Freeing up space on my C-drive

[Guest]

I have an older 386-based computer, running Windows 2000, w/ a 19GB “mainâ€
hard drive (unpartitioned), which has only 8.65 MB of available space.

I also have installed an additional internal hard drive, of 110 GB capacity,
partitioned into two separate segments of abt. 55 GB each, on which I already
store many photos and other less-often-used documents.

Questions:
1. What is the best way (What files? How do I locate the most appropriate
files?) to define which files I may move from my C-drive, to either my
E-drive or F-drive, to give me a lot of empty space on my C-drive? (Will
this improve my computer’s over-all performance?)

2. Also, I can upgrade to Windows XP if I wish. Considering the issue
above, when is the best time to do that?

 

[Newbie Coder]

Mover,

386 - are you sure?

The motherboard BIOS is out of date & wouldn't even run a 2 Gb drive?

How can that even run Windows 2000?

There aren't any files which would increase that machine's speed because its
a museum piece now.

All you can do is clean up C:\ drive with the Disk Cleanup tool (START |
PROGRAMS | ACCESSORIES | SYSTEM TOOLS | DISK CLEANUP)

Plus you can move music/photos & map My Docs to the other drive

 

[DL]

I dont believe Disk Cleanup will run, as you have too little free space
Start>Run> %temp%
will locate sys temp files, delete all - some maybe in use & not deletable
Internet Connections; delete temp files, set max size to 50mb
Under your win Directory
$NtUninstallkb*****$ delete the oldest - NB you will no longer be able to
uninstall winupdates

 

[Guest]

Sorry. Perhaps I was overly pessimistic abt. my processor. Its actually
this kind: "Processor x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 6 GenuineIntel ~850 Mhz."
It runs Windows 2000 well enough for now.

Following some of the other recommendations I found at this site, for
clearing disc space, I discovered that my Windows folder is 12.1 GB in size
(!) and that it may be overly large due to restore points, but I can't
determine how to find the restore points and delete some of them. Am I on the
right track?

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your help so far. I performed all 3 operations you suggested
and now have 321 Mb of free space (out of 19 Gb), an increase of 200Mb. It's
a start!
Any other tips? Again my Windows folder is 12.1Gb in size.

 

[nesredep egrob]

Thank you for your help so far. I performed all 3 operations you suggested
and now have 321 Mb of free space (out of 19 Gb), an increase of 200Mb. It's
a start!
Any other tips? Again my Windows folder is 12.1Gb in size.

right click C: Drive in Explorer and go for Properties. In there go for System
Properties/Environment Variables.
In the system variables you will find temp and tmp and very likely they will be
set to C:
Change that in the upper window to be E:\temp. In the lower window that should
then make temp and tmp read E:\temp. give the OK
Now go back out to C: drive in Explorer and R-lick again to see what space you
have available in Properties.
I have a 9.7 GB C: drive and have 4.2 GB free

Borge in sunny Perth, Australia

 

[Guest]

Dear "nesredep egrob" ...
Thanks for your suggestions, but they did not seem to work.

I was able to change the Value for the Variables in the upper window, as you
suggested, (from C: to E but this had no effect on the Values in the bottom
window, and I couldn't get access to change them in the bottom window myself.
The changes I could do had NO effect on the free space on C; drive, so I set
them back to C: Drive.

Any other suggestions?

 

[nesredep egrob]

Dear "nesredep egrob" ...
Thanks for your suggestions, but they did not seem to work.

I was able to change the Value for the Variables in the upper window, as you
suggested, (from C: to E but this had no effect on the Values in the bottom
window, and I couldn't get access to change them in the bottom window myself.
The changes I could do had NO effect on the free space on C; drive, so I set
them back to C: Drive.

Any other suggestions?

Sorry about that but it will help in the long run - should speed up your
computer if you have something requiring a lot of memory. Now you can go for a
search based on size - I suggest that you make the size > 10 Mb. Give us a list
of the result. There must be a lot of files like that.
I see you have been advised like that previously but I do not see an answer. Try
again.

Borge in sunny Perth, Australia

 

[DL]

My Documents
Select Properties>Move
Locate on your other hd

 

[Guest]

Thanks, DL, for the suggestion below. I'd do as you suggested, but ... when
I clicked "Properties" on the "My Documents" folder it was reported to be
only of this size: "15.6 MB (16,379,952 bytes)" ... so I don't think it will
help appreciably.

I tried copying the C: drv's Documents and Settings folder to an alternate
drive, since it is large, at 1.4 GB, thinking I could then delete it from the
C-Drv. (until I recopy it back to C: later, from the alternate drive), and
free up enough space to permit running a Disk Cleanup. However, the copying
exercise "stalled" because certian files had names too long to copy or had
invalid syntax/name format. Much fewer than 1.4 GB ended up on the alternate
drive, so I had an incomplete copy, and could not safely delete the Documents
and Settings folder from the C: drv.

Also, a reply to "nesredep egrob": I did the 3 operations "DL" suggested
earlier, but it only increased the free space on C; to 340 MB. (See report of
results, below)

HOW ABOUT THIS? If I upgraded to Windows XP, from my current Windows 2000
Pro (an upgrade from the Windows Millenium that was the OEM software on my
machine, originally) would that cause my Windows directory (now 12.1 GB) to
become EVEN BIGGER, or would the upgrade remove some no longer needed Windows
files, and reduce the 12.1 GBs now being used?

 

[David Webb]

Thanks, DL, for the suggestion below. I'd do as you suggested, but ... when
I clicked "Properties" on the "My Documents" folder it was reported to be
only of this size: "15.6 MB (16,379,952 bytes)" ... so I don't think it will
help appreciably.

I tried copying the C: drv's Documents and Settings folder to an alternate
drive, since it is large, at 1.4 GB, thinking I could then delete it from the
C-Drv. (until I recopy it back to C: later, from the alternate drive), and
free up enough space to permit running a Disk Cleanup. However, the copying
exercise "stalled" because certian files had names too long to copy or had
invalid syntax/name format. Much fewer than 1.4 GB ended up on the alternate
drive, so I had an incomplete copy, and could not safely delete the Documents
and Settings folder from the C: drv.

Also, a reply to "nesredep egrob": I did the 3 operations "DL" suggested
earlier, but it only increased the free space on C; to 340 MB. (See report of
results, below)

HOW ABOUT THIS? If I upgraded to Windows XP, from my current Windows 2000
Pro (an upgrade from the Windows Millenium that was the OEM software on my
machine, originally) would that cause my Windows directory (now 12.1 GB) to
become EVEN BIGGER, or would the upgrade remove some no longer needed Windows
files, and reduce the 12.1 GBs now being used?

I would not try to upgrade your present installation with Windows XP.

You may not be aware of this, but you're running a bastardized upgrade of
Windows 2000, since this upgrade path was not anticipated by MS. There are
differences in the registry structures and Win2K knows nothing about Restore
Points. See this article for details:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;272627

Your Windows folder appears to be bloated. For example, I have a dual-boot
system with Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP Pro and the Windows folders are only
3.7 GB and 3.3 GB respectively. BTW, the Windows 2000 is an upgrade from Windows
98.

Your best bet would be to back-up your data and then wipe the drive with a clean
install of Windows 2000. Format using the NTFS option this time, it's more
secure.

Here's how:

How To Install Windows 2000 Professional
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304868