Making space on PC hard drive

[duncanh]

I find a program called JDiskReport incredibly useful for finding where space is taken up on a drive. There are other programs that do the same. This one is free.
It scans your drive and produces a list and graph of what is taking up space. You can go into directories to see what's taking space in them too.

I agree with Tom about definitely not recommending trying to copy across to a new drive and then using that as C. Practically all software these days puts settings into the Windows registry and you would lose these in a new windows install. I guess technically they could be copied by hand but you really, really wouldn't want to and there are high chances that you'd make a mistake.

I think you can get programs that let you take an exact copy (including system files) of various drives but they're likely to be a bit pricey considering you'll only use them a few times.

 

[wizer]

The way we used to clone drives was by using Norton Ghost. But nowadays 99% of the time we will flatten it and reinstall everything. It's a much healthier approach and in almost all cases is much quicker.

 

[paulm]

Any idea what C:\Recycler is ?

This is where all the files that are deleted are actually moved, in case you want them back at a later date. The easiest way to remove them is to right click on the recycle bin and select 'empty recycle bin'. These files will then be removed from the disk and the space freed up.

Another thing to consider removing are Windows Update backup files. Every time Windows installs an update it automatically backs up the old versions of the files it replaces. On an old XP laptop with a small hard disk I used http://www.tech-pro.net/windows-update-remover.html and just selected each update in turn and then clicked the 'remove backup folder' option. (Make sure the recycle bin is still empty after doing this).

Misterfish

Downloaded and ran that utility, found 300 backups going back to 2004 ! Deleted them one by one, took a while, and generated about half a gig of extra space so worthwhile doing.

Made sure the recycling bin was empty afterwards too.

Still puzzled about these folders in c:\recycler though as they are still there and taking up around 4gb, even though the recycling bin is empty.

Will try the utility next that shows where the space usage is as I am obviously missing something onthat score too.

Cheers, Paul

 

[wizer]

Will it let you delete the files in Recycler? You shouldn't have 4gig in there. Just delete it if you can.

 

[paulm]

Hmmm, worked away at the problem using some of the suggestions and have managed to free up just over 4gb so getting there !

C:\recycler let me zap the older two or three folders but has two with todays date and these still have 4gb in them, won't let me delete them, one says it's in use and the other looks like it is deleting but doesn't. Recycling bin emptied again and also restarted pc to see if that would clear anything further and also to make sure I hadn't lost anything important !

My user profile is the next thing I'm focusing on as that seems to be oversized with about 12gb ! A large part of that seems to be itunes with about 5gb. I purposedly saved all my music to a seperate external drive and it's still all there, but wonder if having installed itunes on the c drive it has then imported it all onto the c drive again as well #-o

If that seems likely I guess I should delete itunes and all it's content from the c drive and then reinstall itunes on the external drive where there is plenty of room ? Would be reluctant to lose all my playlists and stuff though which took ages to set up, so maybe there is an easier way to move it across ?

Cheers, Paul

 

[Steve Jones]

Someone told me the other day about a freeware program called sharepod to use with your ipod. I can't comment as I don't own an ipod, but apparently it doesn't take up as much room as itunes. (acting on info received, don't shoot the messenger if it's not right )

Steve

 

[SimonB]

Still puzzled about these folders in c:\recycler though as they are still there and taking up around 4gb, even though the recycling bin is empty.

Do other people use the computer each with their own login. I'm pretty sure that the Recycler folder maintains a directory for each user, so whilst the Recycle Bin for your login may have been emptied, other user's Recycle Bins may not be, and thus you have what appears to be unaccounted disk usage in the Recycler folder.

It sounds like you've deleted most of it now anyway but this might explain it.

Something else that I find can sometimes accumulate lots of space is the

C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Local Settings\Temp

I then just try to delete as much from there as I can, anything that is open or locked can not be deleted, simply unselect that file and try to delete the rest, repeat as necessary. I have never had a problem doing this but I can't guarantee that it won't cause an issue with your machine, ie you do it at your own risk.

 

[big soft moose]

But nowadays 99% of the time we will flatten it and reinstall everything. It's a much healthier approach and in almost all cases is much quicker.

i stand corrected by the more knowledgeable - tho in my defence i would note that i have moved an installed serif suite and adope photoshop elements 5 from drive to drive just by copying the files from one drive to the other twice in the past without any problems - i guess it depends on what software is involved.

