RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

Have been given an old laptop (Dell Inspiron 1300, XP home SP3, 1.5ghz etc - not great spec but only using it for web browsing) and before I was given it, a fresh copy of XP home was installed on it.
I keep now getting low disk space messages from the system tray.

When I look at the set-up, there is drive C & E - C is 33GB with 1.1GB free, E is 3GB with 20KB free.

I am no expert but this dont sound right !! Nothing else much is installed.

Any ideas (laymans terms please !!)

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

ok sounds like ....

your drive has been formatted into two partitions - C: and E: That means you've got one physical drive but the operating system treats it as two. It also sounds like the paging file is configured to use the E: drive. I'm making that assumption since 3gb is an odd size to make a partition for anything else. The paging file is what the operating system uses when it runs low on memory (ram). It creates a virtual memory space by using part of the hard-disk instead. It's not an ideal solution performance wise since access times are considerably slower than real memory but, it works and that's better than not working lol! XP can be a greedy sod with memory (not un-common for it to use over 1gb) so if you have limited ram in the pc, your paging file will grow very quickly. The paging file is usually configured on install to be "dynamic" in as much as the operating system manages it and allows it to scale as large or small as it needs. Sounds like it's got too large or has been configured manually to be too large for the partition it's on which is why you're getting the warning message.

If i'm correct then, solutions would be :

put more ram in the machine - by increasing the ram you reduce the required size of the paging file

move the paging file - difficult to do in this instance since your C: partition has even more limited space than the E: one.

Ideally you could do with a larger hard-drive and more ram by the sounds of things .... fleabay is your friend here (it's easy to fit both so long as you know which end of a screwdriver is which and can use it without poking yourself in the eye )

If you know someone handy with pc's you might be able to recover some more space on the drive too since dell usually put one or two hidden partitions on their drives with their own recovery files and engineer tools on. Not a good idea to go poking around with the partitions if you don't know what you're doing though

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

It will be system restore that uses all your space. Download "Eastec Eraser" it will clear all the space you need. Its only a free 15 day trial but it will be good enough to sort your pc out. Its also superb at deleting files from your pc that just don't want to be deleted. Don't bother looking for pirated copies as they aren't out there as I have tried I had to pay for the full program as I use it alot.


http://www.east-tec.com/consumer/eraser/index.htm

Shaun

System restore only uses what you allow it to. No need to buy programs to sort that one out!

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

OK thanks guys - so download free trial of eastec eraser to free up some space and install some more memory and hard drive.

Just looked and more memory is around £20 and HD is around £50 so wont break the bank.

Cheers again for your help !

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

There is 30gig spare on my C drive but every so often it drops down to say 500mb. I don't use this space but it just seems to dissapear. I pressume its system restore using the space and I never been able to get the space back. The program I mentioned gets it back everytime I used to keep uninstalling it in the I could make it last longer but it never worked. The OP may have used all the space on his C drive without knowing and therfore this will be of no use to him, but if his situation is similar to mine its an easy fix and costs nothing

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

I think my system restore is switched off (got a message saying it was being switched itself off due to low disk space)
So if its off, its (maybe) not taking any disk space, so would Eastec free up any spare space ?
Sorry, probably a dumb question !

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

it will free up some space that might tide you over for a while but you'll have to do it on a regular basis unless you make sure that the system restore is permanently disabled .... even then, you'll probably still fill that disk pretty quick by the time you've chucked some mp3's on there and a few other bits n bobs. Personally I'd just chuck the memory in straight out anyway since you should see an improvement in performance from that too and because i'm lazy when it comes to disk maintenance, the bigger hard drive is a no brainer lol!

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Wow a 40GB hdd I remember having one of those in the 80s

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

lol - I've still got a live one in an old baby "tosh" I use as a glorified i-pod for listening to online radio stations ..... has only got win98se on it though ..... it's no good for anything else with a 133mhz cpu and 32mb of ram! .... runs like a lame dog with lead weights strapped to it's good legs to be honest.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

Adding more memory won't free up extra disk space it will just give you more memory. You need a bigger hard drive if you have used it all up. Personally I would just buy a cheap laptop as there is some cracking netbooks for sale

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

adding more memory reduces the amount of disk space required for the paging file so DOES gain disk space and ALSO improves performance as the programs are running from ram rather than disk.



edit : you do still need a bigger hard-disk though lol!

warrenm2

use diruse to find out where all the space is being used up. Compress certain folders (like the software distribution folder for example), uninstall unwanted programs, delete ~*.* and *.tmp files, run the disk clean up facility which removes temp internet files. Come on youre not even trying.....

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

Thanks guys - i have freed up some space now and will get a bigger hard drive and memory asap.

However....new problem - no sound ! Device manager (Sound, video and game controllers) look ok (Sound Codecs etc all say device working properly) but no sound.

Sound and Audio Devices Properties in Control Panel says "No Audio Device"

So does it sound like a driver problem ?

Cheers.

BlkKnight

google

treesize free

Useful util to really show you where the space has gone.

StickyMicky

20GB drive in this old 800mhz IBM thinkpad (384mb ram)
Its still chugging along,

Mainly used to browse the net at work and do the odd spot of mapping
I do have a few old games installed as well, like the original Ghost Recon