My Local Disk (C:) is full

My local disk is almost full, and I dont want to delete a program or file that will make my OS inoperable, I recently did a windows 7 install because my system wasn't booting up. My computer is Dell Inspiron 1750, Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit OS and my RAM right now is 3.00 GB. I want to free up space without doing a clean wiondow 7 install. Thanks in advance

 

look for any Windows.Old or similar folders in C:. When you install an OS it will back up your old OS incase the install fails. If there are any old installs the you can delete them. Look at the properties for the program files folder and users folder to get the folder size then post back. This will give us an idea where your data is.

Empty the Recycle Bin as disk space is not recovered until the items are taken out of the bin. Turn off system restore to delete old restore points then turn it back on. Create a new restore point straight away in case you delete something you shouldnt.

Download and run CCleaner this will search out temporary files and get rid of junk

 

Thanks for the reply I have checked for any old.windows but there isn't one, I also empty my recycle bin and I also run the CCleanner. This is the folders you asked for, I added Windows properties as well if that will help, Please let me know if there's anything else, thanks.

 

I'll wait for Tueur to give you his opinion but I don't see anything unusual there.

How big is your Windows partition (c: )? Maybe you could give a screenshot of the disk management window so we can see how your HD is partitoned. Just type disk management in the Search box and hit enter, give us a pic of the management window.

 

Hi my friend , it's the time to buy an external hdd , this movement will increase your hdd's speed !! cool

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/818-disk-cleanup-open-use.html

 

Or you could clone to a larger hard drive.

 

This is the Disk Management screenshot and its partitions, please let me know if there's anything else, thanks.

 

You've got something very wrong there. Did you have to do a reinstall or anything recently? Most of your HD seems to be taken up by an empty "OS" partition.

Try right-clicking the OS partition (in Disk Management) and choose Change drive letter and paths. Then choose Add button. In the next window use the dropdown box and pick letter V: then OK button.

Now go to Computer and hit the Organize button at the top left. Choose Folder and Search options. Then on the View tab, tick the circle for Show Hidden files and uncheck the box for "Hide Operating System Files". Hit Apply and close that Folder Options window. Now click on the V: drive and see what files are there. Let us know.

 

You have 14 GB of Unallocated space that you can use for an additional/new partition.

 

Yes I recently reinstalled windows 7 because, my system wasn't booting up, this is the OS (V) HD and the files in it, please let me know if there's anything else thanks.

 

I don't know how you could have gotten into the situation you are in. Did you have to do a reinstall recently? Is your C: drive running the way you like--all your programs and desktop look OK?

From what I see that large V: partition only contains boot files. If nothing has changed recently and your desktop and programs are fine then that V: partition can be shrunk down very small to about 100mb. Then you can expand your C: partition into the newly created free space. I just want to be sure that as far as you know that V: partition did not have any files you recently lost due to an OS problem or reinstall.

Edit: If you are not concerned about any files that have gone missing then I can give you instructions for shrinking V: and expanding C:.

 

Yes I recently reinstalled windows 7 because, my system wasn't booting up, I am not concerned about any missing files but I do have a couple of questions

1. Can I delete the V drive entirely
2. What is the difference between the Program Files and Program Files (x86)
3. Also what can I do about the Unallocated 14.65 GB that I have

Thanks.

 

I don't want to delete the V: drive because it is set as Active which means the system is going there first and then getting instructions to find and start Windows. It is normal to have a separate partition for boot files in Win7 (it is by design) but it is usually only 100mb in size. (It is possible to delete it and then use the installation DVD to write boot files to the C: partition but I would just shrink it.)

You are running 64 bit windows. 64bit programs get installed in Program Files and older 32bit programs get installed in the PF(x86) folder.

I'm guessing the 14.65 gb partition used to hold recovery files that you deleted? If you have a Win7 installation DVD and don't need to try to undelete that partition then that unused space can be used.

My plan would be to go to Disk Management and right click the V: partition and select Expand. Let it add the 14.65gb of unallocated space to the V: partition. Reboot to make sure everything is still working correctly.

Then go back to Disk Management and right-click the now larger V: partition and select Shrink and shrink it down to between 90 and 100mb. Reboot.