The problem with flattening it and starting over is if you don't have the discs for all the apps.

 

[paulm]

Deleted all the tmp files as suggested. Also ran ccleaner which found 2200 or so problems with the registry, cookies etc but then wouldn't let me action them without first registering and paying a fee which I didn't fancy so I zapped that bit of software to save space :lol:

Thought I had cracked the mystery of the C:\recycler 4gb by going into that and right mouse clicking on the offending file and selecting properties (it doesn't let me delete it). In there it had settings for what percentage of the different disk drives to reserve for the recycling bin and they totted up to pretty much 4gb so I reduced all those to less than 1gb and applied it. Nothing has changed though and still shows 4gb ! The mystery continues.

I do have two other user accounts on the pc though as SimonB mentioned. I thought I was dealing with all these already as I have Admin rights, but logged in as eldest daughter (these are legacies from a few years ago before they had their own pc's :roll: ) and found 3gb of itunes stuff there which I duly zapped so now have over 7gb free space, up from one and a bit \/ Getting there !

Trying to check younger daughters account too but it's password protected and she can't remember :roll: Any ideas on getting past that welcomed.

Cheers, Paul

 

[big soft moose]

Trying to check younger daughters account too but it's password protected and she can't remember :roll: Any ideas on getting past that welcomed.

Cheers, Paul

as admin you ought to be able to login and reset all passwords

 

[Steve Jones]

Also ran ccleaner which found 2200 or so problems with the registry, cookies etc but then wouldn't let me action them without first registering and paying a fee which I didn't fancy so I zapped that bit of software to save space Laughing

Paul,
CCleaner it totally free http://www.ccleaner.com/, I've used it for quite a few years now and find it really good.

Steve

 

[xy mosian]

As windows is booting up, very early on, click F8. This should bring up a menu White Text on Black, select Safe Mode, windows will boot up and you will be in true Administrator mode. From there you will be able to get into allsorts of bother , but seriously you should certainly be able to delete files and manipulate accounts to your hearts content. There are some things disabled, so don't expect a fully functioning PC. Once done Restart the PC.


HTH.

xy

 

[paulm]

Yep, managed that Pete, in Control Panel/User Accounts, I'm learning more than I ever wanted to know about computers !!!

Best bit is, she had stacks and stacks of music files and downloads, unbelievable, no wonder our internet used to be so slow a few years back. Have just deleted 19gb worth including her recycle bin which had 4gb alone :shock: That has sorted out the mystery of the Recycler too which now has almost nothing in it \/

So we now have 27gb of free space compared to one and a bit this morning, but I don't half have a headache :lol:

Think I'll leave a defrag running overnight and then do a backup in the morning.

Must be more stuff to clear out somewhere but that will do me for a while I think. Many thanks indeed to all who helped, much appreciated.

Cheers, Paul

 

[wizer]

This really speaks to my inner geek. I really enjoy clearing out and reorganising my file server every so often. In fact I've been doing it today in preparation for a media tank (damn you Martin!)

It gets really bad when your have you own naming conventions and file tree structures 8-[

 

[paulm]

Download a program called "ccleaner" from piriform.com

it's very good at finding old files windows no longer needs
It can also tidy your registry.

They also produce "defraggler" which is very good at defragmenting your hard drive.
I've used both a lot at work and home.

Run ccleaner to remove unwanted files (and programs if you want).
Then defrag your your hard drive with defraggler.
You might find you have quite a lot more space left.
Both programs are small - and free

Got round to trying ccleaner at the weekend. Had thought I had tried it previously but abandoned it when it wanted me to register and pay for it before I could proceed, but doing it again this time I realised that I had downloaded a different registry cleaner product from the ccleaner website rather than the free ccleaner itself (homer) :roll:

In my defence, the other download was featured very prominently on the page and was the one you might gravitate to naturally on opening the window.

Just to set the record straight though after a different post by me on this thread, ccleaner is indeed free and very effective and easy to use too, cleaned up loads of problems, missing links, file references etc and while not generating a lot of extra space the pc does seem to run a bit quicker and start up a bit quicker too, so well worth adding this to your list of pc maintenance tools and giving it a spin every now and again.

Cheers, Paul