80-gig OS disk C close to maxing out - strategies?

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  1. Posts : 281
    Win7 Professional 64
       #1

    80-gig OS disk C close to maxing out - strategies?


    My home computer has an 80g hard disk on which the o/s and program files go, and then larger mirrored D/F drives holding the data.

    I essentially haven't had problems with the configuration, but today, in imaging the C drive after the monthly Windows updates, I noticed on my own (that is, noticed without getting a warning from Windows) that the C drive is pretty close to maxing out - as in about 900 Mb left in freespace on the disk.

    Obviously I need to do something.

    Other than the obvious two (band-aid by finding and deleting non-essential files from C; get a bigger hard drive!), any other suggestions?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 8,135
    Windows 10 64 bit
       #2

    The "obvious" is the real choice. Hard drives are relatively inexpensive so the thing to do is get a bigger drive.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #3

    How much space have you devoted to System Restore or the page file?

    Do you need a hibernation file?

    What have you done to locate and remove non-essential files?
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  4. Posts : 11,424
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64
       #4

    With 128gb ssd's falling to below 60.00usd I would consider it the logical next step to clone your 80 to a128 or better yet a 256gb ssd. The speed will blow your mind and you'll wonder why you didn't do this long ago.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 281
    Win7 Professional 64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Fireberd, and anyone else reading the original post and left scratching their heads about how could anyone be so stupid - yes, new and larger hd ordered and on its way. Although I had not known how full the drive was, once I saw it this morning, I knew I'd have to get a bigger drive. I was more concerned about how long and well my band-aids might do the trick.

    ignatzatsonic said:
    How much space have you devoted to System Restore or the page file?

    Do you need a hibernation file?

    What have you done to locate and remove non-essential files?
    In answer to ignatzatsonic's questions:

    1. I'm not on the computer now, but am sure I could delete some old restore points as a measure. I don't want to muck with the page file.

    2. As with the page file, the hibernation file that I have seems to work well, and I'd like to keep that without tweaking.

    3. I searched the hd for "gigantic" files, which I think it defines as anything larger than 128Mb. There were only two, a couple video files that I'd for some reason saved to my desktop. I moved these to the D drive and that freed up a bit more than a gig. Doesn't seem like much, but that act doubled the free space. I then cleaned out the %temp% directory. In emptying the recycle bin I found that it had almost 2 gigs of stuff in it. So I've gone from about a free gig to around 3 free gigs. Again, I'm living dangerously, but a lot less so than was the case three hours ago. When I get home tonight, I will do a more thorough search and purge/move of the drive and I'll bet that finds me another gig.

    This is a tricky question, but how much free space do I "need" on the drive, especially at boot time? I swear that I have seen no odd or degraded performance from this computer, so I was shocked at how full the drive had gotten!
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 11,424
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64
       #6

    Well then just leave well enough alone till the ordered larger drive arrives and then clone it, doesn't sound like the lack of space is effecting performance and you're just a UPS shipment away from space in reserve.
      My Computer


  7. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #7

    You never said how much RAM you have.

    And I agree with Alan - a 128GB SSD for $60 would make your system sooo much better, especially in terms of performance.

    I also recommend to run this program. It tells you everything regarding the data on the disk.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #8

    450125 said:

    3. I searched the hd for "gigantic" files, which I think it defines as anything larger than 128Mb. There were only two, a couple video files that I'd for some reason saved to my desktop.

    This is a tricky question, but how much free space do I "need" on the drive, especially at boot time? I swear that I have seen no odd or degraded performance from this computer, so I was shocked at how full the drive had gotten!
    I'd run Windows built in "Disk Cleanup", including the option to clean up system files. For this drive as well as for your new drive--periodically. Maybe monthly.

    Or download and use CCleaner. It has a cleanup function. You wouldn't have to use the registry cleaning side of it.

    I've seen figures bandied about that you should have 20 percent or more free space, but I've never noticed any degradation and I've gone under 10% free from time to time.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 281
    Win7 Professional 64
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Update:

    I used ccleaner to remove about half my system restore points, and that didn't clear up much space. Is there something else I need to do to truly free that space? My recycle bin remains empty, but are those restore points "somewhere out there" still using hd space?

    I'm still about to look for deletable files that might not be doing anything.

    Disk cleanup didn't find much. The 87-meg thumbnail cache is the biggest item there was.
      My Computer


  10. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #10

    What did the WinDirStat output say.
      My Computer


 
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