kellie said:
'Thanks so much for the help. Just one more question. My C drive capacity is
70.36GB Free space is 19.19 GB = 27%. Computer seems to be slower and slower.
I've tried deleting a truck load of clipart and any other unnecessary files
to reclaim some space but it didnt make any difference. Please excuse my
irnorance but does merely selecting delete them removing items from recycle
bin remove these items from the harddrive?
Yes. Deleting items from within Windows normally just moves them to the
Recycle Bin, which gives you an opportunity to restore them if deleting
them was a mistake. Deleting them from the recycle bin removes them
completely.
Just removing files won't solve your problem. The issue you are running
into is less a matter of how much space is used, and more a matter of
how what *is* used is stored on the drive.
You didn't say whether you are using FAT or NTFS on the C: drive, but
the same problem can arise. When you first get the machine, all of the
files are stored on disk as individual contiguous files. As you use the
machine, you add new files and delete old ones. When Windows saves a
file on your hard drive, it tries put put the entire file in the first
available space that will hold it. Sometimes, it can't fit the whole
file in an emptry space, and must store it in several different chunks
in different places. Windows keeps track of where the pieces are, so you
and your programs can still access them.
But as time goes by, more files are in more pieces, scattered over more
of the disk. This is called fragmentation. As it gets worse, the
system can slow down, because Windows must search over more of the disk
to find and load all of the pieces of files you are using, and must
write any changes over more different spots on the disk.
Fragmentation is a bigger problem on FAT formatted disks, but it's an
issue for NTFS, too.
Open My Computer. Right click on drive C: and select Properties. In
the Properties box, select Tools, and click Defragment now.
This will bring up the Windows Defrag tool. Click Analyze to have it
examine the disk at tell you how fragmented it is, and Defragment to
have it defragment the drive. This will attempt to shuffle pieces
around so files are all in single contiguous extents. If fragmentation
is your problem, you should see a considerable improvement when it's
done. (This will also take a while to actually defrag if Analyze thinks
it needs doing. Go do something else for a while.
)
______
Dennis
