How do I clear up some space on a full hard drive?

Question

I've done the usual suspects, emptied recycling, deleted temp and internet files. I'm aggravated I can't see which directories are hogging up space on my 30g HD.

Answer 1

did you delete all of the porn?

Answer 2

Defragmentation only increases disk performance and has NO effect on free space. In order of space gained and simplicity:

Internet clients like Internet Explorer and Firefox can use a lot of disk space to make revisiting the site much faster. Reducing the amount of space the clients will use can add a bit of space.

Old temporary files can also rob your disk of space over long periods of time and can be safely removed through Disk Cleanup.

Have you cleaned out some of your Recycle Bin. I would keep important items like executables that do not take a whole lot of space.

Also, at the cost of Hibernation, you can free up some disk space.The amount depends on your amount of RAM. Reducing your virtual memory can also add some space. IMPORTANT: Before you mess with virtual memory find out more about it or consult someone experienced.

The above are all free, but this will yield the best results.
If you shop around you can find a 80 GB external hard drive for under $100. They are very simple to install.

Answer 3

do a file search and use *.temp - delete all the temporary files you find. Go to Add/Remove Programs and remove all the programs you don't use anymore.
If you are running with System Restore - this will hog up plenty of space.
The Restore Points created by System Restore use a lot of space, a gigabyte or more in the case of large hard drives. One simple and safe way to claw back some of this space is to delete old redundant RPs. To do that go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and click Disk Cleanup. Your system drive (usually C:) should be selected by default, click OK and when it has finished scanning your system click the More Options tab then the Clean Up button next to System Restore and all RPs, with the exception of the current one, will be erased

Answer 4

Uninstall any programs that you don't need. Sometimes those can be real hogs. The biggest hogs of all though are movies and music. Maybe time to clean some house there.

You can see which directories are the culprits by right-clicking on the folder and selecting properties. It will parse all the files in that directory and any sub-directories and eventually tell you the size on the hard disk.

Answer 5

I have the perfect solution for you. I have a registered program, but they do a have a free trial download. http://www.jam-software.com/treesize/

I'm not sure if the trial version is a 30 day deal, or if it lacks certain features, but either way, it will solve your problem within a few minutes. Its about 4.5Mb, small, quick to download.

Its a program for determining which directories are taking up the most room. The program will display your folders, pretty much like My Computer already does, but it will list the ones taking the most room at top and are sorted in that manner. Additionally, every folder you look at has the size in Mb/Gb's beside it, so you can see everything you want from one simple view. I love it. I dont need to use it too much, but when I need it, it solves the mystery of stuff I forgot about taking up all the room.

Also, you probably need to delete all your porn (haha, just kidding, jumping on the band wagon)

Answer 6

http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

take a look at this free program, sequoia view

it displays all the files and stuff on your harddrive in a pretty unique form, with Rectangle and Squares, thus you can know which files and directories hog up the most space, you're also given % of maximum harddrive details, and the total space that the file or directory is hogging up

it's quite a nifty little program

you can right click and open up the folder in Sequoia View and also view the properties of the file, you can even set colors to different filetypes, e.g .mp3 , .avi to make it stand out as well

It's saved me a lot of difficulty, and i even found some files that i totally forgot that i had

Answer 7

What i usually do is use a prog like winzip or winrar and compress some folders that you don't use all the time. Pictures for instance. You could zip them all up and store them (a lot of them when compressed or zipped) neatly on a CD or DVD.

If you have a lot of software or old installers you know you wont need anymore delete or archive those on a cd or dvd also

Also, 30g isnt a whole lot these days. So this limits you as well.

Answer 8

There is a way to get more space if you really want too. First, right click on properties on My Computer. Then, select the system restore tab. Now, you can reduce the percent how much the system restore uses. Another way to get more room is right clicking on the recycle bin and click on properties. Select the hard drive c: and reduce the about room that you want the recycle bin to have or simply just click on do not use recycle bin check box.

Answer 9

You could take a look at what you have and see if there is anything you can burn to a CD or DVD. Doing that will make it to where the stuff you like is still available and then you can delete it off the hard drive creating more space. Another option you could consider is buying a bigger hard drive and installing it for extra space.

Answer 10

you could go to "control panel >>> add and remove programs"

usually you will find several programs you don't need.

also, get a spyware removal tool

these things don't take up very much space, but they can slow your computer down a lot.

if you need more space and can't delete anything, consider buying a second hard drive. the smaller ones (~ 40 GB) have come down in price since there are huge ones available, and you don't have to reinstall windows or anything like that. just put it in your computer and you're good to go.

Answer 11

Yeah, defrag but you need about 15% free space on your disk to do it.

I'd invest in a second hard drive. They are pretty cheap. You can get an external 250GB drive for less than $200. A year ago I bought a 90GB internal drive for only $20.