Freeing up hard drive space

[tony cooper]

My daughter's PC laptop's (Compaq Presario) 30 gig C: drive is full.
She can't download images from her camera. She lives in another town,
and I'm going up there Tuesday to see if I can delete some files to
free up space.

She's already moved all of her .jpgs to an external drive, so I'll be
looking for other files. She doesn't shoot RAW.

I plan to search by file extension. (ie: .mp3) What would be common
file extensions that may be taking up space and not needed?

Is there a better way to find out what is taking up all the space?

 

[Tim Meddick]

An amazing [free] program is "WinDirStat" - which shows a drive's usage by
representing each file with a block of colour relative to it's size as a
percentage of disk-space used.

The result is a large "patchwork" of coloured blocks with which it is very
easy to see which blocks are using the most space.

By moving the mouse-pointer over any block reveals it's file-name and
location on the disk.

You can download WinDirStat by clicking on the link below :
http://kent.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/windirstat/windirstat1_1_2_setup.exe

....or you can read more info on WinDirStat at :
http://windirstat.info

Also, you could use the Disk Clean-Up Manager utility already included in
Windows XP which gives you a range of options for freeing-up disk space.

You can locate it on the Start Menu under "Accessories\System Tools" or
invoke it from the command-line or from the "Run" box by typing ;

cleanmgr.exe /d x:

....where [x:] stands for the drive you wish to free-up space on.

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[Paul]

My daughter's PC laptop's (Compaq Presario) 30 gig C: drive is full.
She can't download images from her camera. She lives in another town,
and I'm going up there Tuesday to see if I can delete some files to
free up space.

She's already moved all of her .jpgs to an external drive, so I'll be
looking for other files. She doesn't shoot RAW.

I plan to search by file extension. (ie: .mp3) What would be common
file extensions that may be taking up space and not needed?

Is there a better way to find out what is taking up all the space?

Sequoiaview is an example of a program that shows, graphically,
where the big files are hiding. Naturally, some of the files are
super-important to the OS, and can't be deleted. Things like
pagefile and hiberfil in C: for example. But, there may be control
panel options for adjusting things like that, and having them take
up less space. The pagefile can be dialed down a bit, for a small
saving.

http://w3.win.tue.nl/nl/onderzoek/onderzoek_informatica/visualization/sequoiaview//

http://w3.win.tue.nl/nl/onderzoek/o...sualization/sequoiaview/download_sequoiaview/

(The .exe version should install for you. The .zip version, looks
like it *might* run if you just unzip the contents to a folder, then
double click the program from there. I think I installed mine via
the .exe, so it shows up in the Start menu. If you don't trust
the .exe file, you can scan the downloaded file by using
http://www.virustotal.com )

The virtual memory (pagefile) setting is buried in the System control panel.
You can dial it down, to like 300MB, if you want.

http://teamtutorials.com/wp-content...p-windows-by-increasing-virtual-memory-05.jpg

System Restore can tie up some space on the disk, but it can also be
beneficial to the computer user, when the computer is broken. You
can adjust the capacity used by System Restore (perhaps causing
all the restore points to be dumped, and start their accumulation
again). If you go to the System control panel, and use the
System Restore tab to adjust the amount of space taken, on
the C: drive. System Restore, allows the computer to be reverted
to a former point in time (with relatively complicated rules
as to what is saved, and what isn't).

And, when I look at that right now, I see mine
has reverted to the "12% of disk" setting for the C: drive,
after I dialed it down to around 3GB or so some months ago.
I wonder how that happened ? I didn't turn it up, and as far
as I can remember, System Restore hasn't been completely
turned off, since the last time I adjusted it.

*******

Use Sequoiaview with care. Depending on the software running
on the computer, there could be something like Norton GoBack
or other clever software, taking up space. Don't go around
deleting just everything, if there is a control panel or
dialog somewhere to turn it off or adjust it. Deleting
files at random, can have consequences.

I would start at examining the user's data first. Move some
of it off to another disk drive. Now, do properties and
take an exact measure of how much of C: is being used.
Now, reboot the computer. Did the free space just
"disappear" ? is the disk full again ? If that's the case,
something ate it. And your job, is to figure out just what
ate the space. Some active code did that. The thing is,
if you don't "cure a space hog problem" like that, then
there is no point doing further deletions, adjustments and
the like. It would be a waste of time. Once you
figure out what is eating the disk, you'll likely
find the computer wasn't that short on space in the
first place. So deleting, in fact, can be the wrong
thing to do, if some program is just abusing the available
disk space for no good reason.

