How do I expand the hard drive on my PC?

Question

The hard drive on my PC is nearly full. I've done a clean-up which has freed some space but there is nothing else I can delete. What would be the best way to expand the memory on the hard drive? Would an external hard drive do the trick? If so how do these work?

As you can probably tell I know very little about computers so please be kind!

Answer 1

i would say install another internal hard drive, like an IDE one, but, as you seem to be one of lifes. "i am so clever, i worked out what the start bar is today" kind of novices. i dont recommend it, as you would have to pay for fitting which will set you back another £30.

i would recommend that you purchase an external USB Hard drive. all you need to do is intall the driver and plug the USB lead into the socket. even my gran could do it, and she dont know a hard drive from a mouse. or how to turn a computer on, or use one.

anyway, i recommend at least 120GB+, and then transfer all your documents to the external, i.e. (word docs, powerpoints, photos etc). basically things you have saved. that will free up space on your original hard drive, so you would still be able to install software etc.

NEVER move or delete system files. i once did that, and my computer would not load up windows and i made a total mess of it. (although i was 12 and knew nothing about system files)

anyway, also try going into your control panel and removing software that you don't use.

good luck

john x

Answer 2

External Hard Drives work through an available USB on any PC aslong as it meets basic requirements. The external hard drives typically use a plug to power themselfs although you can buy hard drives that uses power from the USB port. The PC loads from your existing hard drive and you can save whatever you want onto the external. You can access the external drive through "My Computer" on Windows. Thats pretty much it - you can buy the hard drives in various sizes and different manufacturers. Normally FreeCom are very good and give out automated back up programs.

Answer 3

you have two options if you wish to have more hard disk space.You can either compress the files that you have on the current drive, or you can add another hard drive to your PC. The drive you add doesn't necessarily have to be external.... you can have 2 hard drives in your PC.
External hard drives are usually a USB device that works just like an ordinary hard drive but can take a little longer to access.In terms of what you would see in "my computer" you would have local drive "c" and the "d" would be your other hard drive.

Answer 4

Choose some folders that you use rarelly
right click of one of them choose property
In the tab general click on advanced and select
Compress content to save disk space
Or more simple:
Choose some folders that you use rarelly
Burn them on the CD/DVD
After that delete them.
Now you have a copy and you can use them only when you need from the DVD or CD
Yes an external hard drive is a good option to
Buy a RAID unit for an external hard disk and ask the vendor for the step that you need to install this as a hardware and on the BIOS

Answer 5

Yep an external hard drive would be perfect. All you need is a USB point - your printer should be connected to one of these if you ar enot sure what it looks like. It;'s a kinda rectunagler hole. The way mine works is I connect one point to the USB and one to the power. Connect it up when the pc has booted up and when you connect it, it will make a new drive. For example you have C in use for your existing hard drive; D in use for your CD; so it will make E you external hard drive. All you do is check my computer and voila! there it is.

Answer 6

There's internal drives I've seen up to 500 Gigs, External also on the other hand if you haven't opened your PC the external is connected by usb very easy it will come with software and found easy to install. Hope it helps

Answer 7

You can't really expand your current hard drive, but you can build in another one or use an external one. Using external ones is really easy. Basically, you just plug them into the USB port of your computer and Windows XP (which I assume is what you're using) will do the rest.

Answer 8

Buy a new hard drive (external or internal) it's the only way to add storage space.

By the way, you are not adding memory - just storage space, memory (RAM) is a different part of your PC and affects the way your PC works.

Answer 9

You need to buy a new one, you can plug up to 4 internal hard disks in your computer, if it's not too old buy a really big one, like 250GB or something. As you are not Computer Geek you should get professional help in installing the new hard disk. External hard disks also work, they plug into USB ports, but unless you have USB 2.0 ports you shouldn't consider buying one of these, because normal USB is very slow.

Answer 10

Get a new hard drive. You can buy an external one, that really you just plug in to the outside of your computer and start using, although they cost a bit more to buy (but you dont have to pay for installation if you cant install an internal one yourself).