Can you advise what steps I can take to free up more space on my 40GB hard drive?

I know its not a large HD but I recently added an extra drive to deposit my files on to help with storage but keep recieving low disk space messages and when I try to defrag and Im back to 2/3% free space left.

Using the WINDIRSTAT utility to show HARD DRIVE useage indicates that over half of my hard drive is being taken by my windows operating system? Is it possible that a bloated operating system is taking up all this space or am I interperating the results incorrectly ? If so are there any steps I can take to reduce this?

Have tried defragging, shutting down system restore to remove backups/restore points to create space,and using the windows clean up utility to clean and compress this drive without seeing too much success.

Can you advise/help of what other measures I might try
Many thanks

Kind Regards

Mick Pope

You should not disable System Restore. It is a valuable resource and by design, it will always yield disk space when free space is needed.

Using Windows own Disk Cleanup is an excellent method to clean the drive of clutter and note there is an option to delete all but the most resent System Restore point - but that option should be used only when the computer is working fine.

I would go through Control Panel Add and Remove Programs and uninstall any program you installed that you don't use. If unsure, leave it.

Have you moved you page file to the second drive? You can also move Windows default temporary file locations to the second drive too, as well as the default location for My Documents and your email too. You need to exercise Google on how to move these locations. This should keep C drive from filling up again.

If you have applications installed on C drive like your security programs or MS Office, I recommend you uninstall, then install them again on the 2nd drive. Most programs, if the programmer is not a lazy bum, will allow you to chose a different location if you select the Custom install option. You should ALWAYS use this option anyway in order to opt out of any extras they try to shove onto our systems.

Many thanks for that Digerati

Your HELP and ADVISE is very much appreciated particularly on what else associated with my operating system can be moved over to my alternative drive.

I had already restored my system restore to operating condition, only switching it off to see if that was my problem after reading other comments on the internet. I certainly didnt realise it had an inbuilt system to accomadate this issue

Many thanks again for our HELP and ADVISE which I shall pursue shortly

Kind Regards

Mick

No problem. Keep us posted and let us know if you get stuck again. Note there are lots of things that can be moved off the boot drive. It is typically best to do this when the computer is brand new, either during or immediately after, just because it is so much easier then trying to change it all later. I only keep Windows and hardware drivers on my boot drive. EVERYTHING else goes on D.

That said, there are some programs that insist on using C drive. MSE and Belarc Advisor are two - but both are excellent programs so I let them slide.

Give Treesize Free a try. It will tell you exactly where your drive space is being used.

Note that a defrag does not free up space. It just moves the data around on the hard drive to fill in gaps and try to make the data more easily accessible to the OS. It's more of a performance task. Moving your docs to a different drive as well as the moving the page file is a good idea. Also you might want to turn off hibernation unless you actually use it because that will take up disk space. I would not disable system restore but every so often you can tell windows to delete all but the most recent restore point. So that windows performs correctly you need to keep at least 15% of your boot drive free at all times.

Give Directory Report a try: http://www.file-utilities.com
It is faster than WinDirStat
It can find files left over from uninstalling programs - you would be surprised what you find

Directory Report seems like a good program, but sadly it is not free for home and non-commercial use. And I think that is a shame because $25 US Dollars, €19 Euros, £17 British Pounds is ridiculous for what it does, and how often home users need what it does - especially when there are many capable free alternatives.

Directory Report is faster than WinDirStat
Sometimes you have to pay for software
Not everything in life is free

Faster? So what? I hope you don't have a financial interest in it. Because wow! No comparison!

For the record, I just downloaded and installed both programs and tried them both. WinDirStat is vastly superior to Directory Report.

• WinDirStat allows you to select where you want it installed instead of forcing itself on users system drives, as Directory Report does. That indicates one of two things - programmer laziness, or programmer arrogance assuming users will love to have yet another obscurely named folder and group of files buried somewhere under C:\Programs files(x86).
  
• WinDirStat prompts the user, allowing us to opt out of shortcuts being foisted on our desktops and start menus. Directory Report does not.
  
• Directly Report nags users through not one, but two reminders to select click Free Trial each time you start it. There are no nag screens with WinDirStat.
  
• Upon start, WinDirStat prompts user to select scan options - All drives, Individual Drives, or a specific folder. To scan the whole drive, at most, you click All Local Drives and Ok to start scan.
  
• Directory Report leaves you staring at a blank page when it starts. Selecting the Binoculars again leaves you with blank selections. Users have to individually select drives and build a scan profile to scan the whole computer. It takes several steps just to initiate a scan - in which time WinDirStat is already done!
  
• With 1Tb in two partitions and an 64Gb SSD, Directory Report took 20 seconds. WinDirStat took 23 seconds. Considering WinDirStat presents a beautiful, easy to understand and navigate graphical display, as well as plain text information, 3 seconds is well worth the wait!
  
• Directory Report does have more features, but I question why a home user would need it - paid or free, unless analyzing drives is something they enjoy doing, or have a commercial need for it. It is clunky, the install process is awful, and archaic in how it displays the result. And it's not free.

TreeSize was the fastest, BTW, and allows you to select where to install it, what shortcuts to install and it is extremely intuitive. My only complaint is it does not have an All Drive option - but that is minor.

Sometimes you have to pay for software

And when you have to, you have to and you better do it. I don't have a problem paying for software - if it is worth the money! As for dissecting drives, Directory Report does not measure up and has been removed from my drive. Sorry. If it meets your needs, that's great.

Not everything in life is free

True - but a lot of equally good stuff is. So if you don't have to pay, don't. It's a waste of money.