So do a little testing first, move a bit of stuff off,
and see whether the free space is stable, or it
just "disappears" on you.

Paul

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

My daughter's PC laptop's (Compaq Presario) 30 gig C: drive is full.
She can't download images from her camera. She lives in another town,
and I'm going up there Tuesday to see if I can delete some files to
free up space.

She's already moved all of her .jpgs to an external drive, so I'll be
looking for other files. She doesn't shoot RAW.

I plan to search by file extension. (ie: .mp3) What would be common
file extensions that may be taking up space and not needed?

Is there a better way to find out what is taking up all the space?

There are various things you can do to save some space, but they are
all stopgap measures. The problem will almost certainly return in the
near future. The only real solution to such a problem is buying a
larger hard drive. Fortunately they are very inexpensive right now.

 

[Tim Meddick]

Replacing a hard-drive is, for some people, not an option, no matter how
"inexpensive" you may think they are at the moment. Some of us just do not
have any spare cash to spend whatsoever...

The OP's question was what measures she might adopt to free-up some space -
so that is the question that, IMHO, should be the one that is answered...

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.


P.S. I am running XP SP3 on a 2002 ;

Fujitsu-Siemens SCENIC T
512 MB RAM
37.26GB System-Drive.

Absolutely no problems whatsoever (except, maybe, on what removable media I
save my latest downloaded videos to....).

 

[Tester]

Replacing a hard-drive is, for some people, not an option, no matter
how "inexpensive" you may think they are at the moment. Some of us
just do not have any spare cash to spend whatsoever...

Times must be really hard these days in Peckham, London with lots of
Nigerians & Jamaicans killing each other! Why can't British Government
give these nutters some drugs to keep them quiet and can kill them
rather slowly!

 

[Nil]

Replacing a hard-drive is, for some people, not an option, no
matter how "inexpensive" you may think they are at the moment.
Some of us just do not have any spare cash to spend whatsoever...

The OP's question was what measures she might adopt to free-up
some space - so that is the question that, IMHO, should be the one
that is answered...

I think the suggestion to replace the disk with a large one is a good
one to consider. There's no reason to assume that the OP can't do it,
and it's condescending of you to do so.

You really like to try to stifle people's thought, don't you?

 

[Tim Meddick]

I don't see how I could possibly *be* "condescending" - the person to which
I was referring to (as an example of one who could not afford to just
replace hardware) was myself....

I thought that was sufficiently implied by quoting my own computer's
statistics!

....and as for "Tester" 's remarks - the less said the better....

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[ctowers]

My daughter's PC laptop's (Compaq Presario) 30 gig C: drive is full.
She can't download images from her camera. She lives in another town,
and I'm going up there Tuesday to see if I can delete some files to
free up space.

She's already moved all of her .jpgs to an external drive, so I'll be
looking for other files. She doesn't shoot RAW.

I plan to search by file extension. (ie: .mp3) What would be common
file extensions that may be taking up space and not needed?

Is there a better way to find out what is taking up all the space?

Common file types -
http://www.fileinfo.com/filetypes/common
Importance should be the determining factor here, not size.

 

[tony cooper]

I think the suggestion to replace the disk with a large one is a good
one to consider. There's no reason to assume that the OP can't do it,
and it's condescending of you to do so.

I didn't anticipate this suggestion when I posted. The purchase of a
new hard drive is not economically justifiable. My daughter's laptop
is old, under-powered, slow, and lacks the features now available in
new laptops. It doesn't even have a DVD burner. With installation
(she's not going to do it), even $100 isn't a good investment for this
computer.

She's currently downloading directly to an external hard drive that
has sufficient space available. She plugs that into a friend's
desktop when she take files off to a DVD.

My plan to clear some space on the hard drive is just a stop-gap step
until she can afford a new laptop. It'll allow her to download
images, cull the non-keepers, work on them in Elements 9.0, and then
transfer them to her external drive. She won't have to haul out the
external drive every time she downloads.

She has a 30 gig hard drive that has 792 megabytes free as of today.

 

[tony cooper]

JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/

Reports disk space usage graphically, folder by folder.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've jotted down that program and website.

 

[tony cooper]

An amazing [free] program is "WinDirStat" - which shows a drive's usage by
representing each file with a block of colour relative to it's size as a
percentage of disk-space used.

