Danbob said:
I'm running windows XP on a Dell Dimension 2400. A few days ago I
went to do a defrag and found out that I didn't have enough space
on the hard drive to do it. I've got a 74 gig hard drive and only
2.7 gigs left. I ran a virus scan with no results and couldn't
find anything very large in the normal files. I just changed the
settings so that I could see hidden files and I find a .BAK file
that was created on Jan. 19 of this year that is 66.7 gigs. Is it
safe to delete this file or will my hard drive vanish in a puff of
blue smoke?
No idea.. You'd have to be much more specific about this *.BAK file (like
location, name, etc.)
In general - .BAK files are just that.. A backup file.
Although - I have no clue what you are backing up on a 74GB drive that is
66.7 GB in size on the SAME partition/drive.
Other ways to free up space..
Use this..
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
And this..
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html
They can help you visually discover where all the space is being used.
If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can delete the
uninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has installed..
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm
You can use an application that scans your system for log files and
temporary files and use that to get rid of those:
Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/
You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but yuor
latest restore point and cleanup even more "loose files"..
How to use Disk Cleanup
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312
You can turn off hibernation if it is on and you don't use it..
When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves the contents of the system's
memory to the hiberfil.sys file. As a result, the size of the hiberfil.sys
file will always equal the amount of physical memory in your system. If you
don't use the hibernate feature and want to recapture the space that Windows
uses for the hiberfil.sys file, perform the following steps:
- Start the Control Panel Power Options applet (go to Start, Settings,
Control
Panel, and click Power Options).
- Select the Hibernate tab, clear the "Enable hibernation" check box, then
click OK; although you might think otherwise, selecting Never under the
"System hibernates" option on the Power Schemes tab doesn't delete the
hiberfil.sys file.
- Windows will remove the "System hibernates" option from the Power Schemes
tab and delete the hiberfil.sys file.
You can control how much space your System Restore can use...
1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the System Restore tab.
3. Highlight one of your drives (or C: if you only have one) and click on
the "Settings" button.
4. Change the percentage of disk space you wish to allow.. I suggest 5% or
higher.
5. Click OK.. Then Click OK again.
