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Windows Vista Cleaning up hard drive

Discussion in 'Legacy Windows' started by Reilly, 2010/11/26.

  1. 2010/11/26
    Reilly

    Reilly Inactive Thread Starter

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    My laptop came with a partitioned hard drive: a C and a D.
    The C is full and that seems to be slowing things down.
    What would be the best way to free up space on the C?
    I assume if I move some programs to the D I run the risk of incurring registry problems.

    Thanks
     
    Reilly,
    #1
  2. 2010/11/26
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    Hi Reilly. Try following these steps to help make the labtop run faster and more efficiently.

    1. Click Start< Control Panel< Uninstall a Progam and uninstall any programs that you don't use.
    2. In Control Panel under Programs and Features click the link that says turn windows features on or off and uncheck all the checkboxes except for Games, Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0, Windows Ultimate Extras and click ok when you are done. (If you use a Windows Feature that is listed then don't uncheck its checkbox)
    3. Download and run ATF Cleaner and select all the checkboxes in the program then hit the empty selected button, http://majorgeeks.com/ATF_Cleaner_d4949.html
    4. Run Disk Cleanup. Click Start< All Programs< Accessories< System Tools< Right click Disk Cleanup and select Run as Administrator. Once Disk Cleanup finishes calculating how much space it can free up make sure that all the checkboxes are selected except for Hibernation Cleaner. Once all of those checkboxes are selected click the More Options tab and delete all of the old System Restore points. Once thats done click the ok button to perform the requested actions and click Yes when prompted. 5. Disable any Windows Services that you don't use by following Black Vipers Services Guide.
    5. Download and run Auslogics Disk Defrag from here, Auslogics Disk Defrag.
    6. Download and run Quicksys RegDefrag from here, Quicksys RegDefrag.
    7. Does the computer have Windows Vista Service Pack 2 installed? If it doesn't then you should install it since the service pack will fix bugs in Vista and speed up the operating system. Download it from here.

    Let me know if the computer is faster and has more disk space after performing the above steps. :)

    Also please enter your System Details. It helps us in answering your questions.

    Note: A common error is to forget to show your System Details in your profile:

    Make sure to do the above when entering your System Details, thanks.
     
    Last edited: 2010/11/26
    Evan Omo,
    #2


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  4. 2010/12/13
    Reilly

    Reilly Inactive Thread Starter

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    Evan,
    I'm sorry I didn't thank you sooner. I really appreciate your help!
     
    Reilly,
    #3
  5. 2010/12/13
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    No Problem. :) How is the computer running? Are you having any more issues with it running slowly?
     
    Evan Omo,
    #4
  6. 2010/12/14
    Reilly

    Reilly Inactive Thread Starter

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    Well, I just finished all the defragging so I can't really say yet but I freed up a good 8GB on the C drive.

    Thanks again! I'll let you know ASAP. ;-)
     
    Reilly,
    #5
  7. 2010/12/14
    MrBill

    MrBill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Lots of computers come with a "D" partition. It is usually what was on "C" when the PC was new. How big is "D "?
    If you got the PC brand new, did it ask you to do a backup on like 3 or 4 DVD's?
     
    MrBill,
    #6
  8. 2010/12/14
    Reilly

    Reilly Inactive Thread Starter

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    I've 10 GB free of 116 on the C (it was down to less than 2) and
    49 GB free of 106 on the D.

    I got it new but don't remember anything about it asking about a backup.
     
    Reilly,
    #7
  9. 2010/12/14
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

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    That sounds strange, are you sure it is not 4.9GB free on 10.6GB for D:? Manufacturers don't tend to make them that way.
     
    mattman,
    #8
  10. 2010/12/14
    Reilly

    Reilly Inactive Thread Starter

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    I'm just reporting what it says on the 'Computer' page! :confused:
    C is labeled 'Vista 64' and D is labeled 'Data'
     
    Reilly,
    #9
  11. 2010/12/14
    markmadras

    markmadras Banned

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    What have you got in your D drive taking up all that space? If it is all personal stuff like music, photo's, etc, you could move a lot of it onto DVD's or purchase an external hard drive to move it all onto.

    Was your PC supplied with Recovery Discs or a Windows Vista disc. If you don't have these take a look through your instructions as you should find there is a Recovery Partition on the hard drive. If not, you should find that the insructions advise you to make a set of Recovery discs when you first had the PC.

    Either way if you didn't get any discs with the PC you would be well advised to make Recovery discs just in case your hard drive fails one day.

    You could also use software to manipulate your drive partitions so that you can shift the free space on the D drive to your C drive.

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted/files/gparted/gparted-0.7.0/
     
    markmadras,
    #10
  12. 2010/12/14
    Reilly

    Reilly Inactive Thread Starter

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    Most of what is on the D is photos. It would make sense to move them off
    to an external.

    Can any of the non-essential programs on the C be moved to the D
    without serious registry issues?

    Thanks
     
    Reilly,
    #11
  13. 2010/12/14
    wildfire

    wildfire Getting Old

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    Matt, my Toshiba came out of the box with the HD split down the middle (2x116GB C:WINDOWS + [noparse] D:Data[/noparse]), with only recovery data installed on D: at time of purchase.
     
    wildfire,
    #12
  14. 2010/12/14
    markmadras

    markmadras Banned

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    Programs installed on the C drive would be best left there as this could cause problems and it won't save any space moving them. Use the GParted software (link in post 10) to change the partition sizes, you can then make the C partition bigger using the free space from the D drive.
     
    markmadras,
    #13
  15. 2010/12/16
    Kevin523

    Kevin523 Inactive

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    I wouldn't advise changing the partitions. If you do this could cause the factory image/partition to fail if you try to recover the factory image from the hard drive itself. Plus the CD creator software may fail to work.
     
    Kevin523,
    #14
  16. 2010/12/16
    markmadras

    markmadras Banned

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    A recovery partition would normally be hidden to keep it safe. The D partition on this PC is labelled Data and is there for saving personal files. Using some of the space from this D partition to make the C partition bigger will not cause any problems. If the drive does have a Recovery Partition and it is used to return the hard drive to the same state that it left the factory in the recovery process will reformat the drive.
     
    markmadras,
    #15
  17. 2010/12/16
    Kevin523

    Kevin523 Inactive

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    You are correct - with the Toshiba notebooks this recovery partition is hidden. As long as the hidden system recovery partition is not touched then everything should be ok. This partition is not always hidden (for example on my HP desktop I can see the partition in Windows) but for the most part they should be. :)
     
    Kevin523,
    #16

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