Space issue on C:\ Drive

T

thespecialon

Registered User
Messages
211
Hi,

I have a laptop with 2 internal drives C:\ + D:\

my C drive contains windows files,program files mainly,however it is nearly full due to me keeping Windows updates,Virus updates etc.

My D:\ drive on the other hand just has documents etc and has lots of free space.I have installed any new programs I get onto my D drive.

I dont want to go touching my program files/Windows files etc but I am nearly out of space on my C drive and was looking for options/ideas on how to free up space or if possible or how to move Windows/Program Files??
I dont have any of the original installation Files either a it came pre-built.

The laptop runs Windows XP Professional.

Thanks,

T
 
Have you deleted your temporary internet files?

I don't use windows any more, so I can't quite remember how to do it. Then you'll needed to empty your bin. You should be able to change the settings on how long the files are kept.
 
Try running [broken link removed] in case it can free up some more space. But if the Windows installation and installed programs alone are hitting the limit of your disk then you may need to consider getting a replacement one. If you do this then there are ways to clone from the original to the new (bigger) disk and then reorganize the partitions so that you have more space but your original installation. This is covered in existing threads and online but you need to know what you are doing to attmpt this. If not then get assistance. Are you sure that your My Documents folder is not on C: and maybe stuff like photos, movies and audio (e.g. MP3) files are not taking up a lot of space? Use [broken link removed] to map your drive usage to get more insight if necessary.
 
Try downloading and running JDiskReport (Free from JGoodies).

It provides a neat graphical breakdown of your hard disk, e.g. MP3 30%, JPG 25%, Program files 40%.

This could assist you in identifying what could be removed.
 
also in the C:\WINNT folder you will see a lot of folders looking like the following
$NtUninstallKB950760$

you may need to check the show hidden files and folders box in the tool->folder optionview section of windows explorer.

anyway, a lot of the older folders at this stage can go. should free up a good chunk of space.
 
Let the likes of CCleaner take care of deleting stuff - and even then always double check. Don't manually delete anything that you don't understand. I have dealt with too many people who casually deleted stuff to free up space only to mess up their Windows and application setups to be blasé about such stuff.
 
check to see where your page file is located (maybe move it onto d drive)
 
I've used jdiskreport and ccleaner, but I'm still left with some strange files on my Windows Vista Business laptop taking up lots of space - such as the following;

C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-449572327-334371909-1151025863-1000\$R82KUU4.msp 327.2 MB
C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-449572327-334371909-1151025863-1000\$R7JDX89.msp 219.2 MB

I can't find these files in Explorer, even with the view set to show hidden files. In fact, I can't see any directory of this name in Explorer. If I cut/paste the folder name into explorer, it converts to ; c:> $Recycle Bin > Recycle Bin with the folder empty.

I've checked the recycle bin for each of the user accounts on the machine, and they are all empty, including the main admin account. I've run ccleaner and Windows Disk Cleanup.

Any idea what these files are, and how I might delete them if it safe to do this?
 
Them 2 files are only going to save you 500mb so thats not enough, you want at least 1GB free on the C drive.
Options
1) Back your data - reload windows but create a larger c drive this time
2) uninstall programs from c and reinstall onto d drive
3) use a program called partition magic to move space from d into c
 
Thanks for the suggestions Jimmy. I actually have 19 GB free out of 109 GB after some severe housekeeping, so it is not quite a basket case.

But these msp files are driving me crazy. JDiskReport flagged up the two files to me. But I can't find them or that particular folder in Explorer, or in a DOS cmd shell, or in xplorer2 (a 3rd party replacement for Explorer). I can find a series of other folders with almost identical names, just the last digit changes, but I can't open these folders unless I edit the properties to change permissions. And when I do open them, there are no msp files in there.

From what I've read, these msp files are used during Windows update installations, and sometimes get left over. I don't have my Windows Vista installation disk (came pre-installed), so reinstalling isn't really an option. I'm starting to think my best bet is to upgrade to Windows 7, if I can get a copy from some of my old friends in MSFT.
 
I run a similar setup on Windows 7, where I have a 60 gig drive for the OS and a large drive for files. Obviously the 60 gig drive needs to be lean.

Here's a few tips
Delete any users that are not in use - they're wasting space
Have a look trough your programs and see if any of them have sample files. They can be a bugger for stealing file space. Delete any that you can.
Delete all files in the PUBLIC folder.
If you can, replace Adobe products with something with a lighter footprint (e.g. Foxit reader for Adobe Reader)
Have a good look at your apps. XP has a tiny footprint on a fresh install, so there are loads of applications in there. Do you really need them all? Can some be uninstalled, but the zip file kept in case you need it.
Pick through your downloads folder. Move what you can (e.g zip files) off to the other drive. Remember that when you extract a zip file you get a folder AND the zip file on the drive.
Check where your apps are saving files, you could be surprised.

