You do not say exactly how large your smaller hard drive is. Knowing
that helps when one's doing the arithmetic, Your objective should be to
achieve15% to 20% free space!The more the better. However, remember
that further Windows Updates will bring that down again.
Show hidden files has already been covered. However, this is my standard
advice. To investigate how you are using hard disk space you need to
make sure that you can see all files. Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder
Options, View, Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show
hidden files and folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating
system files " is unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the
second item. You should also make certain that the box before "Hide
extensions for known file types" is not checked. Next in Windows
Explorer make sure View, Details is selected and then select View,
Choose Details and check before Name, Type, Total Size, and Free Space.
You still will not see the System Volume Information folder and Norton
Protected Storage ( if you have it).
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531
Download Dirsize.dll plug-in and place the file in Windows\System32
folder. Select Start, Run and type "regsvr32 dirsize.dll" without the
quotes and hit ENTER. Next in Windows Explorer open a folder and set it
to Detail view. From the View menu, click Choose Details. Put a
checkmark near Folder Size, and click OK. Use CTRL and + key (Numeric
Keypad) combination to resize the column width, so that the Folder Size
column is displayed correctly. To apply this setting for all the
folders, click Tools, Folder Options. In the View tab and click Apply to
all folders. You can download Dirsize from:
http://markd.mvps.org/
You can most likely create extra free space by a number of measures.
You can limit the disk space used by System Restore. Right click on the
My Computer icon on your Desktop and select, Properties, System Restore,
Settings. This will give you the amount of Disk Space allocated to
System Restore in terms of % of size of Drive and megabytes or
gigabytes. The default maximum is 12%, which is often excessive. You can
move the slider to the left to reduce the size of the allocation. Once
the allocated space is fully taken the oldest restore point is removed
when a new restore point is created ( or it should be ). If you advise
the drive size I will suggest a setting.
Try Start, All Programmes, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Delete all
but the most recent Restore Point ( Start, Programs, Accessories, System
Tools, Disk Cleanup, More options). Run Disk Defragmenter by selecting
Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.
How is the drive formatted -FAT32 or NTFS? To get this information
whilst in Windows Explorer place the cursor on the C drive, right click
and select Properties? More opportunities here depending on the answer.
Your second hard drive opens up other opportunities. Do you have files /
folders that might be moved to the other?
To move programmes use Add / Remove Programs in Start, Control Panel,
Add / Remove Programs to uninstall programmes. Create a Programs
Directory on your other partition and reinstall there.
Create a My Documents folder on the other drive and copy ( not move )
the contents of My Documents to your new folder. Then delete the files
in your My Documents folder leave the folder ( if you encounter problems
deleting use Shift + Delete to bypass the Recycle Bin ). You will also
need to change Default File locations in the Microsoft Office programmes
you use. For Word go to Tools, Options, File Locations, highlight
Documents, click on Modify and change file path. For Excel go to Tools,
Options, General and change default file path.
For Temporary Internet Files select Start, Control Panel, Internet
Options, Temporary Internet Files. Settings, Move Folder.
To move the Outlook Express Store Folder select in Outlook Express
Tools, Options, Maintenance, Store Folder, Change.
http://www.tomsterdam.com/insideoe/files/store.htm
Before undertaking extensive relocation you may wish to look at
partitioning your second hard drive to facilitate housekeeping and
backing up important data files. It does depend on what you use your
computer for?
Now might also be the time to start monitoring the condition of your
first hard drive. I have been testing HD Tune (freeware). Download and
run it and see what it turns up.
http://www.hdtune.com/
Select the Info tabs and place the cursor on C:\ under Drive letter and
then double click the two page icon ( copy to Clipboard ) and copy into
a further message. Select the Health tab and then double click the two
page icon ( copy to Clipboard ) and copy into a further message.
--
Hope this helps.
Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA
Using invalid email address
Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
