Computer help needed

[C2 RIBS]

I have a laptop that is showing an almost full local disc D . It is an Acer that shows only 144 MB free of 33.2 GB on disc D . What do I do to clear this level. Ta

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[Polwart]

there are various options - but it depends a bit on what is causing the clutter.

e.g. if it is internet temporary files and downloads then these can be removed (windows has a tool somewhere for "disk cleanup" which will give you this option - how you find the tool will depend which version of windows you have).

If you have a lot of home shot video on there (or copies of DVD's / bittorrent video download) these will take up a lot of space and you might want to write them to DVD (check it has worked before deleting original) or a separate USB drive.

[C2 RIBS]

Ok disc clean up easy and done. I only use laptop for browsing and e mails so not much stored. Gone to computer access and still shows local disc in red almost full. No idea why

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[BogMonster]

Why does it have drive D is that just used for file storage? Operating system and programs are usually on a C drive, does yours have both or is D the only drive?

You should be able to see in Explorer what is on the drive (may need to enable viewing of hidden files and folders).

I have a similar problem but mine is just full - 40GB drive on a 6 year old laptop, just not enough space for everything even after clearing out absolutely everything surplus I can only get 4GB free space, so time for a new drive or more likely a new laptop

[C2 RIBS]

Cheers yes drive c and d and you can see self taught on most so needs to be straight forward. Thought after four years maybe a new laptop ahhhhh

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[Polwart]

C2, its difficult to diagnose the cause remotely, but if you are not downloading big files and assuming your mailbox is not absurdly huge, then my suspicion would be Windows "Restore Points" or whatever it is they call them. Basically everytime you install something Windows takes a snapshot of the system so you can wind back the clock so you can wind back the clock when it all goes wrong. These can all add up (although there is a setting where you can say "don't use more than X% of the disk for this).

I've also known someone have a problem with a Recycle Bin / Deleted Items Folder which wouldn't empty; and I've also seen people who run backups and store them locally (probably pointless) - which can quickly add up depending on how you set up any backup software you use.

[martini]

I found myself in a similar situation a while back. Also an Acer, it kept giving me warnings about disk space nearly full. Cleaned up the drive etc - helped a bit, removed photos, videos etc, unwanted programs - helped a bit more but still, there was almost nothing left on this thing and still no room

Eventually I thought to look at how much capacity there was to begin with, it was like 10gb or something ridiculous, less than my bloody mobile phone

I think you've just found the perfect excuse to go shopping

ps buy a mac, you won't look back

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by C2 RIBS

Cheers yes drive c and d and you can see self taught on most so needs to be straight forward. Thought after four years maybe a new laptop ahhhhh

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OK, it will almost certainly be two partitions on a single drive as few if any laptops have space for two separate internal drives. If Windows etc is on the C drive (as it normally would be) you should be able to open Windows Explorer and see what is on the D drive, you may need to go into the options and select "Show hidden and system files" you will see a message telling you the end of the world will be nigh if you do, so ignore that and you might be able to see where the space is going but as above, backups are a possible/probable culprit as the main reason a lot of computers partition a single hard drive into two "logical" drives (your C and D) is to use one half as backup space, so if something has filled it up, it's likely to be a dozen different sets of backups or something, and you can usually safely delete everything except the last one.

You could get the HD upgraded for a bigger one and copy everything across - I might do that on mine but more likely I will use it as an excuse to buy a better laptop and just keep the old one for the Etec diagnostic software

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by martini

ps buy a mac, you won't look back

2nd

[Starovich]

I'm in Southampton, let me know i you get stuck i could pop wound and take a look see what i can do.