The result is a large "patchwork" of coloured blocks with which it is very
easy to see which blocks are using the most space.

By moving the mouse-pointer over any block reveals it's file-name and
location on the disk.

You can download WinDirStat by clicking on the link below :
http://kent.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/windirstat/windirstat1_1_2_setup.exe

...or you can read more info on WinDirStat at :
http://windirstat.info

Also, you could use the Disk Clean-Up Manager utility already included in
Windows XP which gives you a range of options for freeing-up disk space.

You can locate it on the Start Menu under "Accessories\System Tools" or
invoke it from the command-line or from the "Run" box by typing ;

cleanmgr.exe /d x:

...where [x:] stands for the drive you wish to free-up space on.

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've jotted down that program and website.
I had already planned to use the DCUM and to run the defrag program.

 

[tony cooper]

Sequoiaview is an example of a program that shows, graphically,
where the big files are hiding. Naturally, some of the files are
super-important to the OS, and can't be deleted. Things like
pagefile and hiberfil in C: for example. But, there may be control
panel options for adjusting things like that, and having them take
up less space. The pagefile can be dialed down a bit, for a small
saving.

http://w3.win.tue.nl/nl/onderzoek/onderzoek_informatica/visualization/sequoiaview//

http://w3.win.tue.nl/nl/onderzoek/o...sualization/sequoiaview/download_sequoiaview/

(The .exe version should install for you. The .zip version, looks
like it *might* run if you just unzip the contents to a folder, then
double click the program from there. I think I installed mine via
the .exe, so it shows up in the Start menu. If you don't trust
the .exe file, you can scan the downloaded file by using
http://www.virustotal.com )

The virtual memory (pagefile) setting is buried in the System control panel.
You can dial it down, to like 300MB, if you want.

http://teamtutorials.com/wp-content...p-windows-by-increasing-virtual-memory-05.jpg

System Restore can tie up some space on the disk, but it can also be
beneficial to the computer user, when the computer is broken. You
can adjust the capacity used by System Restore (perhaps causing
all the restore points to be dumped, and start their accumulation
again). If you go to the System control panel, and use the
System Restore tab to adjust the amount of space taken, on
the C: drive. System Restore, allows the computer to be reverted
to a former point in time (with relatively complicated rules
as to what is saved, and what isn't).

And, when I look at that right now, I see mine
has reverted to the "12% of disk" setting for the C: drive,
after I dialed it down to around 3GB or so some months ago.
I wonder how that happened ? I didn't turn it up, and as far
as I can remember, System Restore hasn't been completely
turned off, since the last time I adjusted it.

*******

Use Sequoiaview with care. Depending on the software running
on the computer, there could be something like Norton GoBack
or other clever software, taking up space. Don't go around
deleting just everything, if there is a control panel or
dialog somewhere to turn it off or adjust it. Deleting
files at random, can have consequences.

I would start at examining the user's data first. Move some
of it off to another disk drive. Now, do properties and
take an exact measure of how much of C: is being used.
Now, reboot the computer. Did the free space just
"disappear" ? is the disk full again ? If that's the case,
something ate it. And your job, is to figure out just what
ate the space. Some active code did that. The thing is,
if you don't "cure a space hog problem"

What type of program would these be?

like that, then

there is no point doing further deletions, adjustments and
the like. It would be a waste of time. Once you
figure out what is eating the disk, you'll likely
find the computer wasn't that short on space in the
first place. So deleting, in fact, can be the wrong
thing to do, if some program is just abusing the available
disk space for no good reason.

So do a little testing first, move a bit of stuff off,
and see whether the free space is stable, or it
just "disappears" on you.

SequoiaView scares me a little.

I do know enough about computers not to just randomly delete files.
I'll be looking for files like .jpgs, music, videos, etc that may have
been put in directories where my daughter hasn't spotted them.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[tony cooper]

There are various things you can do to save some space, but they are
all stopgap measures. The problem will almost certainly return in the
near future. The only real solution to such a problem is buying a
larger hard drive. Fortunately they are very inexpensive right now.

The computer itself doesn't justify the expense. It's stop-gap now
until she can swing a new laptop. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

 

[Mayayana]

| I do know enough about computers not to just randomly delete files.
| I'll be looking for files like .jpgs, music, videos, etc that may have
| been put in directories where my daughter hasn't spotted them.
|
Also:

C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Temp

Recycle Bin

IE -> Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> Temporary
Internet Files -> Delete Files. Do that twice, then click
Settings and reduce the cache size to something like 5 MB.

