News2 mins ago
Freeing up space on the hard drive
8 Answers
Hi guys,
I put loads of photos and music onto an external hard drive in order to free up disk space and it freed up a few GB's of memory. However, i recently checked the free space on my laptop and i've almost reached the limit again. I have no idea how, i haven't downloaded any programs, i've deleted some large programs and i've done a disk defrag and cleanup but that doesn't seem to have worked.
Can anyone advise on how to get some memory back? I've looked on various websites and they all suggest defrags and cleanups.
I'm desperate!
Many thanks
I put loads of photos and music onto an external hard drive in order to free up disk space and it freed up a few GB's of memory. However, i recently checked the free space on my laptop and i've almost reached the limit again. I have no idea how, i haven't downloaded any programs, i've deleted some large programs and i've done a disk defrag and cleanup but that doesn't seem to have worked.
Can anyone advise on how to get some memory back? I've looked on various websites and they all suggest defrags and cleanups.
I'm desperate!
Many thanks
Answers
1 to 8 of 8
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This won't directly solve your problem but it might help you find the cause of it:
Go to Start > Search > All files and folders. Click on 'More Advanced Options' and check that there are ticks alongside 'Search subfolders', ''Search hidden files and folders' and 'Search system folders'. Run a search for *.* (That's star dot star if it's not clear on your screen).
That search will find every file on your laptop. Now click on the 'Size' column header, until the files are shown in descending order of size. (You might find that some very small files have no size shown, so that you'll have to scroll down to find the files which you're looking for).
When you've done that you'll hopefully know what is taking up all of the space on your hard drive. So you'll then be in a better position to deal with the problem.
Chris
Go to Start > Search > All files and folders. Click on 'More Advanced Options' and check that there are ticks alongside 'Search subfolders', ''Search hidden files and folders' and 'Search system folders'. Run a search for *.* (That's star dot star if it's not clear on your screen).
That search will find every file on your laptop. Now click on the 'Size' column header, until the files are shown in descending order of size. (You might find that some very small files have no size shown, so that you'll have to scroll down to find the files which you're looking for).
When you've done that you'll hopefully know what is taking up all of the space on your hard drive. So you'll then be in a better position to deal with the problem.
Chris
Some backup programs can create large files on your hard drive.
Do you perhaps run some sort of backup program?
Also Windows does create and store large files "under the covers" (updates etc)
Have you cleared out your recylce bin?
Delete all you temporary internet files?
Silly question, but when you put your photos and music on the external drive did you MOVE them or COPY them. If you copied them they will still be on your laptop hard drive.
Do you perhaps run some sort of backup program?
Also Windows does create and store large files "under the covers" (updates etc)
Have you cleared out your recylce bin?
Delete all you temporary internet files?
Silly question, but when you put your photos and music on the external drive did you MOVE them or COPY them. If you copied them they will still be on your laptop hard drive.
A program called Tree Size can tel you how big each of the folders is on your hard drive. it is free
http://download.cnet....0688e258db9f9f07c94e9
http://download.cnet....0688e258db9f9f07c94e9
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