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Hard disk space

post #1 of 17
4/7/07 at 11:05am
Thread Starter 
Well I've gone and done it ...filled the hard disk to capacity (about 5Gb free space remaining) and I don't really want to uninstall anything . What options do you recommend for increasing capacity?
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post #2 of 17
4/7/07 at 11:47am
well first I would do a search on your machine for anything over 15Mb in size & see if there is anything that you have missed that you don't need or want...Take a look at your installed programs in control panel as well... I'vw found a few things I was like damn..I have that on here still? Then grab an external USB 2.0 drive thats about it...

The only other option is to get a larger internal drive & ghost your existing setup over to it. they have 7.2K up to 160GB now.
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post #3 of 17
4/7/07 at 12:34pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah I still got one or too items like that but I want much more space than I can recover by getting rid of those things.

I was wondering, anybody uses a desktop hard drive with a USB cable connector as their external storage? And does that setup need an external power source or not?

Oh SolApathy, btw how does Vista work with your games?
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post #4 of 17
4/7/07 at 12:58pm
well I play all my games on XP except Test Drive Unlimited & Oblivion (which I play on both). I have no complaints regarding the performance of TDU in Vista. I am waiting until Vista has been out awhile before I make the switch over to Vista though.
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post #5 of 17
4/7/07 at 6:35pm
Thread Starter 
well i haven't gotten my vista upgrade from dell as yet...

i was thinking about getting something like this to clear up some space on my laptop:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=M501-1220

USB 2.0 to IDE/SATA Cable Adapter
The Hi-Speed USB 2.0 to Serial ATA (SATA) or IDE 2.5-Inch and 3.5-Inch Drive Adapter creates a bridge between one USB 1.1/2.0 port and one Serial ATA or SATA-based mass storage device port. The USB 2.0 to SATA and IDE 2.5"/3.5" Drive Adapter turns any SATA or IDE hard drive into a convenient external drive. Easily transfer files from computer or notebook, back up files, or store large file archives on hard drives. The Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface provides for easy installation with its Plug and Play design. The adapter supports all existing Serial ATA SATA and IDE drives 2.5" or 3.5"
<SCRIPT src="http://content.webcollage.net/tigerdirect/smart-button"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://content.webcollage.net/tigerdirect/smart-button/index.jsp?EdpNo=2329300"></SCRIPT>
<?xml version="1.0"?>Specifications
  • USB 2.0 to Serial ATA (SATA) or IDE Cable
  • Connect any device with an SATA and IDE Interface to a PC with USB interface
  • Transfer rate supports 1.5Gb/s data rate
  • Complies with USB 2.0 standards
  • Backwards compatible to USB 1.1 standards
  • Complies with SERIAL ATA (ATA) and IDE
  • Supports SATA and enhanced SATA hard drives
  • Supports SATA CD-ROM/R/RW DVD-ROM etc.
  • External power adapter for SATA devices
<CENTER>
</CENTER>
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post #6 of 17
4/7/07 at 6:57pm
I would prolly just go with something off of this page...

http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Su...ubCategory=414

any 5400RPM drive will be fine for the USB connection.
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post #7 of 17
4/7/07 at 6:58pm
ah too bad the firewire port is not better placed on these systems
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post #8 of 17
4/7/07 at 7:00pm
Thread Starter 
oh, i just found the ms office install cache on my hard disk and deleted it so i got back about 530mb. what about the i386 folder on the hard disk, can i safely delete that? btw i never formatted and reinstalled since i got the laptop from dell, i didn't want to trash the dell restore... i dont too care for the mediadirect though but i'll leave it.
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post #9 of 17
4/7/07 at 7:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolApathy
I would prolly just go with something off of this page... http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Su...ubCategory=414 any 5400RPM drive will be fine for the USB connection.
the WD passport drive looks nice and neat but i like the size of the my book premium with 500Gb. But even so, with drives or with the cable usb adapter for a pc drive, would i be able to install and run a second OS on the drive to use with my laptop? i noticed that if an external disk of large enough capacity is connected by usb (like my 60Gb ipod) the laptop does not boot up.
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post #10 of 17
4/7/07 at 8:26pm
I've also filled my HD to the max...right now I have only 250 mb left

But I really dont want to uninstall anything...oh well.
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post #11 of 17
4/7/07 at 8:34pm
I've got a 60 gig'er and I've had about 30 gb of unformatted space for the past month or so with another 15 gb free in a formatted partitiion
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post #12 of 17
4/7/07 at 8:36pm
well disabling tings like hibernation, reducing the swap file size can add a few GB...and yes you can delete the i386 folder. It's just a cache of the XP installation cabs.

I've never had any luck booting XP from a USB drive (tried it once for the heck of it) but it can be done.

-Ipods love to hang the system if you leave it plugged in
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post #13 of 17
4/7/07 at 8:37pm
just bear in mind Windows will crash and you can lose all your data if you do not maintain enough free sapce on the Boot drive.
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post #14 of 17
4/7/07 at 9:53pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolApathy
well disabling tings like hibernation, reducing the swap file size can add a few GB...and yes you can delete the i386 folder. It's just a cache of the XP installation cabs. I've never had any luck booting XP from a USB drive (tried it once for the heck of it) but it can be done. -Ipods love to hang the system if you leave it plugged in
the ipod only hangs the system during the boot up. ok, but i can install programs to the usb drive though?
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post #15 of 17
5/31/07 at 1:39pm
Thread Starter 
I now have 13Gb free space and i decided to buy an external hard disk enclosure with a 320Gb sata hard drive. I just got my Vista upgrade disk from dell, are there any issues with installing vista on this exteranal drive? I dont want to wipe out XP, want to have a dual boot system.
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post #16 of 17
5/31/07 at 10:53pm
Clear enough space off of your internal HDD for Vista (move data/media files to your new external) and create a partition for Vista with Acronis Partition Manager, Partition Magic, G-parted, or . . . . .
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post #17 of 17
5/31/07 at 11:28pm
You can boot from a USB drive with windows installed, but you need to remove the internal drive and it will look at the USB cable (as long as the bios is set to enable the USB). But sometimes it will fail - don't ask me why but I found that 80% of the time it worked the remaining 20% it failed, but the speeds are slower as its running through a USB cable.

I did this a few times when trying to troubleshoot a friends hard drive. Me I have two HDD (SATA) for the note book and swapped between them, one is 80gig the second is 160gig - dual booted with Ubuntu & XP. Also carry a spare USB IDE HDD (2.5 inch) as a backup. And currently they are all full - yes 4 seasons of Enterprise and excess music.
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