Should I reformat this HD?

[zekramcross]

Ok here it is:



its the ones with multiple numbers and letters. maybe something else bad in there?

 

[kword88]

the first two seem a bit suspect to me, since the file name starts with a "dot". the next ten are probably windows installation files.

you can probably delete the following folders (in my opinion ONLY) :

dell
drvrtemp
from_old_computer (if you cleaned it out)
intel
lexmark
MTV_OUTPUT (again, if you cleaned it out)
N360_BACKUP (probably norton. could be pretty large)
NVIDIA
SUN
the next two i dont recognize but probably safe to delete. use your discretion
windows.old
dont recognize the last one either, but again, probably safe to delete

 

[zekramcross]

The file dell is where are all the drivers are at so I will not be deleting that.
The Intel folder is for my extreme graphics so no to that one.
The file lexmark is for a driver for my printer so no delete.
The folder sun is for my java I think so don't know about that one.
Ok I deleted everything but the above and got 1GB out of the system.

 

[YTBOY83]

I would just partition the disk and move all your data that you want kept to the other one, i would then wipe the free space on both drives. I would then defrag both and also defrag the Reg. (Some people will disagree).

 

[zekramcross]

Doesn't partitioning means wiping out the HD entirely? Then putting two separate drives? This is what is screaming in head right now when I saw this. No offense.

 

[kword88]

The file dell is where are all the drivers are at so I will not be deleting that.
The Intel folder is for my extreme graphics so no to that one.
The file lexmark is for a driver for my printer so no delete.
The folder sun is for my java I think so don't know about that one.
Ok I deleted everything but the above and got 1GB out of the system.

the dell folder is from 2004. i doubt you need it. intel, lexmark, and sun were probably created during installation and can be deleted. if something doesnt work, they are easily replaceable.

 

[zekramcross]

Alright I will delete them then.

 

[zekramcross]

In total I gained about 300MB out of that.

 

[zekramcross]

I think the weird files I talked about earlier doesn't appear on everybody HD. I checked a few days ago with one of my friends computer he also upgraded from XP to Win7 HP and I didn't see those files on his HD so I think they are the culprit. Maybe there are?

 

[kword88]

you mean the ones with a long string of letters and numbers? i think those are created by windows and windows update.

were you able to delete the N360_BACKUP folder? (assuming you dont have norton installed anymore)

and those first two folders in the list? the ones that started with a "dot"?

 

[zekramcross]

Yes, I got rid of all of of the ones listed in your post and like I said before 300MB regained from it.

 

[kword88]

theres not much else i can think of, unless you have a hidden partition (you can look in DISK MANAGEMENT to see if your HDD is partitioned). and you could also clean out your browser cache and temp files.
other than that, i guess everything else is necessary files.

 

[zekramcross]

Well I checked and is all on one partition. Thank you for helping me out with this problem and toke some time from your day to deal with me. If I could rep you again I would and I learned a lot today from you and know I can carry that knowledge with pride. Again Thank you and have a nice day(or night depending where your at).

 

[kword88]

no problem. and you might want to run a virus scan also if you havent already.

 

[zekramcross]

Ran every scan possible and all came back negative. Well, I see you around.

 

[YTBOY83]

No, and sorry, i never took into consideration how much data you would want to keep etc. Sorry m8.

 

[zekramcross]

its alright.

 

[essenbe]

I haven't read the entire thread so I may be suggesting something already discussed. A rather unorthodox solution. Buy and install another HD. They are rather cheap now. You can get a 500GB from Newegg for about $50. Do a clean install of windows on the new hard drive. Backup everything first. especially your docs.,music,photos ect. During this time you will be able to continue using what you already have. Take your time and set your new drive up exactly how you want it. when you have it like you want it, go into bios and change the boot order to nstart booting into your new HD. Then you can run clean all in diskpart on the old drive and wipe it perfectly clean. Use it as a media drive to house your personal folders and for whatever storage you need. In the long run you will be better off and will get rid of whatever is filling up your current HD., and have plenty of space to use. I have had to do that before and it was a simple solution and later I was glad I did.