T42 problem

[ranchmom5]

My dd's T42 keeps coming up with an error that says
Low Disk Space: You are running very low on disk space on IBM_PRELOAD (C:). To free space on this drive by deleting old or unnecessary files, click here.....

I ran Disk Cleanup yesterday, removed all unused programs through Add/Remove and also by going into Windows Explorer and further deleting from there. Ran anti-virus and malware after this.

I did some research today and found that system restore could be causing it if set to max....which is was. I moved it way down, but wonder if the saved points are taking up all the space. Should I remove all points but the most recent?

Any other thoughts?

Sharie

[ranchmom5]

A few updates

I removed AVG and was planning on loading Avira anti-virus but it says there isn't enough space to put it on!

Next, went into IBM system information and it shows 3 partitions.
24.87GB (this is the main C drive and shows as completely full, only 25MB available)
4.61 GB
26.42GB

Why 3 partitions? As you can tell, I am don't know much about all this stuff. This computer was bought used and I never really messed with it before. It is set up how it arrived.

Thanks

[smidgley]

I have mixed feelings about having a second large partition on your hard drive, because as often as not, unless you make an real effort to use the second partition, everything will go on C:\ by default, as you have seen, and it will fill up.

A couple of things you can do:

Run Disk Cleanup:
Go to: Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Cleanup

Resize System Restore:
Go to: Start/Control Panel/System/System Restore/Settings
The default for System Restore is 12%, pull the slider down to 4% or so.

Move My Documents:
Your second partition is probably E:\. Create a folder on that drive (right click/New/New Folder), name it Documents. Right click My Documents, either on the desktop or the Start Menu. Click Properties and then Move. Navigate (in the window that pops up) to the drive you created the new Documents folder on and choose that folder, click OK, then apply. This will take some time but the physical location of your documents will now be on the other partition. You will still be able to access them in the same way that you have been.

Let us know how it goes.

[ranchmom5]

thanks for the input. I ran disk clean up yesterday and today. I resized system restore but the OS actually suspended system restore due to low space.

And...when looking at Windows Explorer, I have
IBM_PRELOAD (C:)
CPAdata (D:)
DVD/CD-RW Drive (E:)

As I said, I have never really looked at this laptop since it is my daughter's. I guess the D drive is the other partition. I see that iTunes is loaded there as well as the CCleaner and T42 drivers. It shows only 5GB used and 21.4 free

So is there a way to merge the 2 drives?

[smidgley]

Yes, you can merge the partitions with this free program:
http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm

I would probably try moving your documents to the D:\ drive first, though.

After you have enough room on your C:\ drive, you can re-enable System Restore by turning it off and then back on again.

[ranchmom5]

Can I just drag and drop "My Documents" in Windows Explorer?

[smidgley]

Yes, you could probably do that but you will want to do it from C:\Documents and Settings\your username. Windows will not be able to find these documents from the My Documents icon(s) and will likely create another Documents folder under your user name the next time you try to save to the default location unless you specify the new location on the D:\ drive. I would recommend moving the documents the way I outlined above.

[ranchmom5]

I am so sorry for not reading your earlier post more carefully! The kids and my dh have been teasing me all day that I have way too many things happening at the same time! I did it exactly as you suggested and it is running right now. I will let you know how it ends up.

Thanks so much for your patience and wisdom.

[ranchmom5]

Well this is what happened. I did exactly as described...made a "Documents" folder under the D: drive and started the "Move"....then my daughter had to leave for the weekend and wanted to take her laptop along. I showed her what to do to restart the process on her own and then clicked "CANCEL" on the transfer process. She got to her destination and attempted to follow my instructions on restarting the process and it doesn't work. She clicks "move", finds the Documents folder on D:, clicks OK, then Apply and then OK and nothing happens. That Documents folder does show that some of the information already transferred - some pictures, some of her papers, etc. They are on both My Documents on C: and also on the new Documents on D: I decided to have her create another new folder and start over...so she made a "Documents 2" folder and went through the process and again, nothing happened. When she clicked the final OK, it just all disappears...no transfer process begins. My other thought was deleting the first Documents folder on D: and starting completely over but didn't want to do that without first checking in here. I wouldn't want to delete her information.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Sharie

[smidgley]

Have her right click My Documents, go to Properties and choose "Restore Default" There will probably be a message window that says "file(s) already exists", choose no to all. When it finishes, she can try moving the Documents to the D:\ drive again.

I recently moved my documents (around 60gb) on the computer I'm sitting at (a very fast desktop) to another drive and it took all day. Don't start moving the files if you might not have the time to let it finish. It will take a long time.

If I were doing it here, I would backup the documents first, just to be 100% safe, but I know that you (she) may not have that capability.

[ranchmom5]

Well, my dd finally came home and I did as instructed here. It freed up a lot of space on C...filled up a lot of space on D. Only problem now is that there is no music under "My Music"...no music in iTunes when you open it. I just did some searching and it is on the D drive in a folder labeled "copy of iTunes". Does anyone know how to get it to show up in iTunes from this other drive?

I did download the partition program that was suggested, but wasn't sure which thing I should do....seems it had a lot of possibilities.

Sharie

[killer]

iTunes is a real pain if you shift things around. You need to reset iTunes to go to your D drive rather than your C drive ... in iTunes, Preferences, source.