Help Vista is too big.

[Kit]

I have a new laptop and it came with Vista and the harddrive is a lot bigger than my old laptop. However I have moved over most, not all, of my stuff to the new computer and am running out of room. I am at the stage of deleting my email trash several times a day and deleting my recycle bin daily when I would have done these things very infrequently before.

A friend of mine said she had the same thing and went back to XP but I don't have any discs for it, it was pre loaded on the previous laptop.

Is there anyway this problem can be fixed? I am not using 10% of the hard drive.

[Orangeblossom]

How big is the hard drive?

[Kit]

It's 105GB, my old computer was no where near that.

[Christine in Portugal]

I don't understand when you say you aren't using 10% of the hard drive, yet you're running out of space.

Christine

[Kit]

Christine my documents and photos don't take up much room. I had a smaller hard drive previously and it wasn't near full. My friend said that Vista likes to have lots of space and so it either uses the space or makes it unavailable so it looks like I am running out of space.

[Cloggie]

Here are the system requirements for the different versions of Vista: Get Windows Vista: System requirements

As you can see, the Home Premium, Business and Ultimate editions require a 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB free space. So if you have a 105 GB hard drive and are only using 10% of that, I can't see how you could be running out of space.

What error/warning message are you getting?

[Guy]

Many new computers have partitioned drives, a small partition is sometimes used for a back-up of the operating system.
I wonder if you are saving to this "reserved" partition rather than to the main partition.
Cheers
Guy

[Cloggie]

I was thinking of that too, Guy. My computer has 2 hard drives with 2 partitions each, so 4 partitions in all: one reserved only for programs, another for photos and family tree stuff, another for work, and another for back-ups. The smallest one with the programs does tend to "fill up" from time to time as that's where temporary internet files, etc., are stored.

If this seems to be the case with yours, Kat, it is very easy to free up space using Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Free up disk space (under Administrative Tools). Also check where you are saving files, photos, etc., and change the location (partition) if necessary.

[Kit]

I can't remember the exact wording of the warning but it basically says I'm running out of space on the hard drive. It gives an option to click here to delete unused files etc but it just runs a disc cleanup. I'll investigate the partition thing, once I work out how to find them. lol

[Cloggie]

If your hard drive is partitioned, the different partitions should show up as different drives (such as C: and D: ) when you click on the Start button > Computer.

You should also be able to see how much free space is available on the drive (or each partition). For example, the C: partition on my computer is called Programs, and underneath it shows that I have "15.6 GB free of 49.9 GB".

EDIT: I should have said that the amount of disk space is shown underneath the drive in "Tiles" view. In "Details" view the disk space is shown next to the drive, and in the other views you can see the disk space by hovering your mouse pointer over the drive (or just change the view to "Tiles" or "Details").

[Kit]

Thanks Sarah, I've found the culprit - my OH :(. He had been using the laptop but assured me he had deleted everything. Everything but the 80GB he had saved off his external hard drive.

Thanks to everyone for trying to help me sort this out. I feel a bit embarrassed now. :o

[Cloggie]

Don't feel embarrassed! I'm just glad you got it sorted!

[Kit]

Thanks Sarah.

Maybe I could now start a thread - how do I fix my hubby? ;)

[Christine in Portugal]

Pleased you have it sorted.

If you find out how to fix your hubby, let me know as I need to fix mine too. lol

Christine

[Kit]

lol will do Christine. I suspect I'll be a very rich woman if I find out. lol

[Canadian Cousin]

Maybe I could now start a thread - how do I fix my hubby? ;)

I don't know if you use the same expression in the U.K. (or in Portugal, Cloggieland, etc...), but in Canada we take our pets to the veterinarian's to get "fixed" (i.e., neutered).

Speaking as a husband, I hope this isn't what you have in mind! :D:D:D

Tim

[Kit]

I don't know if you use the same expression in the U.K. (or in Portugal, Cloggieland, etc...), but in Canada we take our pets to the veterinarian's to get "fixed" (i.e., neutered).

Speaking as a husband, I hope this isn't what you have in mind! :D:D:D

Tim

lol Tim. It wasn't what I had in mind but something I will be considering .....


* mutters now where did I put those sizzors? *