how do I clean up recovery D drive?

[Donna]

I've been reading threads about getting the 'low on space' on D drive to find
out how to clean up my drive after using it for back-up, unfortunately. I see
a list of files that should be there are Dell, Program Files, Sources, Tools,
Users and Windows. However, there are folders within folders within folders
in these files in my D drive, so I'm wondering if I can safely delete any of
them. A suggestion was to look at dates created and delete those after
back-up. I really would appreciate some simple directions on what I should
do.

 

[Bill Daggett]

I've been reading threads about getting the 'low on space' on D drive to find
out how to clean up my drive after using it for back-up, unfortunately. I see
a list of files that should be there are Dell, Program Files, Sources, Tools,
Users and Windows. However, there are folders within folders within folders
in these files in my D drive, so I'm wondering if I can safely delete any of
them. A suggestion was to look at dates created and delete those after
back-up. I really would appreciate some simple directions on what I should
do.

You should NOT be doing ANYTHING to that partition or to the files on
it... UNLESS you have created a set of recovery DVDs from it.

Do not save files to that area. Nothing. Leave it alone.

 

[Malke]

I've been reading threads about getting the 'low on space' on D drive to
find out how to clean up my drive after using it for back-up,
unfortunately. I see a list of files that should be there are Dell,
Program Files, Sources, Tools, Users and Windows. However, there are
folders within folders within folders in these files in my D drive, so I'm
wondering if I can safely delete any of them. A suggestion was to look at
dates created and delete those after back-up. I really would appreciate
some simple directions on what I should do.

Contact the computer mftr.'s tech support and ask them which are their
files. Delete the rest.

Malke

 

[Donna]

Thanks for all the responses. I will try to create recovery DVDs, then see
what I can delete from d drive. After that one back-up, I disabled automatic
back-ups to D, and haven't gone aywhere near it since, so I don't know why
it's suddenly running short of space.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

I've been reading threads about getting the 'low on space' on D drive to
find
out how to clean up my drive after using it for back-up, unfortunately. I
see
a list of files that should be there are Dell, Program Files, Sources,
Tools,
Users and Windows. However, there are folders within folders within
folders
in these files in my D drive, so I'm wondering if I can safely delete any
of
them. A suggestion was to look at dates created and delete those after
back-up. I really would appreciate some simple directions on what I should
do.

Donna

Presumably you know what you called your backups? Just remove them from your
recovery partition..

 

[Donna]

I didn't have to name anything, as I recall. It all seemed to be done
automatically.

 

[Victek]

Thanks for all the responses. I will try to create recovery DVDs, then see
what I can delete from d drive. After that one back-up, I disabled
automatic
back-ups to D, and haven't gone aywhere near it since, so I don't know why
it's suddenly running short of space.

There are a couple free programs that make it easier to see how space is
allocated on a disk. SequoiaView and WinDirStat can both be downloaded from
Snapfiles.com and they will give you a graphic representation of your files.
You can also try running Disk Cleanup and deleting restore points and shadow
copies (assuming you don't need them).

Regarding the recovery DVD's if you have difficulty burning your own you may
be able to get them from the manufacturer. It's definitely a good idea to
have them since the recovery partition will be history if the hard drive
fails.