Win7 Laptop Hdd >3/4 Full: Options?

Hi! I have a Win7/64 laptop at a day program, and its 74GB hard drive is more than 3/4 full. I can just right-click the hard drive icon in This Computer and click Compress Drive to Save Disk Space. It would help a lot. I can also use WinMount to compress just certain programs. It would do a better job but has a size limit of no more than 20MB and can only mount one archive file at a time. I can use both, also. Unfortunately, I use a lot of floppies compressed with WinMount and need to access both them and other programs. I can also use batch files to decompress individual programs to access them and the recompress them afterward. I am working on better compression techniques, but there nowhere near usable right now. Do I have another choice?

 

I would consider buying an external disk drive, moving all of your data files to it, then defragging the C: drive, and leaving the programs alone.

 

Okay. Thank you. How much would a 100GB external USB hard drive cost? Where can I buy one?

 

Haven't you ever heard of EBay or Walmart? A small (2 TB) HD would only be about $60 at Walmart.

 

I'm sorry for the stupid question. I'm trying amazon.com now.

 

I found one I like for $19.99. It was only 120GB, but I think that's all I'll need for now. I'd better hold off on it for now, as its need is currently only pending.

 

I don't think your question was stupid. Better asked than never asked.
For $20 I don't think you can get any hard disk drive. Maybe you saw a micro card for your $20? If not, just buy one at Walmart. You can get a 128 GB micro-card for about that.

 

I looked at it again, and the ad said "
120GB External Hard Drive Backup Slim 2.5'' Portable HDD USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, Laptop, Chromebook, 3 Year Warranty". I take it a backup is not the same as an actual hard drive. I found a 250GB one for $25.49, but it's for USB 3.0, and I think the laptop is USB 2.0. It should still work, but I really want to get one for USB 2.0, as it should be cheaper.

 

A "hard drive" can be used for anything. Programs, data, games, etc. Internal, external, it doesn't matter.

You can also use it for backing up data by simply dragging the files you want to backup from wherever they are and "drop" them on the external drive.

You should consider buying a decent USB memory stick, sometimes called a "flash drive". The cost starts at around $15 and goes up depending upon how much memory you need. Just plug it into the USB port on your laptop and drag whatever files you want to save to it. PNY makes good memory sticks. Google PNY and check out what you can get that works with USB 2. I bought two 128 GB drives from PNY a few years ago and they are still working fine.

Just look around the internet and I'm sure you'll find something that will fit your needs.

 

I think I have a 128GB flash drive somewhere. I also use flash drives to store some of my works and information I want to share among my computers. I even have one to hold my DOS games, but it's <2% full. I have a lot of large games to install on it, though. Thank you for the input.

 

I just found a 1TB flash drive on Amazon.com for $19.99. I think I'll hold off on it for now, as the hard drive is only a little more rthan 3/4 full, and I need to get somebody to buy it for me.

 

For now, when the need approaches urgent, I think I'll first compress parts of its hard drive: I think I'll leave folders containing .mp3 files alone, as they shouldn't benefit much from compression and would be slower to access. Of course, I could just compress the whole drive then decompress the folder containing the .mp3 files.

 

That screams FAKE!!! Do not even consider buying it.

I looked at NewEgg because Best Buy didn't have prices. Unknown, to me, brand Team, is $61.99. Patriot $71.99 Corsair $186.99.
Sandisk at Amazon $109.99.

1TB flash drives don't sell for $20.

 

Oh. Thank you. BTW, I think I have a 128GB flash drive somewhere to act as a second hard drive so can use that.

 

Don't depend on a single flash drive to protect important data. Flash drives are not as reliable as portable external drives. Anything we put on a flash drive, we also put on a 2nd flash drive so if/when one becomes inaccessible, we still have our data.

 

Oh, I didn't know that. Thank you.