HELP how to free Hard Disk Space to play game???

Question

I got a new computer a few months ago...
I got a new game for Xmas
The game will not play it's (Civilization 3)

It says I have to have: Hard Disk Space 1.7 GB Free to play it
I went to Disk Defrag and this is what it says:
Used space = 8.02 GB
Free space = 443 MB
(Percent Free Space = 5%)

Now this is what it says when I try to defrag: Volume (D) has only 5% free space. To run effectively disk defrafmenter requires at least 15% useable free space, there is not enough disk space. Delete some unneeded files on your hard disk and the try again.

BUT the computer was already like that when I bought it, it came saying that and only had 5% Hard Disk Space Free!
So what do I do, what do I need to remove to free up space and be able to play the game I bought?

I only have one other game installed on the PC and well I have like Yahoo Messenger and windows media player, and just the normal stuff!

OK OK OK found this and hummmm it says:

Processor Speed 2.8 GHz

RAM 960 MB

(Free Hard Drive Space) 167 GB

Is what the PC has I guess..

arus.geo>>>>


The Computer is Hewlett Packard, Widows XP Service Pack 2.. Humm it's very nice it has a 20 inch LCD Flat Screen...

Hard Drives:
HP_PAVILION (C:)
HP_RECOVERY (D:)

Devices with Removable Storage:
DVD-RW Drive (E:)
DVD Drive (F:)

But there is also G,I, and J

Maybe a screen shot will help? Can you email me if you think you can help fix the problem?

OK SEE IF THIS WILL HELP (SCREEN SHOTS)......

http://www.geocities.com/tanner_girl82/index.html

Answer 1

Looking at your picture (which is pretty helpful) you're trying to install the game on D: Drive which is labelled recovery. I think that packard bell has made this drive and contents for restoring your pc if it goes wrong. Try installing the game on the C:Drive instead. And also don't worry about defragging the D: Drive as its just a recovery one!

Answer 2

OKAY WAIT!!! DON'T INSTALL TO THE D: DRIVE, INSTALL TO THE C: DRIVE, DON'T GET ANOTHER DRIVE...YOU HAVE PLENTY OF SPACE! (the drives after d: are removable drives for handling all of the differents sizes of removable drives there are.)

The requirements for Civilization III are minimal. You should be fine.

Windows® version (95/98/Me/2000/XP)
Pentium II, 300Mhz
32 MB RAM
400 MB free HD space
4X CD-ROM
DirectX 8.0a or better
Video card: capable of 1024 x 768 x 16-bit color
Sound card: DirectX 8.0a compatible

Your biggest challenge RIGHT NOW is to convince the install NOT to install to D: but to the C: drive. (Maybe you already know that. Get a geek to help you work through that.)


(I WOULD IGNORE THE REST OF THIS FOR SOME OTHER DAY....)
from there, if you really want to free up space (BUT NOT ON D:):
download a small program called:
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm

1. go into add/remove (program cleanup) on ez cleaner and evaluate whether anything can be removed.
2. Clear history.
3. Clear files.
4. then run unnecessary (file cleanup)
then run registry (cleanup)
5. you can run a duplicates and try and evaluate files you don't need duplicated.
6. run your defrag.
7. Shake, stir, and continue going through these steps until you free up enough space.
8. Get another drive (possibly external, do you have any available USB ports? or internal if you have an internal bay avialable.) If you only have less than a 10G drive now, the others could be right. I don't know where you got this "new" computer, but its underpowered by todays standards and may not be worth salvaging.

Cheers.

Consider getting a geek to help you. A relative; a friend of a relative; a relative of a friend...something.

Answer 3

I dont understand. How can you get a new computer and only have 443 megs of free space? HOw much hard drive space are you supposed to have?

Please explain futher.

edit to add : 8 gb? Just exactly how "new" is this computer? Sounds like its still running Windows 95/98 or something for a drive that small

Id' be worried that your game may not run on something so outdated. What is it? A pentium 2/3 ? not more than a 600mghz?







Edit to add:

Okay, you could be looking at the partition of your hard drive. If you bought a name brand computer (ie HP, Dell, IBM, etc) they could have partitioned the hard drive to save the "install/restore" information so that if something happens, you will be able to bring your computer back to factory settings

How many drives does y0our computer state it has?

Click on the My Computer Icon, and it should list all the drives within your computer. What ever drive has the biggest space, is where you should be installing your game to.

Just choose that letter drive when you're ready to install (the program asks you where you want to iinstall it)





ETA :

Okay, yeah you have 90% free space on your C: Drive, so why are you trying to defrag your D: Drive (recovery).?

YOU do know you dont have to defrag in order to install the game. THERE is hardly anything on your c drive to worth getting it defraged.

Just install the game to your C: drive and enjoy.

Answer 4

You need a bigger hard drive, no doubt about it. 8Gb is tiny. Even if you could install Civ 3, it would take up so much space there'd be no room for anything else. It's not even worth trying to free up 1.7Gb. If you want to play Civ 3, uninstall your other game or get a bigger hard disk.

Edit: As you can clearly see from that picture, you have two disk areas available. **** knows why you'd try and install it on the small RECOVERY partition instead of the HUGE C: drive. Try installing in the right place.

Answer 5

Click on Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Cleanup. Disk Cleanup will tell you what it will clean up and how much space it will free up. After that, go to My Computer->Control Panel->Add or Remove Programs and uninstall everything you don't need. If this doesn't free up 1.7 GB, you should get a new hard drive; 8GB is tiny. Only models from the 90s could have such a small hard drive.

Answer 6

I think that you have two drives-C and D,

the d appears to be massively smaller than the c and therefore, when installing the game, don't install it on the D drive but select another drive (from my computer)

I hope thisa helps

Answer 7

First you have to see if the game is compatible with your computer and most game require a game card if your system does not have one you will have to install it before trying to install game and they also ,require you to turn off the firewall to install so check on these things and then youll have a better idea of what the problem is.

Answer 8

Open us the Add/Remove Programs window in the control panel and go through the list deleting anything you don't need. Be careful not to delete the Video driver etc. (I accidentally did that once...lol)

----

After reading the extra info, I emailed you about it.

Answer 9

well, since it is a new computr it wsa all these new usless programes installed. So all you neeed to do is go to add or roemove program....... then just scroll down and unistalll the things you dont need it.... see how much space you need to install the game and .... ttry to free , the ammount you need, but if you need help and i know lots of other ways to free up space,, then IM me

[e-mail]

Answer 10

then go to start,then go to control panel,then go to add or remove programs,find the porgrams u dont use,next delete,then try the game again and then if it says the same crap,call a support number on teh back of the game adn they will help u.hope this solves ur problem.