Windows Vista - Hard Disk Drive - Low Disk Space
The following procedures will have minimal long term affect on current systems with large amounts of drive capacity. However, they can be used as a temporary workaround for a situation in which one has an immediate need for additional hard drive capacity.
Run the disk cleanup utility. Two methods are listed here.
Method One:
- Click Start. In the Start Search box, type: disk cleanup. From the displayed list, click Disk Cleanup.
Method Two:
- Click Start.
- Click All Programs, and then click Accessories.
- From the Accessory Tools menu list, click System Tools.
- From the System Tools list of programs, click Disk Cleanup.
- In the Disk Cleanup window, click Files from all users on this computer.
- If the User Account Control dialog box appears (when User Account Control is enabled), click Continue.
- If there are multiple hard drive partitions, the Disk Cleanup - Drive Selection dialog box appears. Select C: and click OK.
Note: Do not select the recovery partition.
- When the Disk Cleanup utility loads, select the drive categories to be cleaned, and then click OK.
Disk Cleanup can be used to removes temporary files, empty the Recycle Bin, and remove a variety of system files and other items that you no longer need. Before selecting Recycle Bin, consider that when you delete a file from your computer, it is temporarily stored in the Recycle Bin. This usually gives you an opportunity to restore the file to its original location if you discover that the file should not have been deleted. If you include Recycle Bin when using Disk Cleanup, you permanently remove the files previously deleted.
- Prior to deleting files, Disk Cleanup displays a warning dialog box that indicates that files will be permanently deleted. Click Delete files to continue.
Note: If there are multiple hard drive partitions, you can repeat the procedure selecting the drive letter of another partition. Do not select the Recovery partition. If you do accidentally select the recovery partition, the files will not be deleted.
More Disk Cleanup Options
Start Disk Cleanup using the instructions given above. Click the More Options tab. It allows uninstalling and removing programs that you do not use. It also allows removing all but the most recent restore point.
- Removing programs that you do not use
Note: Prior to removing a program, make sure that you either have the installation media or that you no longer plan to use the program.
- Click the top Clean up button to enter the Uninstall or Change Program utility.
- Double-click a program that you want to remove.
- If the User Account Control dialog box appears, click Continue.
- Typically, at least one dialog box prompts you to confirm your desire to remove a program. If you respond affirmatively to these inquiries, the program is removed and the disk space that it occupied becomes available.
Note: Since some applications provide their own uninstall utility; we can only generalize the messages and prompts that may be presented. When the applications that are used to create data files (such as word processor documents or spreadsheets) are removed, the data sheets (the word processor document files, etc) are not removed.
- Removing all but the most recent restore point
Note: Saving restore points may help you to return the system to a previous state of operation if and when it encounters problems (your data files are not affected). Some users save multiple restore points as they add applications or devices, add or update drivers, or make other system configuration changes. If you have saved multiple restore points, consider why you may have done so prior to exercising this option.
If you are sure that the system was working properly when the last restore point was created:
- Click the lower Clean up button to remove all but the most recent restore point.
- A dialog box message prompts you to confirm your desire to remove all but the most recent restore point.
- Click the Delete button to confirm, or the Cancel button to decline.
If following the above procedures did not resolve your problem, please contact Gateway through one of
the following methods:
