Hard disk (C) free space getting worryingly low.

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  1. Posts : 74
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
       #1

    Hard disk (C) free space getting worryingly low.


    It has a little over 8 GB free of 148 GB.

    I have an external hard drive which I use for saving copies of personal files. It has 135 GB free of 465GB.

    And I recently bought a new, so far unused, 2TB external hard drive.

    I am undecided about what strategy to employ in order to reclaim space on the C drive.

    Suggestions please.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 3,487
    Win 7 Pro x64/Win 10 Pro x64 dual boot
       #2

    Is this a laptop? Or a desktop?
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  3. Posts : 7,351
    Windows 7 HP 64
       #3

    Did you do a disk cleanup? %windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe

    Clean the user temp folder C:\Users"Name"\AppData\Local\Temp (some files can't be deleted as they are in use - Skip them)
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  4. Posts : 74
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Mellon Head, it's an HP Compaq dc7900 Ultra-Slim Desktop.

    Megahertz07, I run CCleaner frequently, usually before I shut the computer off, but I ran cleanmgr.exe anyway. It showed only a few thumbnails.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 7,351
    Windows 7 HP 64
       #5

    Did you clean the user temp folder C:\Users"Name"\AppData\Local\Temp ? (some files can't be deleted as they are in use - Skip them)
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 74
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Megahertz07 said:
    Did you clean the user temp folder C:\Users"Name"\AppData\Local\Temp ? (some files can't be deleted as they are in use - Skip them)
    Obviously cleanmgr.exe didn't, there was 74 MB in it. So I deleted them myself. There's 16kB left.
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  7. Posts : 7,351
    Windows 7 HP 64
       #7

    Another folder I use to clean is C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download and C:\Windows\Temp.
    CCleaner does a dipper cleaner. CCleaner - Standard
    If you install, go to options - Monitoring and disable all.
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  8. Posts : 3,487
    Win 7 Pro x64/Win 10 Pro x64 dual boot
       #8

    @ Syncopator:

    With such a small C: drive it might not be a bad idea to add a second internal hard disk and move your user files there, as in this tutorial:

    User Folders - Change Default Location - Windows 7 Help Forums

    I do it on my machine and it saves a huge amount of space on my C: drive which is an SSD. Another technique is to install large programs to the D: drive. With my setup, I install anything that does not need to load "SSD-speed" fast onto my D: drive, again, saving more room on my C: drive for important programs. I also don't keep data on my C: drive. I keep data on the D: drive.

    If you have room in your case for a second hard disk, pick up a 500 GB or 1 TB spinner, mount it and try these techniques. It will save you a lot of hair pulling. It's that or buy a larger C: drive and clone your OS.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 7,351
    Windows 7 HP 64
       #9

    I would buy a 128G SSD and move the C:\users folder to D:\users using Kari tutorial. As Mellon Head said, you're going to have the space of a HDD and the speed of a SSD. User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation - Windows 7 Help Forums

    https://www.sevenforums.com/attachme...d-relocate.zip
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  10. Posts : 74
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Thank you for the suggestions.

    Those articles have a lot of infomation but there's so much that I find it difficult to absorb, especially since most of it is graphics, and I get lost. I absorb the written word more easily.

    I am attracted to the idea of either replacing the existing hard drive with another of, perhaps, 2TB, having first tranferred my all my personal files to an external disk. Then reinstall Windows. Or would it be sufficient to simply reinstall on the existing drive and use the external 2TB one for just storage?
      My Computer


 
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