Freeing disk space on C: (Windows partition) ??

[kstuart]

I have a PC running Windows XP Home SP2 and I originally made the C: partition for Windows 2GB.

However lately I find that I am running out of space frequently on that partition, and I have thrown out everything that looks disposable (wav sounds, wallpapers, etc).

But every new Update uses more space.

I moved "My Documents" to D: a long time ago, as well as the Swap File, but I am still running out of space.

Since early Thinkpads required use of a 2GB C: partition, I am hoping that this is a subject that someone has already come up with good answers for.

Thanks!

[Wiz]

You could use software like partition magic to decrease the size of your D drive and then increase the size of your C drive using the free space. I used partition magic several times and had no problems. Make sure your partitions does not contain any error before you do this though. You can use the chkdsk command to check for errors and chkdsk /F and a reboot to fix them (if any). Chkdsk will fix most problems.
I know that FAT got a max size of 2gb, but never seen a thinkpad that require a 2gb C: part. That must be a very old Thinkpad if a Thinkpad ever had that limit.
I would recommend to make the size of the C: drive much larger then 2gb. To have a almost full C: drive will give you poor performance as well.

[Orevin]

Windows Update creates backups of the files it changes. You can find them in the Windows folder (c:\Windows). The folders start with $NtUinstallxxxxx. If you don't experience problem after an update, then just delete these folders.

[bill bolton]

You could use software like partition magic to decrease the size of your D drive and then increase the size of your C drive using the free space

kstuart is saying that his older ThinkPad has a BIOS limit of 2GB on the size of partitions it is able to support, so resizing the partition to a larger size is not an option in that case.

Cheers,

Bill

[kstuart]

You could use software like partition magic to decrease the size of your D drive and then increase the size of your C drive using the free space

kstuart is saying that his older ThinkPad has a BIOS limit of 2GB on the size of partitions it is able to support, so resizing the partition to a larger size is not an option in that case.

Cheers,

Bill

Actually, this is for another PC, not the Thinkpad.

I was just hoping that some here had dealt with this issue before, simply because some of the older Thinkpads do have the 2GB limit.

[GomJabbar]

The following site gives some options for overcoming the 2GB limit. Actually there are 2 different 2GB limits. One is BIOS related, and the other is from the use of a Fat 16 file system.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/bios/size.htm

[davidspalding]

... Since early Thinkpads required use of a 2GB C: partition, I am hoping that this is a subject that someone has already come up with good answers for.

Thanks!

There's another thread on this same topic, someone wanted to compress his C: drive ... and I pointed out how to clean the disk, remove old patches/upgrades/hot fixes, etc. He gained several hundred MBs by comprssing.

You can also save room by moving your user profiles to a different partition. I discussed that, not in the same thread, but in the last month. Search on threads I've posted to, you'll find it.

2GB is a bit of a thin slice for XP, but it is do-able. I've done this before when a 2 GB partition for Win2000 was getting cramped, and had to slice out some cruft.