newbie questions about memory

I just got a new computer for christmas as a gift. Already I am getting a message popping up saying I am "very low on disk space" and some programs need to be removed. When I check System Information, it says there is 512MB total memory and 2.00GB virtual memory. Of that, it says there is 32.59MB available physical memory and 1.96GB available virtual memory.

But when I put the cursor over each drive under My Computer, I get different numbers. This says I have 14.9GB total size with 12.5MB free on the C drive. Also it is showing that I have 29.9GB on D (all of it free) and 29.5GB on E (29.1 free). So, first I am wondering what exactly I have on my computer as far as memory goes.

But, most importantly, I am wondering what to do about the low disk space. It seems like I must have quite a lot of space on the other drives, and they aren't being used for much. Is there some way to use the space on these drives?

The only things I have on the C drive are the programs that came with the computer and a few I downloaded, namely firefox, MSN messenger and DAP. The biggest programs are Java, Office and MSN/Windows live seem to take up quite a bit in total.

 

Physical memory (RAM) is the fastest type of memory and is rather expensive. HD space is cheaper but much slower. When your computer runs out of physical memory(RAM) it temporarily uses HD space which it refers to as virtual memory. Every time your computer has to use virtual memory rather than (RAM) it causes your programs to slow down. Although 512mb of RAM iis rather small you aren't complaining about programs opening slowly so increasing your RAM isn't the solution today.

Major Attitude is suggesting telling your computer that if it needs to use HD space for virtual memory that it should take it from either the E: or D: drive. This would free up 2GB of space on C: that is always reserved for virtual memory. I've never done this but someone may be able to give you step by step.


Back to Low Disk space warning.
You have an 80GB hard drive that is divided into three partitions. C: is the Operating System Partition and is approx 15GB. D: and E: are data partitions each about 30GB. 5GB just goes into the black hole of hard drives never actually letting you use all available space. 15+30+30+5=80GB

The low disk space warning is letting you know that the C: drive is over 80% full. You are going to have to either start storing large data files on one of the other two drives (D: or E: ) or increase the size of your C: drive by taking space from D: or E:.

If you have large music collections or other media files these can easily be copied to the E: or D: drives and a shortcut to them can be created on your desktop. This would free up space on C: and get rid of the warning.

Changing partition sizes is a bit more complicated and I don't have experience with any of the free programs available. Perhaps someone might suggest a good one that has worked for them.

 

How do I go about doing this? I looked around some and I am guessing it would be under Admin Tools? Is it a fairly simple process or something I would need help with?

 

No, it's not. Not unless you want SDRAM or DDR anyway. A new computer is likely to use DDR2 which means you can get a quality 2GB kit for roughly $60 if you live in the US.

Stupid f-ing tanking market... :cry

 

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I'm new at this so please forgive if I'm in the wrong forum. I have a 2.70 gigahertz Intel Celeron processor with 8 kilobyte primary memory cache and 128 kilob. secondary memory cache. I now have 55 gigabytes of hard drive free space. I'm running windows xp home ed. service pack 2. memory , I have 766 megabytes installed memory. i have 2 empty slots. one slot has 512 mb and the other has 256 mb. Can anyone tell me if I can purchase memory to put in the 2 empty slots? and if so, what do I buy?

 

Hi Jeanne,

Do you happen to know what kind of motherboard you are using? Or, the make and model of the computer you are using? Make and model of your computer will probably be easiest, but without some specification, there is a slight chance of guessing wrong. Thanks!

Bryan

 

My system model is Intel Corporation: Board: Intel Corp. D865GVHZ AC72419-10
Bus Clock: 10 megahertz
BIOS: Intel Corp. BF86510A.86A.07.P25.050804031
Is this info. what you needed?

 

Hi Jeanne,

You can max this out at 2GB--Use two 1x2GB sticks to completely max out your machine.

Search for DDR 400MHz Desktop Memory. It should run you about 44.99 for a 1GB stick.

 

Will this give me enough rom to do my videos and slideshows of grandchildren?

 

You should be good with this much RAM. Truthfully, you only other alternative might be purchasing a new machine--this one is a little older--but upgrading your RAM is a much cheaper alternative and should do the trick...

 

Thank you so much for your help. I am going to upgrade my computer this weekend.! This is an awsome site.