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Author Topic: XP hard disk-how to gain more free space?  (Read 3619 times)

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solap9

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    XP hard disk-how to gain more free space?
    « on: July 26, 2014, 03:15:21 AM »
    Is it safe to use an option "compress drive to save more disk space"? And does it really take very long time (20 hours)? Thanks

    Allan

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    Re: XP hard disk-how to gain more free space?
    « Reply #1 on: July 26, 2014, 04:21:41 AM »
    Safe? Yes - but there are some programs that don't like running on a compressed drive. Instead, I suggest you use disc cleanup (be sure to click on "more options" and delete all but the most recent restore point - that will gain a great deal of space. If you have more than one drive / partition you can move "My Document" to another location. Some other things you can do:

    • Reduce the space allotted to system restore - or stop using it completely and start using disc imaging software (my recommendation)
    • reduce the space allotted to temporary internet files & folders
    • Delete all files in your temp folder(s)
    • And again, run disc cleanup

    DaveLembke



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    Re: XP hard disk-how to gain more free space?
    « Reply #2 on: July 26, 2014, 07:54:45 AM »
    The system will take a slight performance hit if running with a compressed drive since it has to decompress information before it can use it.

    If you have run out of space, I agree with Allan with using an alternate drive if connected for my documents etc. However with drives so cheap these days for massive amounts of storage, i'd suggest if you cant remove or move data off the primary drive to buy a larger drive and install that in place of the other drive.

    * If replacing the HDD be sure you have a way to copy the OS and Data over to the new drive. Most hard drive manufacturers offer software utilities free that can assist with this, however while this may be easy to achieve for a desktop computer where you can connect 2 drives at the same time, most laptops can only handle 1 internal hard drive at a time and so backing up data to an external and then installing clean to a larger drive is best.

    For the fact that you mention XP ..... you either have IDE or SATA. If its SATA you can buy a modern drive, however if its IDE then you have limitations to maximum capacity and might have to buy a used drive that is larger. Also depending on the age of the computer the HDD controller might only support a maximum of 137GB in which no matter how large of a drive you install you can only address this limited capacity of it.

    What is the make/model of computer or if custom build the motherboard make/model?

    firefox



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      Re: XP hard disk-how to gain more free space?
      « Reply #3 on: July 26, 2014, 01:40:14 PM »
      I would adivice never to use disk compression. It just makes many files not work.
      try getting new external hard disc. Or use disc clean up to deleter previous version installation files.
      I was using xp for 10 years and lost much data using disk compression. lot of games didnt work after compression.And the pc would slow down.

      Hope this is helpful.

      solap9

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        Re: XP hard disk-how to gain more free space?
        « Reply #4 on: July 27, 2014, 04:51:27 AM »


        What is the make/model of computer or if custom build the motherboard make/model?

        MSI CR630

        DaveLembke



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        Re: XP hard disk-how to gain more free space?
        « Reply #5 on: July 27, 2014, 09:08:42 AM »
        Thanks for sharing that info... looked up your laptop here: http://www.msi.com/product/nb/CR630.html#hero-specification

        Was trying to find a picture of the bottom of this model to see if there was an access panel to remove to get to the hard drive to upgrade easily, but from top and side view construction of this laptop it looks like it may be one of the more difficult ones to upgrade the hard drive in.

        Looks like you have probably the 320GB HDD.... so the question now is, do you really need all that data on that 320GB SATA HDD to be on it all the time or can you unload some data that you dont need all the time to an external hard drive.

        I have a laptop with a similar CPU that is a Toshiba that also came with a 320GB HDD and the biggest waste of space on mine has been loading up many large install games such as Aion, World of Warcraft, SWTOR, Tera Rising, Diablo III, Starcraft II, and many others. To free up space on my laptap when I got down to just 60GB free of the 320GB HDD, I moved almost 40 GB of videos and pictures to an external HDD that my camera kept downloading to it every time I joined the camera and laptop together with USB cable. I also removed games that I no longer played or ones that I rarely ever play. Games that I rarely play, I copied to my external HDD so that if I wanted to play them later at some point i wasnt having to redownload 25GB etc.

        patio

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        Re: XP hard disk-how to gain more free space?
        « Reply #6 on: July 27, 2014, 09:36:19 AM »
        Moving data to an external is a much better option than disk compression...
        I agree with David.
        " Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "