Computer Question for IT folks (not bike computer)

[tulip]

I constantly get a Low Disk Space message on my computer. I run Disk Cleanup, but there's only so much it can clean up!

I have two internal hard drives: C and D. I also have an external backup drive (Seagate FreeAgentGo). C is for my programs and D is for my documents. However, there is not enough room in C and I cannot delete any programs; in fact, I need to add some more and there is not enough room.

I plan on taking the whole thing to a computer person on Friday, but in the meantime, I'll ask you savvy IT types out there in TEland what I can do. I would like to take some of the room on D and give it to C (I think it's partitioned and not actually 2 drives, but I'm way over my head at this point).

Any tips or talking points for when I talk to the computer guy?

Thanks.

EDIT: It's a PC (Dell Latitude D830) running XP Professional.

[Catrin]

I would like to take some of the room on D and give it to C (I think it's partitioned and not actually 2 drives, but I'm way over my head at this point).

Any tips or talking points for when I talk to the computer guy?.

How large are your two partitions? Someone else may need to correct me, but the only way I am aware of that you can repartition your hard drive is to reformat it - which wipes everything off. I am wondering why it is partitioned to begin with - XP doesn't have the hard drive size restrictions that earlier versions had, well, most people would not have a problem with it.

Of course you will be sure to back up your documents, etc, on your external before you go :D

[tulip]

Catrin, the C: drive is 20GB, with 19.9 used. The D: drive is 54GB with only 6.41 used.

As for why it's partitioned, that's a good question. When I purchased the computer, I understood that it was good to have separate "areas" for programs and for documents (photos, documents, xls, music, etc.) That may not be the case, but that's my understanding.

My neighbor, who knows more than me but not enough to do the work, also said that reformatting wipes everything clean. I have my docs and stuff backed up, but I have no idea if my software is backed up. I do have CDs that came with my computer. Other software has been downloaded, and I would hate to lose that (a nifty budgeting tool, for example). I use Thunderbird for email, and I don't even know if that's in the cloud or on the computer. But now that I mention it, I'll try cleaning out my email and see if that helps. If that's a complete "Duh!" moment, please be easy on me!

Thanks for your help, Catrin.

[Catrin]

Catrin, the C: drive is 20GB, with 19.9 used. The D: drive is 54GB with only 6.41 used.

My neighbor, who knows more than me but not enough to do the work, also said that reformatting wipes everything clean. I have my docs and stuff backed up, but I have no idea if my software is backed up. I do have CDs that came with my computer. Other software has been downloaded, and I would hate to lose that (a nifty budgeting tool, for example). I use Thunderbird for email, and I don't even know if that's in the cloud or on the computer. But now that I mention it, I'll try cleaning out my email and see if that helps. If that's a complete "Duh!" moment, please be easy on me!

Thanks for your help, Catrin.

Thunderbird stores your email locally, so if you have a large amount of email -especially with attachments - then that could slow things down. I am sure that you have have done this, but it is important to defragment your computer on a regular basis - I do it about once every 5-6 weeks depending on what I've been doing. It sounds like you've already checked your cache, cookies, and so forth via your disk clean-up tool - though that tool doesn't get everything.

As to whether it is best to have your drive partitioned or not - this is a matter of opinion. Personally I prefer not to have separate partitions for the very reason that you have found - however there are certainly valid arguments for doing it. I can see why your computer is complaining about the C drive being overly full, it is :D

[tulip]

Catrin, thanks so much. I think it's my Thunderbird emails. I have lots of them, with lots of attachments. I don't need the attachments because I save them to our central server as I receive them. But the emails--I need to save alot of them for future use (in case of a lawsuit or something). I'll have to figure out a way to save them on our server without having to open each one and save as PDF.

I do defrag and disk cleanup regularly, but I'm sure there's more that I could do (like proper email management!)

We are a tiny business of 3 people in two states, and so we don't have an IT department. So again, I thank you very much. I will let you know if this solves the problem, at least temporarily. I'll still pursue the partition issue.

[Cataboo]

Tulip,

If you use partition magic, you can resize your partitions without reformatting them... and you can give D drive some more space from C.

It's fairly easy to use.

You can buy it here:
https://www.symantecstore.com/dr/sat1/ec_MAIN.Entry17c?SID=27674&SP=10034&CID=&PID=&PN=0

and via torrent you could probably illegally download it.

I keep my computer partitioned... but basically, my C drive is - windows ONLY.

I tell every program that I install to install itself on D drive.

then I have a raid set of harddrives that I put all my data/photos/etc on...

That way I can reformat windows on C drive and still have everything else.

The thing I've noticed about windows xp is that no matter how big you make C drive, xp will eventually expand to fill it up.

You can move your thunderbird email folder to D drive and keep all your emails.

I'll look at up in a second, you can also usually delete all the windows xp updates - it downloads them, installs them, and doesn't delete the updates. That usually frees up a fair amount of space.

[Cataboo]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-9862223-68.html

Follow that article

[Cataboo]

Here's a free partition manager software:
http://dottech.org/freebies/13827

here's a free cleaner software that cleans up a lot of the junk of c drive:

http://www.ccleaner.com/

[Cataboo]

how to move your thunderbird email:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_mail_storage_location_%28Thunderbird%29

http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/profile#move

http://email.about.com/od/mozillathunderbirdtips/qt/et_backup_prof.htm

[Catrin]

Tulip,

If you use partition magic, you can resize your partitions without reformatting them... and you can give D drive some more space from C.

I had forgotten about Partition Magic, it's been a long time since I looked into that. This is a good thing - it's great that there is a similar software that will do the same thing for free.

[tulip]

Catrin and Catriona--THANK YOU! I moved my Mail folder to the D: drive and redirected Tbird to save my emails there, and then deleted the mail on the C: drive and it immediately freed up almost 3GB of space!

I will go through the other steps tomorrow (Friday is my usual Admin and IT day), but today I have to get some items out to clients that I could not do yesterday (MTW are my Projects days), and then move on to Marketing and Research (my usual Thursday focus).

Thank you both so much! I will report back on the other strategies (partition manager, etc.) and how they work tomorrow.

:D:D:D

[Maxxxie]

Good to hear you're out of the woods for now. It might be worth using TreeSize (there's a free version). This will help you identify top disk consumers. The results can be quite surprising!

Max