Backups left from service packs. I don't remember names
offhand but SPs leave behind giant folders in Windows or
System32, to be used in case you decide to reverse the
install. And anything named Driver Cache can be written
to CD and deleted if necessary. Those are backup files for
new software.

All of that could be as much as 5 GB, but maybe much
more if "the rubbish is never emptied". XP is probably about
2 GB. That means there could also still be 20+ GB unaccounted
for in music downloads, etc. If she's comfortable moving
her media files to backup there's no reason you can't reclaim
25+ GB of space.

 

[Paul]

What type of program would these be?

No idea. But I've seen this reported in the newsgroups
before, where file space just disappears, and there
is something at the bottom of it. Take stock of the PC,
look in Add/Remove Programs to see what software
has been installed, and perhaps you'll get an idea
from that.

Moving a few files off, doing the math, rebooting, and
checking again, is to determine whether it's worth
spending the time cleaning up. If the computer
is using up disk space for no good reason, you
want to fix that first, rather than working on
the cleanup.

If "free space" is remaining free, then by all means
continue on with what you're doing

SequoiaView scares me a little.

I do know enough about computers not to just randomly delete files.
I'll be looking for files like .jpgs, music, videos, etc that may have
been put in directories where my daughter hasn't spotted them.

Thanks for the suggestions.

SequoiaView is a very nice program, and will give you
a quick overview of the file system. First, you select
which partition to scan. It will then go off, and internally
it will look up and list all the files on that partition
(like C. After 30 seconds or so, it will show a graphical
representation.

It's also possible, to point the program at a specific directory.
For example, maybe you could point it at a specific "Documents
and Settings", and it will show a picture of that portion of
the file system.

Each block in the diagram is a file. Hold the mouse over the block,
to get the file name. There should also be a path showing, as
to where that file is located.

I don't use the program on a daily basis, but whenever I do some
house cleaning, it comes in handy. And it usually highlights something
I forgot about. Then, I can move any big files (stuff I may have
downloaded), off to a separate partition. That way, I keep C:
with roughly 35% free.

Even if the computer owner has only small files stored on the
machine, the pagefile and hiberfil ones should be significant
sized blobs in the map. But I don't recommend doing something
to change those, until you have a better handle on why the
computer is low on space.

Yes, it's possible for a person using the computer, to be
oblivious to it being full. So the thing could be "naturally
full", from just downloading until the computer has no more
room. But as a suspicious type, when this happens, I'd
rather believe the user *does* check the state of the disk
occasionally (doing "properties" from file manager),
and this is just as likely to be caused by some program
running amok.

Paul

 

[Mayayana]

Here's a script I like to keep on the Desktop for cleaning
TEMP files. With XP there can be numerous TEMP folders,
and they're a pain to clean by hand.
Just copy this to Notepad, save as CleanTEMP.vbs, and
run it. It reports at the end how much was cleaned up.
(Watch out for wordwrap.)

'-- begin script----------------

Dim sList, FSO2, sFol, Pt1, Pt2, Pt3, sCU, sBase, sTempPath
Dim sPath1, oFol4, oFols4, OFolSub, Ret

On Error Resume Next

Ret = MsgBox("This script will delete files from all TEMP folders it can
find. Other software should be closed first. Also, on NT systems (2000, XP)
the script should be run by an administrator with full access to the file
system." & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & "Do you want to proceed?", 33, "TEMP Cleaner")
If Ret = 2 Then WScript.Quit

'-- check for %WIN%\TEMP

Set FSO2 = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
sFol = FSO2.GetSpecialFolder(0) & "\TEMP"
If (FSO2.FolderExists(sFol) = True) Then
sList = CleanFiles(sFol) & vbCrLf
sPath1 = sFol
End If

'-- check home drive ( ex.: C:\TEMP )
sFol = Left(sFol, 3) & "temp"
If FSO2.FolderExists(sFol) = True Then
sPath1 = sFol
sList = sList & CleanFiles(sFol) & vbCrLf
End If

sFol = FSO2.GetSpecialFolder(2)
If (FSO2.FolderExists(sFol) = True) And (sFol <> sPath1) Then
sList = sList & CleanFiles(sFol) & vbCrLf
End If

Pt1 = InStr(1, sFol, ":\Docum", 1)
Pt2 = InStr((Pt1 + 3), sFol, "\")
Pt3 = InStr((Pt2 + 1), sFol, "\")

