Laptop Hard Disk Space

[Guest]

I have just bought a new laptop with a 40Gig HDD. I have made a recovery DVD
for it now, but before that, noticed another HDD partition which had 4gig and
was called 'recovery'. My HDD has now dropped to 33.1gig Total Size even
though i have not filled it with anything and the 'Recovery' partition has
dissapeared. I thought after making the Recovery DVD the 'Recovery' partition
would have gave the 4gig back to my normal HDD but it still stands at 33.1.
Can i find this 'Recovery' partition and delete it to claim my needed space
back now that i have made a Recovery DVD? Does anyone know how to do this and
would it be safe to do so?

 

[DL]

The recovery partition should be visible in 'Disk Management'
It was put there by the sys supplier in order to recover from a win failure.
You would have to read manu.blurb for its usage.
Whether you can recover using your DVD is another matter, as assuming you
merely copied the recovery partition. The recovery procedure may look for
files in a specific location, there may also have been hidden files.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Adrian

What is the make and model of the Laptop?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Adrian

What is the make and model of the Laptop?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have an Advent 7083 laptop with 512mb and 40g HDD

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Adrian

Was there a Manual in the box with the computer?

If no manual was in the box were there any stickers indicating that
there should be a manual in the box?

Where did you buy the computer? Was it in the UK or elsewhere?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Adrian

Was there a Manual in the box with the computer?

If no manual was in the box were there any stickers indicating that
there should be a manual in the box?

Where did you buy the computer? Was it in the UK or elsewhere?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Gerry, I bought this laptop from PC World in the UK. There is not a manual in the box but on the actual Hard disk itself which i have been through, but it does not mention anything about the recovery partition. One thing i have noticed is that the recovery partition is the same size roughly, to the recovery DVD that i made on the laptop (1.85 gig). Just wondering if this would be safe to delete that partition and use the space back on my main HDD?

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Adrian

I would leave the Recovery Partition alone if I were you. Here are some
suggestions, which may be helpful.

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.
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531

FileSize -a useful tool for use with Windows Explorer when investigating how
disk space is being used.
http://markd.mvps.org/

The download link is not obvious. Click the here in the two sentences of the
web page accessed through the link above. "I can't count the number of times
someone has asked for this. So here is a module you can install that shows a
Folder Size column in Explorer."

To increase you free space on your C select Start, All Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options, System Restore and
remove all but the latest System Restore points? Restore points can be quite
large.

You should use Disk CleanUp regularly to Empty your Recycle Bin and
Remove Temporary Internet Files. Whenever you remove redundant files you
should always run Disk Defragmenter by selecting Start, All Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

It is likely that an allocation of 12% has been made to System Restore on
your C partition which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right
click your My Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore.
Place the cursor on your C drive select Settings but this time find the
slider and drag it to the left until it reads 700 mb and exit. When you get
to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK and exit.

Are you using any Norton Utilities?

If your hard drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of your
C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows folder
typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$ etc.

These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed the text
of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not compressed you can
compress them. Right click on each folder and select Properties, General,
Advanced and check the box before Compress contents to save Disk Space.
On the General Tab you can see the amount gained by deducting the size
on disk from the size. Folder compression is only an option on a NTFS
formatted drive / partition.

Another default setting on a large drive which could be wasteful is that for
temporary internet files especially if you do not store offline copies on
disk. The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to
offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer
select
Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings to make
the change. At the same time look at the number of days history is held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. On your drive
5% should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor on your
Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and move the slider
from 10% to 5%,

I see Curry's are also selling your model.
http://snipurl.com/lcrh

So much for exclusive! So much for competition!
http://snipurl.com/lcrk

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Adrian

I would leave the Recovery Partition alone if I were you. Here are some
suggestions, which may be helpful.

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.
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531

FileSize -a useful tool for use with Windows Explorer when investigating how
disk space is being used.
http://markd.mvps.org/

The download link is not obvious. Click the here in the two sentences of the
web page accessed through the link above. "I can't count the number of times
someone has asked for this. So here is a module you can install that shows a
Folder Size column in Explorer."

To increase you free space on your C select Start, All Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options, System Restore and
remove all but the latest System Restore points? Restore points can be quite
large.

You should use Disk CleanUp regularly to Empty your Recycle Bin and
Remove Temporary Internet Files. Whenever you remove redundant files you
should always run Disk Defragmenter by selecting Start, All Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

It is likely that an allocation of 12% has been made to System Restore on
your C partition which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right
click your My Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore.
Place the cursor on your C drive select Settings but this time find the
slider and drag it to the left until it reads 700 mb and exit. When you get
to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK and exit.

Are you using any Norton Utilities?

If your hard drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of your
C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows folder
typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$ etc.

These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed the text
of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not compressed you can
compress them. Right click on each folder and select Properties, General,
Advanced and check the box before Compress contents to save Disk Space.
On the General Tab you can see the amount gained by deducting the size
on disk from the size. Folder compression is only an option on a NTFS
formatted drive / partition.

Another default setting on a large drive which could be wasteful is that for
temporary internet files especially if you do not store offline copies on
disk. The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to
offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer
select
Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings to make
the change. At the same time look at the number of days history is held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. On your drive
5% should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor on your
Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and move the slider
from 10% to 5%,

I see Curry's are also selling your model.
http://snipurl.com/lcrh

So much for exclusive! So much for competition!
http://snipurl.com/lcrk

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gerry, Thank you very much for your help. I will try these things out that you have suggestet. It seems that alot of space is wasted by many things. I need all the space i can get on my 40 gig laptop. Thank you once more.