highly offensive and I'm sure it offends the original poster as well. Reply to the post, not to your ideas of what others "should" or "shouldn't" do.