c drive full

[ajs]

prob a daft question, however, here goes.

I am getting messages on my laptop saying that there is not enough memory left. I do a disc clean up but it doesnt clear enough. I have removed what programs I could using c cleaner tool but its still not enough. Whats the best option for increasing the memory without having to reinstall everything, including windows onto a new drive?

any help greatly appreciated.

[Tueur]

turn system restore off then back on again. Sometimes the restore points can take up a big chunk of disk space.

If that doesnt help and you cant free up any more space you may need to purchase a new disk and image your old partition on to it. e aware that on a laptop your recovery partition is oftern stored on your HD in a hidden partition. If you replace the disk, you may not be able to do a system restore.

[plodr]

I'm not clear on what is close to full. Is it C drive, is it RAM or is it virtual memory?

Please write down the exact message you see so we can tell which of the three is the problem.

[Digerati]

I'm not clear on what is close to full. Is it C drive, is it RAM or is it virtual memory?

I agree. There is still some confusion here. However, without a clue as to which version of Windows, or anything about your hardware, it is a little difficult to give good advice.

If running out of RAM, cleaning the disk drive of unused programs will not help with that. You will need to see what you are starting with Windows.

Running low on disk space can crowd the operation of the Page File, so freeing up disk space by cleaning out the clutter (with CCleaner of Window's own Disk Cleanup) can help, as will uninstalling any programs you installed you no longer need.

Also, a heavily fragmented hard drive will prevent the Page File from operating properly, so running defrag (after purging the system of clutter) may help. I recommend running Defrag from Safe Mode to ensure the most efficient defragging.

Note that turning off and on System Restore will not help - and risks you losing a potentially good and useful restore point. System Restore will ALWAYS yield space (to the point of disabling itself) if disk space becomes too cramped. And note too that CCleaner and Disk Cleanup can purge all but the most recent point so you don't have to mess with SR settings.

[hrlow2]

Also, how much physical (real) memory is installed?
And increasing the amount of virtual memory may help.

[Tueur]

Originally Posted by Digerati

I agree. There is still some confusion here. However, without a clue as to which version of Windows, or anything about your hardware, it is a little difficult to give good advice.

If running out of RAM, cleaning the disk drive of unused programs will not help with that. You will need to see what you are starting with Windows.

Running low on disk space can crowd the operation of the Page File, so freeing up disk space by cleaning out the clutter (with CCleaner of Window's own Disk Cleanup) can help, as will uninstalling any programs you installed you no longer need.

Also, a heavily fragmented hard drive will prevent the Page File from operating properly, so running defrag (after purging the system of clutter) may help. I recommend running Defrag from Safe Mode to ensure the most efficient defragging.

Note that turning off and on System Restore will not help - and risks you losing a potentially good and useful restore point. System Restore will ALWAYS yield space (to the point of disabling itself) if disk space becomes too cramped. And note too that CCleaner and Disk Cleanup can purge all but the most recent point so you don't have to mess with SR settings.

As far as system restore goes my parents PC only had abou 10% free disk space when you looked at disk properties so I tried to clear some stuff out. When you select all files (including hidden) on drive C: there was a difference in total file size of about 20GB (ie disk properties reported 20GB more data being used that the file properties for all folders) On Visa the system restores are saved on a very hidden folder so you cant actually account for them when you select all folders and chose properties. I turned off restore then immediately turned it back on and created a new restore point. The 20GB difference had disappeared and the disk usaage was down to 60% so made a big difference for my parents PC

Disk Cleanup did not remove restore points.

[Digerati]

Disk Cleanup did not remove restore points.

And it won't, unless you change the default (which is don't purge) advance option for that. And then it never removes all points. It saves the most recent.

[Tueur]

Originally Posted by Digerati

And it won't, unless you change the default (which is don't purge) advance option for that. And then it never removes all points. It saves the most recent.

Useful info.

Thanks

[Digerati]

Yeah. Note I really like CCleaner because it is so easy to use, but Windows own disk clean up utilities are very effective too. So when a lack free disk space is a problem, it makes little sense to download and install yet another program that consumes more disk space when Windows already has a built-in tool for the job.

[graphvu]

After you've tried CCleaner and Windows utilities, you can try our shiny new GraphVu Disk Space Analyzer (or indeed any other similar tool) that will scan your disk, present its directory structure in a nice graphical form and show you where the disk space has gone. Once you have identified large space-consuming folders, you can review information stored in them and decide whether you can free space on your C: drive by deleting some large files and folders and/or by moving them to a different disk, online storage or any other backup storage media.