Then go back and right-click C: and choose Expand and let it take over all the unallocated space. Reboot.

Do a Disk Defragmentaion on C:.

 

When I right click on the V: partition, I don't see any Expand to select but the option of Open, Explore, Change Drive Letter and Paths, Shrink Volume, Properties and Help are all highlighted and Mark Partition as Active, Format, Extend Volume and Delete Volume are not highlighted therefore I can't click on them, is there another way we could go about it? let me know, thanks.

 

The syststem is dual booting from the look of things with two OS's on the two partitions. V:\ is active and contains your boot record which is directing to your c: wich has windows 7 on. 15GB for OS is nowhere near big enough to run stable so you are going to have to re-install. Unfortunately as Sach2 says v:\ is active so you cant delete it so I see 2 avenues to go down.

1. Use a bootable partition manager like Partition Magic to delete V:\ partition, extend c: and then set C:\ as active... Im not sure if this is even possible.

2. Boot from your Windows 7 CD, Erase all partitions, re-create one primary partition and re-install Win 7 on the one new partition. This is probably what I would do.

 

Partition Wizard will do it. http://majorgeeks.com/MiniTool_Partition_Wizard_Home_Edition_d6175.html

Just do the first two parts of resizing V:. Hold off on resizing C: because it is safer to do that in Disk Management if the option is available after resizing V:.

So in Partition Wizard right click V: and choose Move/Resize.
Drag the left black triangle handle over to the right into the 14.65GB area so the Unallocated space Before text box shows 0 space before. Then drag the right handle over to the left until the partition size gets down to about 100mb. There should be about 280gb in the after text box. Hit OK button.

In the main window your drive should look like 39mb, 100mb,280gb unallocated and 15gb for C:. Then hit Apply. Reboot when finished.

Then try Disk Management and right click C: and see if it will let you expand that volume into the new unallocated space. If not we can use partition wizard.

 

I knew I would get those left/right directions wrong.
Drag the left black triangle handle all the way to the LEFT into the 14.65gb space.

 

Hi guys this the new screenshots of the computer and the Disk management after the partition, also with the V: HD is there a way to transfer everything including all the booting files on OS V: HD to the C: HD and then make the C: HD as active? let me know if there's anything else, thanks.

 

Really i would leave things as they are. The 39mb + 133mb (V: ) + 16mb unallocated only totals 200mb which is very small. Not really worth worrying about.

If it were me I would just right-click V: drive in Disk Management and select Change Drive Letters and paths and remove the drive letter. Then it wouldn't show in Computer and it won't bother you.

If you really want to get rid of it I can give you instructions but you should have a Win7 installation CD available in case something gets messed up. Do you have an installation CD in case we need it to fix the start up files?

 

Yes I have the Win7 Installation CD available but I think I will just leave it as it is right now and I already removed the drive letter on OS (V: ). I think I this partition should be fine for now, if anything happens I'll let you guys know, once again thanks alot both of you guys, forum and website.

 

It looks good! Nice work.

On a 300gb drive 200mb is nothing. The graph just makes it look big because they want to fit all the words into the blocks depicting the partitions. It is not a very accurate graph.

You might also want to go back to Organize and hide your System files again. Just makes it a bit harder to accidentally delete something.

***
One quick question for my own information. Did you use Partition Wizard to resize the C: partition or Disk Management? I would just like to know because it used to be iffy using a third party partition program to resize C: but it should be safe now and I don't like the way Disk Management works.

 

Yes, I already hid the System files again to prevent me from mistakenly delete something am not suppose to, also I did use the Partition Wizard to resize the C: partition it was much more easier that way for me. Thanks alot for all your help, I really appreciate it.

 

You're welcome!

Just to let you know that 39mb partition is something from the computer manufacturer perhaps a diagnostic program. If you ever decide to change your boot files with the old V: (OS) partition you can probably safely delete that 39mb partition at that time. But I would leave things as they are for now.
You've got plenty of space.

 

Glad you got it sorted. I actually dont think it was dual booting as 29mb is nowhere near enough data for an OS so I guess the Win 7 install decided to install it somewhere random (possibly on the recover partition as suggested by another poster, although the recovery partitions are usually hidde and locked and only editable through some low level partition management software)

Anyway. things are all square again.