Used space on hard drive

[brian2957]

Hi Guys , looking for some advice again . I re-installed windows XP into my laptop the other day because of problems . I began re-installing my music files after this and the total size of 'my music ' file is 28GB . However when I check the usage in the hard drive it shows up as 74GB of disc space used and I cannot find where the other 46GB of usage is . Can anyone provide me with information on where to find this and how to remove unwanted / unnused files .
Please excuse my ignorance . I was going to take the laptop to a computer shop but thought I would ask here first.
Thanks'
Brian.

[Reid Malenfant]

You using XP? Not sure if other windoze systems employ it but look for "Dr Watson" & delete the bugger :D

[brian2957]

Aye using XP Mark . Can you please tell me what this is and where I might look for it .
Thanks
Brian.

[Welder]

Briefly, find computer management, through control panel>system and go to disc management.
You should be able to see how your drive is partitioned there.
If it shows Windows and some Unallocated Space or another drive then you'll need to erase the contents of the “other” partition and extend your new Windows partition to make use of the bit you've just cleaned.
It sounds like you didn't re-format your drive before you re-installed windows.:eyebrows:

AND DON'T KEEP YOUR MUSIC ON THE SAME DRIVE AS YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM! ;)

It's just asking to lose all your music files. Buy an external drive, two in fact, one for backup and just keep the bare bones operating system on the computer.
Then go to my thread on moving from Windows to Linux and follow the instruction for partition management.

Just remember, if you stuff up with the partitioner you can just reinstall windows and format the complete drive.

[brian2957]

Briefly, find computer management, through control panel>system and go to disc management.
You should be able to see how your drive is partitioned there.
If it shows Windows and some Unallocated Space or another drive then you'll need to erase the contents of the “other” partition and extend your new Windows partition to make use of the bit you've just cleaned.
It sounds like you didn't re-format your drive before you re-installed windows.:eyebrows:

AND DON'T KEEP YOUR MUSIC ON THE SAME DRIVE AS YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM! ;)

It's just asking to lose all your music files. Buy an external drive, two in fact, one for backup and just keep the bare bones operating system on the computer.
Then go to my thread on moving from Windows to Linux and follow the instruction for partition management.

Just remember, if you stuff up with the partitioner you can just reinstall windows and format the complete drive.
The computer numpty in me is really taking over now John . I can get as far as control panel-system but don't know how to get into disc management .
I sometimes wonder where I would be if I had listened at school John.:D

[Welder]

Probably easier to start from scratch Brian and re-install Windows.
BUT, this time when you get the option to format the drive before installation do that; format and then install.

[brian2957]

Thanks John I will give that a go in the morning :doh:
Brian.

[Reid Malenfant]

You using XP? Not sure if other windoze systems employ it but look for "Dr Watson" & delete the bugger :D


Probably easier to start from scratch Brian and re-install Windows.
BUT, this time when you get the option to format the drive before installation do that; format and then install.
It might be the easiest option as John says :) I have a non standard Windoze defragmentation program (much better than the standard one) & can look for all sorts of things :) Dr Watson appears to be a standard Windoze program that once it detects an error such as no internet writes a sh*t load of stuff onto your HDD. I have enabled my PC to disconnect the internet & a few times once I rebooted when I accidentally forgot to enable the connection the Dr Watson program has written over 1Gb of data to the HDD :eek: It's all bo**ox to...

[howlindawg]

When you've completed your Windows install, installed the drivers and loaded your software and data grab yourself a copy of CCleaner (it's free).

Use it occasionally and it'll blow away the unwanted files that accumulate as well as un-needed files left over after instalations and deletions.

[Alex_UK]

Thanks John I will give that a go in the morning :doh:
Brian.

But not before making sure you have backup copies of everything you will want to keep - on another drive or burned to discs, of course... Not wishing to "state the bleedin' obvious" but reformatting is going to wipe everything you had on that computer back to a bare-bones Windows install - you are probably going to have to reinstall drivers for your wireless connection, for instance - so not something to undertake lightly, especially if this is your main or only computer, and you are not confident. Sorry - not meaning to be negative but just want to make sure you are aware of where you are headed with a fresh install. :)

[brian2957]

Thanks Alex . This laptop is only to be used for music playback . The only things I need on it are media player and 'my music ' files .
My music files are backed up on to an external hard drive and the library isn't particularly big anyhow . Thanks for the information .
Brian.

[Butuz]

Download a program called Treesize Free. If you point it to your C drive it will spend 5 mins sifting through your hard drive and then give you a nice graph of what is using up all your space. Very handy bit of software.

Butuz

[brian2957]

Thanks chaps , loads of options to look at . Ta.
Brian

[Welder]

My appologies Brian. I did what I'm forever whinging about others myself; wrote a complete load of bollocks mainly by not making sure what i typed by way of advice actually works.:sorry:

It was late and I had had a hard day. :eyebrows:

To get to Disc Managent in Windows XP you go to..
Control Panel>Admisnistrative Tools>Computer Management>Disc Management.

