hard disk is full

hard disk is full comes up and i click disk cleanup and nothing happens so go to disk defrag also nothing happens

 

Is your harddisk full? Are you paraphrasing this error/alert or are you quoting it? This error can be misleading. You need to supply some specifics here so it can be decided if this is indeed true or if you have another problem. Let's keep this simple until it is known if the problem is more complicated, so...

What's your harddrive size and the reported freespace? One of the ways of doing this would be by clicking on the "My Computer" icon (on your desktop) and right click on the harddrive and select properties.

In the mean time there are two quick things you can do such as empty your trash or recycle bin, both the normal windows trash and any protected bin settings you may or may not have ie; such as Norton protected bin. This can be done by a right click on the trash bin. Empty the c:\windows\temp folder. Have you been able to these two basic things?

 

Do what Goddez says about temp files, but note if you have Windows XP, the bulk of your temp files will be in this location:

c:\Documents and Settings\[profile name]\Local Settings\Temp

If you cant see the Local Settings folder when you enter a profiles area there, go to Tools menu then Folder Options and look in list on the View tab for an option Show Hidden Files and Folders which you select and Apply. The Local Settings folder is a hidden folder in your profile.

Windows XP also still has a c:\windows\temp that may have some files in it, but that is there for mostly older programs that still try and use that folder for temp files by default. I have seen over 1GB in the location i first mentioned.

Any folders or files under either ...\Temp can be removed safely, even folders named like Temporary Intenet Files or History if it is there in your case, as IE will recreate these by itself next use.

And yes empty the recycle bin afterwards to realise the freed space. At times you may be told u cant delete a file that is in use. In that case delete everything BUT what is in use it then. Less chance you will get this error if you close all applications when you do empty temp.

Tip: When you have the Temp folder selected in Windows Explorer left pane, or when you are inside the temp folder if you went in through My Computer C Drive way, go to Edit menu and choose Select All so you can delete files all in one go.

Also empty your internet cache of its files and lower its threshold / maximum allowed space used if possible. You may have this too high. It shoudlnt be more than 10% of your free disk space.

And also remove a program or 2 if your space is low. Games use the most disk space, as do music and video files. You will probably have to do this even if you intend to buy a new drive, if you wish to image the existing one to it to save a re-install and setting up everything again. Imaging software will require a fair amount of free space on the source drive as well to work.

Finally, any time you add a large amount of files to your hard drive, for example by installing a large program, or whenever you remove a large amount of files, like when emptying the temp folders, DEFRAG your drive when done, with either the built in Disk Defragmenter in Windows, or other defrag software you may have.