JP
You may have less free space than you think.
To see what is on your hard drive you may need to change a number of
settings. Select Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View, Advanced
Settings, and check "Show hidden files and folders". Whilst there uncheck
"Hide File Extensions". Also check "Display the contents of system folders".
These will reveal most files but System Restore points are held in a System
Volume Information sub-folder on each drive or partition -in XP there is one
for each partition and these will still remain hidden. The restore points
for the system partition can get very large, especially if you uninstall and
reinstall programmes. They can fragment into many pieces. The system permits
the creation of many more restore points than most users really need. This
is why I mentioned the option to remove contained in Disk Cleanup in my
earlier message.
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531&Product=winxp
Do you use any Symantec / Norton utilities. Norton Protected Storage hides
large files which users often don't realise are there.
As well as the System Volume Information folder the system partition often
contains a large MFT folder ( Master File Table ) and usually the
pagefile.sys file. You cannot defragment the MFT folder which typically
should be in 2, more often three, fragments. The page file and free space
can become very fragmented if not defragmented regularly, more so as the
partition fills up. and this may be what you are encountering. Do other
housekeeping before running Disk Defragmenter.
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Hope this helps.
Gerry
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FCA
Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
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