free space http://www.computersight.com/tags/free space New posts about free space Five Ways to Free Up Disk Space http://www.computersight.com/Hardware/Hard-Drives/Five-Ways-to-Free-Up-Disk-Space.88058

  • CCleaner

    CCleaner is a program that deletes many temporary files that accumulate over time. Both Windows and many programs you download keep temporary files. Some delete them when they get old, but some do not. These files can total over 2 GB of space. Windows has its own program for deleting temporary files, but CCleaner works much better.

    Pros: Works quickly. No chance of deleting something important. Speeds up programs. Always works.

    Cons: Does not free up a lot of space.

  • Archive

    Archiving some old, unused data can free up a lot of space. Some files archive better than others. Archiving works best on lots of similar files (such as a collection of music, pictures, videos). Separate files generally do not archive well. A good free archiving program is 7-zip.

    Pros: Saves space without losing any data. Can save a lot of space when used on large collections.

    Cons: Takes a lot of time. Archived programs become unusable until unarchived. Does not work well on all types of data.

  • Save Data to CDs

    Moving files to CDs can free up a lot of space. I highly recommend putting all music and video files on CDs, since then that not only frees hard drive space, but also lets you use those files on music and DVD players. It is not a good idea to place programs and games on CDs, since you won't be able to save settings.

    Pros: Good option for files that you need, but use rarely. Each CD can store up to 800 MB.

    Cons: CDs cost money. Files cannot be changed once written.

  • Uninstall Unused Programs

    You can use Windows's own Add/Remove programs, or use a 3rd party tool (there are many). You could be surprised at how many programs you have that you haven't used for a very long time. If you have the disk to the program, it's large, and you haven't used it in a while, don't hesitate to uninstall it. You're not losing much, but you're gaining lots of space.

    Pros: Often frees up huge amounts of disk space. Programs can be reinstalled.

    Cons: Not much. You can't use the program, but you weren't using it before either.

  • Delete Unneeded Files with SequoiaView

    When it comes to freeing up disk space, SequoiaView is the best program ever made. SequioiaView charts your entire disk, displaying files as different-sized rectangles. It allows you to navigate directories, color files by file type, and instantly identify which files or directories take up the most space. When I used SequoiaView, I found several gigabyte-sized files which I forgot about. SequoiaView's scanning process is also faster than that of competing programs such as WinDirStat. I recommend anyone who wants to free up hard drive space to download and use this program. N00b warning: only delete files which you know about.

    Pros: Instantly find which files, directories, and programs take up most of your space.

    Cons: Nothing
    • ]]>     Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:33:35 PST     How a Hard Drive's Free Space is Used by a Computer http://www.computersight.com/Hardware/Hard-Drives/How-a-Hard-Drives-Free-Space-is-Used-by-a-Computer.76290 A computer needs a certain amount of free space on the hard drive to function. This is even more true if you have a shortage of ram available for the programs to operate within. Free space is needed for two primary reasons on every computer no matter how large or small.

    Free space is needed for the obvious reason that when you want to save a file, it needs somewhere to write that file. Free space is like have extra paper in a notebook when you are taking notes in class. You may be able to find a blank space on some other sheet that has already been used, but it will not be as efficient as a new sheet. It will be harder to find when you need it and harder to add more information to.

    Having free space on the hard drive allows your computer to find room for your files easily and efficiently. For small files like you create in a word processor, this is not too much of a problem. But, when you want to install new software, a lack of free space can be a serious detriment. Most software checks your free space first. If your drive is short on space, it will refuse to install its files or will only allow enough for limited function of the software.

    The second use of free space is a little more complicated than just having some extra paper in a notebook. Your computer needs extra room to think sometimes. In the same way that you may write down some random thoughts for future reference so you will not forget, the computer does roughly the same thing.

    If you have plenty of ram in the computer and are only running one or two applications that are not memory hogs, your computer will just hold everything in its electronic memory. This is like people remembering a short grocery list of 4 or 5 items. When this list gets to be 10 or 20 items, people usually write it down.

    If you are running several programs at once, this can exceed your computer's ability to hold everything in its random access memory. Every window that you have open is a new program for the computer. Games and graphics programs tend to take more memory.

    Once the memory is exceeded, your computer will write out everything about one or more programs in a special area of the hard drive so it can be retrieved when you or a program needs it later. This can hog up many many megabytes of memory at one time. If it can lay a lot of memory onto the hard drive, lots of ram will be liberated for operating purposes.

    When you are swapping from window to window, if you notice your computer is hitting the hard drive a lot, it is having trouble keeping enough room on the hard drive and in memory to run efficiently. Sometimes defragmenting

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