Edit: A couple of further ones
Do you use iTunes? It could be duplicating your media files into its library.
This might be useful to show which folders are taking up space (never tried it myself though)
 
j26 said:
I run a similar setup on Windows 7, where I have a 60 gig drive for the OS and a large drive for files. Obviously the 60 gig drive needs to be lean.

Here's a few tips
Delete any users that are not in use - they're wasting space
Have a look trough your programs and see if any of them have sample files. They can be a bugger for stealing file space. Delete any that you can.
Delete all files in the PUBLIC folder.
If you can, replace Adobe products with something with a lighter footprint (e.g. Foxit reader for Adobe Reader)
Have a good look at your apps. XP has a tiny footprint on a fresh install, so there are loads of applications in there. Do you really need them all? Can some be uninstalled, but the zip file kept in case you need it.
Pick through your downloads folder. Move what you can (e.g zip files) off to the other drive. Remember that when you extract a zip file you get a folder AND the zip file on the drive.
Check where your apps are saving files, you could be surprised.

Edit: A couple of further ones
Do you use iTunes? It could be duplicating your media files into its library.
might be useful to show which folders are taking up space (never tried it myself though)
Click to expand...

All good advice. Also worth extending the C drive using partitioning software as mentioned by another poster, although this is only a quick fix and you'll run into the same space issues down the road

You might want to consider moving your TEMP and USER locations to D by changing your OS environment variables. Worth doing if you you see a lot of space been taken up by C:\USERS etc. Can be some complications with this though if you're not careful, so only change these variables if you know what your doing

good tool for figuring out whats taking up space and where - gives a pie chart of space consumed per folder:

DiskSpaceFan.com (cant post URLS with less than 15 posts, sorry!)

If you dont use Windows "Hibernation" feature switch it off - it'll save you disk space equivalent to the amount of RAM in your system as windows dumps the RAM content to this file when in hibernation. e.g. 4 GB ram = 4GB hibernation file on C

Also, dont delete your MSP files - you'll need them for service pack upgrades etc
 
Complainer said:
I've used jdiskreport and ccleaner, but I'm still left with some strange files on my Windows Vista Business laptop taking up lots of space - such as the following;

C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-449572327-334371909-1151025863-1000\$R82KUU4.msp 327.2 MB
C:\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-449572327-334371909-1151025863-1000\$R7JDX89.msp 219.2 MB

I can't find these files in Explorer, even with the view set to show hidden files. In fact, I can't see any directory of this name in Explorer. If I cut/paste the folder name into explorer, it converts to ; c:> $Recycle Bin > Recycle Bin with the folder empty.

I've checked the recycle bin for each of the user accounts on the machine, and they are all empty, including the main admin account. I've run ccleaner and Windows Disk Cleanup.

Any idea what these files are, and how I might delete them if it safe to do this?
Click to expand...

Complainer said:
Thanks for the suggestions Jimmy. I actually have 19 GB free out of 109 GB after some severe housekeeping, so it is not quite a basket case.

But these msp files are driving me crazy. JDiskReport flagged up the two files to me. But I can't find them or that particular folder in Explorer, or in a DOS cmd shell, or in xplorer2 (a 3rd party replacement for Explorer). I can find a series of other folders with almost identical names, just the last digit changes, but I can't open these folders unless I edit the properties to change permissions. And when I do open them, there are no msp files in there.
Click to expand...

Any further suggestions for finding and eliminating these msp files that are hogging a few gigabytes of my hard driver would be most welcome.
 
Complainer said:
Any further suggestions for finding and eliminating these msp files that are hogging a few gigabytes of my hard driver would be most welcome.
Click to expand...

Cash-Money said:
Also, dont delete your MSP files - you'll need them for service pack upgrades etc
Click to expand...

Maybe your difficulty in locating them is related to Cash-Moneys post ? That they're hard to locate cos you should not delete them ?
 
A defrag could free up quite a lot of space, along with a disc clean up, I got an extra 9 gig on Mr ACA's laptop.
 
j26 said:
Delete all files in the PUBLIC folder.
If you can, replace Adobe products with something with a lighter footprint (e.g. Foxit reader for Adobe Reader)...
Click to expand...

Just downloaded ccleaner and it allows me to disable Adobe from start-up. There are two programs Adobe Arm and Reader Speed Launcher. should I disable both of these?
 
Last edited:
ACA said:
A defrag could free up quite a lot of space, along with a disc clean up, I got an extra 9 gig on Mr ACA's laptop.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions. But a defrag doesn't free up space. It moves around the free space to get it all together, but doesn't free up any new space.

TarfHead said:
Maybe your difficulty in locating them is related to Cash-Moneys post ? That they're hard to locate cos you should not delete them ?
Click to expand...

Maybe, but why would they be showing as in a Recycle Bin?
 
Saw this on another site, haven't tried it myself, but may help with your problem ?

[broken link removed]

"Boot to standalone DOS and type:
deltree c:\recycled
Answer 'yes' to the subsequent prompt
That will delete the recycle bin. It will be recreated on the next boot."
 
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