[wayne christian]

My hard drive is too overloaded with documents, music, etc etc that I don't need, How do I get rid of them to make space?
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name WAYNE
System Manufacturer Compaq Presario 061
System Model DK214A-ABA S4020WM NA210
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 1 AuthenticAMD ~1998 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD AM37312, 3/17/2003
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name WAYNE\Owner
Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 768.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 355.69 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.20 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

[Advertisements]

Click start, my computer, right click the hard drive, click properties, what is shown for used and free space

[Retired Tech]

Click start, my computer, right click the hard drive, click properties, what is shown for used and free space

[Bobbydoo8]

Well, you could get rid of the pagefile for that harddrive, which I can tell from your system specs will free up 1.20 gb. To do this start>right-click My Computer>Properties>Advanced>Performance Settings>Advanced Tab>Virtual Memory Change>click harddrive and set to no paging file.

[Major Payne]

1) Right-click drive C;. Choose Properties. Click on Disk Cleanup button. Check files you want to remove. Click Options button to set "Compress old files" after so many days. Click OK. Click OK again if you're ready to remove selected files. Let operation finish.

2) Click on Start, the select Search. Select Pictures, music, videos. Check all three boxes at top for each file type. Click Search. Out of listing in right pane, select files you want to delete. If all of them, then click in right pane to change focus, press Ctrl+A. All files should be highlighted. Press Delete. Should send all these to Recycle Bin for now. Wait awhile until you are sure your PC runs ok. If so, right-click Recycle Bin Icon and select "Empty....".

3) Go back and select Properties for drive c:. Select Tools tab. Defrag the drive.

Hope this helps.

Ron

[wayne christian]

I am being told "cannot read from the source file or disk" What now???

[Retired Tech]

I am being told "cannot read from the source file or disk" What now???

For which part

Well, you could get rid of the pagefile for that harddrive, which I can tell from your system specs will free up 1.20 gb. To do this start>right-click My Computer>Properties>Advanced>Performance Settings>Advanced Tab>Virtual Memory Change>click harddrive and set to no paging file.

This would waste a lot of the RAM. The reason is that when programs ask for an allocation of Virtual memory space, they may ask for a great deal more than they ever actually bring into use - the total may easily run to hundreds of megabytes. These addresses have to be assigned to somewhere by the system. If there is a page file available, the system can assign them to it - if there is not, they have to be assigned to RAM, locking it out from any actual use.

[Bobbydoo8]

Very true Keith, I was just commenting on what I could tell by what he gave us.

Windows>run>cleanmgr

Check out my sig for CleanUP!---awesome program for removing all that temporary junk and just cleaning up space.

[fleamailman]

time to think hard about what you are going to do next because after a short while it will only be full again, I myself would buy an external harddrive caddie(costs peanuts) because these days harddrives can be found anyway, prehaps from any old computer, so I have many just lying around, anytime I want something I put a harddrive in a caddie and see it, anytime I want to store something, ditto, but one point is important, "all harddrive die in the end" so if you are thinking of backup, store the stuff on two harddrives(so if one dies...), or you could burn DVDs but that is such a bother compared to just using old harddrives.

Edited by fleamailman, 15 February 2007 - 11:09 AM.

[wayne christian]

Okay I now have 8 GB available out of 33. I only added about 3 GB afterwards. Thanks for the help and the suggestions.

[wayne christian]

I have a zip drive, but don't have the luxury of having old hard drives lying around, as we use the computers that we have, and none are really that old yet. But your point is well taken. Thank You

[fleamailman]

a harddrive caddie will cast about the same as two zip 250 cassettes yet a repair shop will probably give you an old harddrive, I just whip out a screwdriver whenever I pass the local skip, I am happy with an a 8gb, 15gb or bigger, btw often I just swap full ones with friends, far quicker than burning and nobody wants them till they see the picture, true they are a bit heavy but I must have a 20 of them now.

Edited by fleamailman, 17 February 2007 - 11:51 AM.