HDD Becoming Very Full...

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stevonz

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#13397 8-May-2007 12:53

My Laptop's HDD is becoming VERY full... its 60GB partitioned to C & D drives 50/50 - C drive holds mainly the installed programs, D drive is simply for data. It is the C drive that is nearly full and I have been looking at ways to free up some space. I've uninstalled some programs and moved some data from C to D, but haven't even released a 1GB of free space.

My plan is to further uninstall programs I never use (such as the pre-loaded Sony stuff (Sonic Stage...) and other complimentary software you get with cameras/ printers...).

Can I also uninstall MS updates that have been installed, as seen in my add/remove programs list?

Cheers, Stevo

freitasm

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#69913 8-May-2007 13:15

Microsoft Udates in general replace files, not add much. But 30GB just for programs? That's a lot... Are you sure My Documents is not on that drive as well?

Anyway, I always use a single partition... It's hard to determine how much space you will need and there's the risk of getting the wrong number and end up with lots of free space in one partition and not much left in another.

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stevonz

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#69914 8-May-2007 13:29

My Documents is in the C drive too, although I am about to move that to D drive too. How easy is it to adjust the partition size?

Cheers, Stevo

photoman

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#69919 8-May-2007 13:38

You might want to consider moving the paging file as well to the D drive. Depending on your setup, it could be 2GB in size.

Also, how much space does IE have set aside for temporary files? I have seen PCs with 0.5GB set aside. Personally, I have mine set to 20MB, and I think that is too much.

stevonz

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#69921 8-May-2007 13:43

photoman: You might want to consider moving the paging file as well to the D drive. Depending on your setup, it could be 2GB in size.

Also, how much space does IE have set aside for temporary files? I have seen PCs with 0.5GB set aside. Personally, I have mine set to 20MB, and I think that is too much.

What is my paging file? Actual name & location??

IE has the standard settings and I regularly delete the temp files.

Cheers, Stevo

photoman

217 posts

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#69923 8-May-2007 14:16

Paging file - check out this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paging_file) for a fuller description.

Paging file is found in the root of C. It's a system file and usually hidden, depending on your settigns.

As to changing it, right click My Computer, Properties, Advanced tab, Performance settings button, Advanced tab, Virtual memory Change button.

Choose drive D and set a custom size. Change the C drive size to No paging file. Click on OK three times and then reboot.

stevonz

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#69924 8-May-2007 14:20

Thanks!

Dyson

Shop now for Dyson appliances (affiliate link).

pando

235 posts

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#69925 8-May-2007 14:26

IMO, performance-wise you should keep your paging file to be on the c: and just shift all your my documents and temp stuff to the d:, like freitasm i'd stay away from logical partitioning unless you really have a need for it.

freitasm

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#69931 8-May-2007 15:08

cjs6793968: IMO, performance-wise you should keep your paging file to be on the c: and just shift all your my documents and temp stuff to the d:.

This only works to improve speed if it is a separate drive. A second partition on the same drive we still impact overall performance because you are still using a single interface.

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pando

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#69936 8-May-2007 15:53

freitasm:
cjs6793968: IMO, performance-wise you should keep your paging file to be on the c: and just shift all your my documents and temp stuff to the d:.

This only works to improve speed if it is a separate drive. A second partition on the same drive we still impact overall performance because you are still using a single interface.

Obviously the paging file should be in the fastest (e: smartest) place. It's a shame that some new laptops (Acer and HP) come as standard with logical partitioning as it is a pain IMO. I have in every case reformatted into one partition and use Diskeeper pro to manage the drive! I've not done it to a machine already in use other than reformatting and reinstalling the whole thing, a little OT but is there a program for doing this?

freitasm

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#69938 8-May-2007 16:00

I think you can use Acronis Disk Director to manage "live" partitions...

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photoman

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#69983 8-May-2007 22:47

The OP wanted to free up some space, so that is what I based my suggestion on. I was not implying that it would improve speed (which it wouldn't in this case). His HDD was already partitioned, and as freitasm already mentioned using a single partition, I didn't see the point in repeating it. Not everyone would be comfortable with wiping their entire setup and starting again from scratch.