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Clogged XP Drive

jefboyardee

jefboyardee

Extreme Android User
Rounded numbers:

C:\ 200GB used, 30GB free

Documents and Settings 10GB

Program Files 10GB

Windows 10GB

Other 1GB

So if I
 
Is deleting and reinstalling the XP an option for you? Ive done it twice for myself and recovered a lot of space and my decade old desktop is pretty good.
 
Nothing wrong with Disk Cleanup and Disk Defrag, but you shouldn't need to compress it.

You'll probably find a load of space is taken up by crash dump files, the swap file, recovery files, and other misc stuff, all should be listed in Disk Cleanup.
 
Is deleting and reinstalling the XP an option for you?
Click to expand...

I think not. I can use System Recovery on bootup, or somehow boot the recovery OS that sits on the D: partition, or try a ten-CD collection I got on the web years ago. But any of those, I suppose, will send me back to 2005 or earlier. That’s what happens when you in inherit a PC from a 90-year old.

...I suppose I could find something on eBay, but that seems silly at this point.
 
Try viewing hidden files, open computer, press alt to get the top menu bar up, goto view > options (or folder options) then hit the view tab, in the list window is radial select for "show hidden files and folders"

See what you find in explorer, the hidden folders will be 'greyed out' or 'dimmer'.

The other option is check out your restore settings, see if you can delete redundant restore points and data that you no longer need.
 
Try viewing hidden files
Click to expand...

I just use a button on Total Commander to see everything when I do stuff like this.

Anyway, I did the defrag and it said I needed to defrag. So I defragged again and it told me I needed to defrag.... something funky down there.
 
If the HDD is big enough, go for it, remember a 160gb drive will actually be less though, so make sure you anticipate room for expansion.
 
If the HDD is big enough, go for it
Click to expand...

Good point, I was checking that as you were writing that.

9.51 GB
4.52 GB
9.69 GB

... that should fit over and over in a 160GB drive, as long as it doesn
 
Also remember there are two sizes, file size, and size on disk, the latter is always the more accurate and larger size that's actually used. ;)
 
Think the best thing to do here, as the drive is like ancient, is copy everything off of it, and put it on a new drive, and be done with it. Presumably you got it all backed-up already, just in case the old drive does pack in.
 
If all else fails and the old drive still spins, slam it in the tower as a slave to copy over any essential data while you can.
 
Googling madly, I discovered TreeSize Free, which behaves impeccably with no trash marketing...

TreeSize Free tells you where precious disk space has gone.

But its report displays the same problem I’m trying to find:

TreeSize Free Report, 5/9/2013 11:24 AM
C:\ on [HP_PAVILION]
Drive:
C:\ Size: 224.9 GB
Used: 199.1 GB
Free: 25.8 GB
4096 Bytes per Cluster (NTFS)
This Folder: Size: 26.2 GB Allocated: 25.6 GB Percent of Drive: 12 % Files: 104,895 Folders: 11,569
Name Size Allocated Files Folders % of Parent Last Change Last Access
Documents and Settings 9.2 GB 9.3 GB 29,932 3,775 36.3 % 5/9/2013 5/9/2013
WINDOWS 9.7 GB 9.0 GB 40,912 4,163 35.1 % 5/9/2013 5/9/2013
Program Files 4.5 GB 4.5 GB 30,935 3,462 17.7 % 5/9/2013 5/9/2013
[Files] 2.0 GB 2.0 GB 12 0 7.7 % 5/9/2013 5/9/2013 (pagefile and hiberfil)
..small stuff not shown

What the ---- is going on? Can’t anyone count? I apparently have only used a sliver of my drive, but something invisible has claimed almost all the rest.

edit: percentages of big stuff in blue. They somehow comprise that 100%, even though their sizes don’t come close.
 
Try this

Control panel > admin tools > computer management > storage > disk management

That should list any anf all drives, even if they aren't in use.

Be VERY careful though. Don't format/delete/resize any partitions unless you know exactly what you're doing.
 
Control panel > admin tools > computer management > storage > disk management
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Having tinkered with everything for eight years, that shortcut is long gone. I searched c: for ‘disk management' but got nuthin.

edit: then I found C:\WINDOWS\system32\diskmgmt.msc... that the one? Anyway, it doesn’t seem to help, other than to say my c drive is healthy.
 
Ah, no worries, just brain storming, it came to me all of a sudden. You could always try fdisk but you might need a win 95/98 cd to get it. Again, be careful ;)
 
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