If (Pt1 = 0) Or (Pt2 = 0) Or (Pt3 = 0) Then
sList = "TEMP folders found: List shows beginning size of each TEMP
folder found and size of that folder after cleaning." & vbCrLf & vbCrLf &
sList
MsgBox sList
Set FSO2 = Nothing
WScript.Quit
End If

'-- go through documents and settings subfolders to find TEMP
'-- folder for each user.

sBase = Left(sFol, Pt2) ' c:\documents and settings\
sCU = Left(sFol, Pt3 - 1)
sCU = Right(sCU, (len(sCU) - Len(sBase)))

Set oFol4 = FSO2.GetFolder(sBase)
Set oFols4 = oFol4.subfolders
For Each OFolSub in oFols4
If (OFolSub.Name <> sCU) Then
sFol = sBase & OFolSub.name & "\Local Settings\Temp"
If FSO2.FolderExists(sFol) = True Then
sList = sList & CleanFiles(sFol) & vbCrLf
End If
End If
Next
Set oFols4 = Nothing
Set oFol4 = Nothing

sList = "TEMP folders found: List shows beginning size of each TEMP
folder found and size of that folder after cleaning." & vbCrLf & vbCrLf &
sList
MsgBox sList
Set FSO2 = Nothing
WScript.Quit

Function Cleanfiles(Path)
Dim FSO, oFol, oFol2, oFols, oFils, oFil, Sz1, Sz2, Szi1, Szi2
Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
On Error Resume Next
Set oFol = FSO.GetFolder(Path)
Sz1 = oFol.Size
Set oFols = oFol.SubFolders
For Each oFol2 in oFols
oFol2.Delete True
Next
Set oFols = Nothing
Set oFils = oFol.Files
For Each oFil in oFils
oFil.Delete True
Next
Set oFils = Nothing
Sz2 = oFol.Size
Set oFol = Nothing
Set FSO = Nothing

Szi1 = " Bytes"
If (Sz1 > 1024) Then
Sz1 = Sz1 \ 1024
Szi1 = " KB"
End If
If (Sz1 > 1024) Then
Sz1 = Sz1 \ 1024
Szi1 = " MB"
End If

Szi2 = " Bytes"
If (Sz2 > 1024) Then
Sz2 = Sz2 \ 1024
Szi2 = " KB"
End If
If (Sz2 > 1024) Then
Sz2 = Sz2 \ 1024
Szi2 = " MB"
End If

CleanFiles = Path & ": " & Sz1 & Szi1 & " - " & Sz2 & Szi2 & vbCrLf

End Function

 

[Tester]

What type of program would these be?

Forget about installing yet another program when you are already
constrained by available disk space. If you want to clear all the junk
quickly then I'll recommend using CCleaner slim version. You can get it
from here:

<http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/slim>

This program is pretty good to clear all temporary files and what not.
Please don't use any of the Registry Optimize features because they
could potentially damage the system if not used properly.

hth

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Replacing a hard-drive is, for some people, not an option, no matter how
"inexpensive" you may think they are at the moment. Some of us just do
not have any spare cash to spend whatsoever...

The OP's question was what measures she might adopt to free-up some
space - so that is the question that, IMHO, should be the one that is
answered...

I thought the OP was a guy, i.e. Tony rather than Toni?

Anyways, the OP did mention that they already had an external hard disk
to backup files to. I would assume that the external HD must be larger
than the internal anyways. A 30GB HD is pretty smallish these days.

Yousuf Khan

 

[tony cooper]

| I do know enough about computers not to just randomly delete files.
| I'll be looking for files like .jpgs, music, videos, etc that may have
| been put in directories where my daughter hasn't spotted them.
|
Also:

C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Temp

Recycle Bin

IE -> Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> Temporary
Internet Files -> Delete Files. Do that twice, then click
Settings and reduce the cache size to something like 5 MB.

Backups left from service packs. I don't remember names
offhand but SPs leave behind giant folders in Windows or
System32, to be used in case you decide to reverse the
install. And anything named Driver Cache can be written
to CD and deleted if necessary. Those are backup files for
new software.

All of that could be as much as 5 GB, but maybe much
more if "the rubbish is never emptied". XP is probably about
2 GB. That means there could also still be 20+ GB unaccounted
for in music downloads, etc. If she's comfortable moving
her media files to backup there's no reason you can't reclaim
25+ GB of space.

Added to my notes. Thank you.