Hi,

We're quite (very) limited in our computer knowledge. We have a HP pavilion 504n with a xp operating system. We've been getting a 'low disk space' on C drive message for a long time. We decided to add memory to solve our problem but it hasn't seemed to help. Our computer is very slow. Our C drive shows it has a 32 GB capacity and only 16.1 mb of free space. Our newly added G drive shows we have a capacity of 233 GB and 210 GB remaining.

Why does it still give us this message. How can we free up space on C. I added up all the programs we have on the computer and they only added up to under 800 mb or space. (i got this from the add/remove programs page) What is using up the rest of the memory and how can we get it back?

any help would be great thanks

archie

HP Pavilion 504n Desktop PC (US)

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...&lang=en&cc=us

C drive shows it has a 32 GB capacity and only 16.1 mb of free space

That is nearly 99% full. XP uses Page File in order to assist physical memory or RAM.

The Page File uses hard drive space. This is most likely the source of your error messages.

You can move your data files over to the other drive. Pictures; videos; music; etc.

You could also move the Page File over but it is not the best thing to do.

If you really have no idea that you are holding over 20GB in data then there might be a problem with the drive itself.

Do you ever Defrag it? Do you ever run cleaners to clear temporary files?

HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Increasing System Resources and Performance Without Adding Memory in Windows 95, 98, Me, and XP

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...296556&lang=en

I think there are a couple misunderstandings here. First, disk space is a type of memory used for long term (permanent) storage of data, but you cannot add to it by buying more memory- you can only add another drive, or swap in a bigger drive. RAM (random access memory) is used by the operating system and CPU for temporary data storage. It is "volatile" memory, meaning you cut the power, your data is gone. Windows loves RAM - XP prefers at least 1Gb for optimal performance. If it needs more, it spools data out to a dedicated file on the hard disk called the Page File (also known as Virtual Memory, swap disk, swap file, disk cache, and others).

If the disk is getting full, the page file is not able to expand as needed. This forces the CPU and OS to continually swap in and out data - which greatly impacts performance, especially if running with less than 1Gb of RAM.

So you definitely need to clean up your hard disk to free up some space. Jephree mentioned using a clean up utility, I completely agree. I recommend you check out the section titled Delete Temporary Files in my canned text, Cleaning Out Malware.

One way to free up a lot of space off C is to put your "My Documents" folder on a different drive. Simply right click My Documents > Properties > Move, then navigate to your second drive, create a new folder (you can call it anything your want), then follow the prompts to complete the change. Note this does not move your documents, it just changes all the registry settings in Windows to point to the new location for all future saves. To free up the space, you need to Copy and Paste all your documents to the new location. I say "Copy" and Paste because you need to make sure all your documents made it. Once verified you can delete the old off C, then space will be freed up.

I am of a different opinion about moving the Page File to a second drive. I think that is an excellent idea and I recommend it. Not only will it free up some disk space, but it should give a little performance boost too as it frees up some of the duties of your boot drive. Ideally, you want set up the page file on an empty drive so that it will be the first thing on the drive, but no big deal if you can't do that. To move your Page File, follow these procedures:

Defrag the new drive
Right click on My Computer > Properties
Click on the Advanced Tab, then under the Performance section, click on Settings
Click on the Advanced Tab, then under Virtual Memory, click on the Change button.

Click on the C drive to highlight it, and click on No Paging file, then click on Set.

IMPORTANT: If you don't click the "Set" button, it won't set!

Now click on the drive where you want the Page File and here you have a choice. Either select System Managed Size or Custom size. XP actually does pretty well if you let it manage the Page File, as long as it is a large drive with lots of free space. I'm old school so I prefer to manage it myself. In some cases, the variable size Page File in Windows managed systems has contributed to fragmentation problems, especially on a crowded disk. So I use a "fixed" size page file by setting the initial and maximum size to the same value.

I start by setting mine using the old tried-and-true formula of 1.5 times the RAM amount for both Initial and Maximum size. For example, if you have 1Gb of RAM, that's really 1024Mb. 1024 X 1.5 = 1534Mb. Enter your choice then hit Set, and OK, OK, OK.

Then reboot.

Note above I said, I start by using the 1.5 X RAM formula. If you have lots of RAM, say more than 1Gb, then the OS/CPU will have lots of room to work with, and will not need to hit the slow hard drive's page file very often. This means you may be able to reduce the size to 1Gb, or even 512Mb. Windows expects to find a Page File so you cannot eliminate it. And exceeding the 1.5 to 1 ratio is only necessary with very small amounts of RAM; 256Mb or less.

Another good way to free up disk space on C is to uninstall unused programs. To free up more space, uninstall your other application and reinstall them on the second drive. You will have to select the "Custom" install option, but then you should be prompted for a new install location. Unfortunately, you cannot simple cut and paste those programs because Windows will not know where to find them - that information is set in the registry during the install process.