So, it's hardly surprising you couldn't find it.

[jostber]

A program like System Mechanic is very fine for cleaning up stuff on Windows PC's. Used this before hopping over to Linux full-time. :)

http://www.iolo.com/system-mechanic/standard/

[spendorman]

Could it be that the HD was partitioned and Windows etc is saved on this partition and the recovery disc is just used to install that software. This would use up some of the HD space.

Perhaps I'm talking rubbish.

[brian2957]

My appologies Brian. I did what I'm forever whinging about others myself; wrote a complete load of bollocks mainly by not making sure what i typed by way of advice actually works.:sorry:

It was late and I had had a hard day. :eyebrows:

To get to Disc Managent in Windows XP you go to..
Control Panel>Admisnistrative Tools>Computer Management>Disc Management.

So, it's hardly surprising you couldn't find it.

LOL. We all make mistakes mate . Even me and I'm nearly perfect ;) .Except with computers of course. I tried to reformat and it wasn't happening . Don't know if the XP disc or Cd drive are faulty . The result was that I reinstalled XP , reinstalled my music files and now I have 3 x my music files in the hard drive :steam: . I went into disc management and can only see the 'c drive '. There are some headings with one line below as follows ;

volume /layout/ type / file system/ status /capacity / free space/% free
c partition basic ntfs healthy 149gb 52.3gb 35%

fault tolerance / overhead
no 0%

As you have probably gathered by now I don't have a scooby what any of this means . I think I may visit my friendly computer shop tomorrow.
Thanks
Brian.

[Vincent Kars]

Somewhere in Explorer there is an option "Show Hidden Files"

[brian2957]

Thanks Vincent , I'll see if I can find it .
Brian.

[alfie2902]

Hi Brian.

Run this little freeware program http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/ it will show you what's on your hard drives. I've run it on a few PC's & on my Dad's old desktop it found 17Gb's of restore points!

[dave2010]

As you have probably gathered by now I don't have a scooby what any of this means . I think I may visit my friendly computer shop tomorrow.
Brian

I'm not sure what kind of relationship you have with your friendly computer shop, but if they're the kind of friends that'll take £100 off you without blinking I'd think again. If you are going along to buy another (say) external disc drive to put your music on, then that's OK, though you might do better to buy on-line - or look around at supermarkets - I got several 750 Gbyte drives not long ago from Tesco for under £50 each.

If they're really friendly they might give you advice for not a lot, but I'd think hard before asking them to do something which you could easily do for yourself and much cheaper.

It seems to me that you want to make sure you get your music safe first - so if you haven't got a backup drive, then now might be time to buy one or two.
You also need to backup any of your major files and programs on your hard drive.

Once you've done that, you can probably reformat your hard drive and start over again, in the worst case, but more likely you won't have to do that unless you really want to.
If you go to some shops they'll charge you £50 for giving you this advice, another £50 for doing it, and another £100 or so for one hard drive.

Maybe I'm exaggerating, but don't throw your money away. I have seen my friends do this.

However, there are some times when you really have no choice, but best not to get into that state. Sometimes it's actually cheaper to buy a new machine than to have a shop deal with an old one.
I'm sure that other board members will tell you when you really do need to go to the shop, but I don't think you're at that stage yet.

Good luck.

[bobbasrah]

+1000

[brian2957]

Hi Brian.

Run this little freeware program http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/ it will show you what's on your hard drives. I've run it on a few PC's & on my Dad's old desktop it found 17Gb's of restore points!

Thank you mate :D This cracking little programme worked . I was able to see everything that was on my hard drive and delete 78GB that I wasn't able to before . Saved me a journey and a possible large bill for fixing this. Fantastic:)
Brian.

[brian2957]

Thanks Dave , I'm just a bit of a panic merchant:mental: . Managed to get it fixed again using advice and a programme from a forum member . That's twice in the space of a week the members of this fantastic forum have pointed me in the right direction.
I really need to have more patience and faith in the chaps here .
Many thanks again to all who have spent their valuable time on me. I can assure you that it is very much appreciated .
Best Regards
Brian.

[jostber]

Thank you mate :D This cracking little programme worked . I was able to see everything that was on my hard drive and delete 78GB that I wasn't able to before . Saved me a journey and a possible large bill for fixing this. Fantastic:)
Brian.

Try the demo of the System Mechanic program also. There is a free version with limited features here. Will keep your system smiling and is needed on Windows.

[Reid Malenfant]

Hi Brian.

Run this little freeware program http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/ it will show you what's on your hard drives. I've run it on a few PC's & on my Dad's old desktop it found 17Gb's of restore points!
Alfie, I really want to thank you for that post & link - Thank You!

Installed the thing as I was sure that Spotify still had hidden files on my system. I could find files bigger than 1Mb each with my defrager, but I was convinced that there must also be smaller ones...

How right I was, all 132Mb worth :eek:

Now gone thanks to that post :youtheman:

[brian2957]

This is an excellent programme Mark I have saved it on a pen drive for future use . Glad it helped someone else .
Brian.