I am constantly running into disk space problems because the guy who built/set-up my computer only allotted 10 gig for the C: drive partition. (His logic was that if the OS went kablooey, I could just reformat/reinstall C: and leave everything else alone – what he didn’t account for, and I didn’t know at the time, was that there’s a hell of a lot that installs on C:, like it or not, that is not the OS, so over time it’s now running out of space.)
And in the ongoing saga, the guy (a completely different guy) who promised to help me image/backup my hard drive, so I could attempt to rework the partitions (while having a full backup to restore from if I fuck it up), decided he wasn’t going to.
In the meantime, I’ve once again reached critical mass in remaining C: drive space. I’ve already run disk cleanup, dumped my browsing cache and temporary internet files, and dumped every other cache I could find. I still have less than 30 megs free.
C:/WINDOWS/Temp has a bunch of files in it that I cannot comprehend, but they’re taking up about 200 Meg of space that I could really use. I would think, since it’s the “Temp” folder, that this is stuff I don’t need to keep, but am wary of deleting things willy-nilly, because I know it’s a good way to F up my computer if I don’t know what I’m doing (and I don’t, really).
We’ve got folders named things like CRF000, CRF001, CRF002 which contain .dll files, setup files, .ini files, .cab files, but I have no idea what they’re for. Is is safe to delete this stuff, or should I err on the side of caution?
You should have no problem blowing away everything beneath Temp. If you want to be sure, instead of outright deleting it move it to somewhere on your large partition, and if anything goes wrong you can put it back.
I blow off that entire directory regularly. Gives me immense satisfaction, and never has hurt anything. Probably would be a good idea to close all apps first, though.
You can generally just get rid of it without much worry. However, the bigger question is why you don’t just repartition your hard drive to allocate more to C:? It may not be that hard but it depends on your system specs.
Thanks. It seems to have worked, and if I can go a week or so without those temp files I’ll probably nuke the backup copy. But I now have about 220 megs free on C:, which gives me some breathing room (you’d be amazed at how many software apps won’t work if there’s not enough free space on C:).
On a related note, re: doing the hard drive backup: Guy2 recommended Shadow Protect for the software, and I’d assume that once I have the software installed and the external hard drive plugged in the software will pretty much guide me step-by-step in how to create the image. (At least I hope it will.) My main questions are: it comes with an ISO file, which I am to burn to a CD, which somehow comes into play if I need to restore from backup, but I have no idea how? and How can I verify that the backup is good? I’d hate to screw something up on my computer, go to restore it, and then discover that something went wrong.
(On Edit: Shagnasty, as I said in my OP, the guy who was going to help me back up my computer blew me off. I’m not about to start screwing around with partitions without having a full back up, because I’m not a computer expert and something might well go wrong. Hell, I even found software that will resize the partitions without the need to reformat everything, but I still won’t try without a backup.)
On the one hand, you run absolutely no risk of hosing your system by cleaning the TEMP dir. On the other hand, it may very well fill right back up by tomorrow, depending on what you do with your machine :/.
However, the guy was right in leaving only so much space for C:.
But the thing is, in that type of partition strategy, you’re not supposed to install your programs to c:\program files, instead you install them on a different partition/directory, say e:\program files. That way, when Windows borks itself up (and it will), you only have to reinstall the OS and drivers, everything else is already there and won’t get formated in the process.
Same goes for the MyDocuments directory, it’s a good idea to move it to a non-system partition (on the desktop, right-click on MyDocs, Properties, type the adress you want then click Move…) so that you don’t run the risk of losing everything should Win’s partition conk out.
If you have Windows Vista, it should be very easy and you can just do it yourself but a backup is always a good idea beforehand. XP is a little harder but you might need extra software to help.
Good advice, but I have run across installation programs that do not recognize any drive letter other than C: and others that won’t install to any other drive. Maddening, but it happens.
Remember most computer users don’t know that anything other than C: exists and wouldn’t know how to address it if they did.*
95% of my customers fall in that category. No other folder exists except My Documents as far as they know and they have no concept of a drive letter, a file type or a sub-folder.
Yes, and I’ve done this. But there’s a lot of software which will not give you the option of installing anywhere except C:. Windows Media Player is one (which I’d be willing to do without, except Netflix On Demand needs it to run their particular software. Hell, I even spent time on the phone with Netflix support because On Demand wanted to use a temp folder on C:, and I had to ask how to make it look for a temp folder on D:.) There are a few others, and there seem to be software that will put “shared” items on C: even if you install on D:. Plus cache storage for nearly everything seems to default to C: (including AVG – backups won’t run if there’s not enough disk space, and it’s installed on D: – and Adobe CS2 products, even though I’ve already re-set the scratch disks to D: and E:). So 10 gigs (the current size of C:) fills up really fast. I’d like to add at least another 20 gigs to it. I still have plenty of space on D: that I could move over.
You can tell Windows that its temp area is somewhere else, and that its default “Program Files” area is somewhere else.
The approach used by your friend is done all the time on *nix machines; it is typical to have “/usr”, “/tmp”, “/var”, “/boot”, “/home” on different partitions so that runaway logging cannot render the OS unbootable.
On these systems, symbolic links and mount points are used to make it all appear to be the same standard file tree.
On Windows it isn’t so simple, but you can definitely set the locations of these key folders to something other than default. Beware of bozo installers that don’t use the environmental variables or registry values to get the default install directory, though. Or worse—on my first Win95 machine I changed the default name of “Program Files” to something else and was distressed at how many installers tried to use “C:\PROGRA~1” as a target, referencing the install dir by its expected short name.
Since “Program Files” is English and a machine with a different language will have a different name for that folder (e.g. “Programas”), I expect that most modern installer packages are smart enough to read environmental variables or the registry to see where the default program install directory is.
The advice to install programs on other than C and that if somehow the OS gets fried you can reinstall the OS on C and not lose your programs is fatally flawed and has been since about Windows 1.0.
Most programs will not work properly if their registry settings are lost. Some, like user preferences, are trivial to recreate & the program will do that on first use in the new OS. Other things, such as COM class registrations, will be gone forever, leaving the software crippled.
Depending on how you format the non-OS partitions, and how much of an OS reinstall you need to do, the SIDs for all users (other than administrator) on the new OS will be different than on the old. And that will be a mess that a non-specialist without specialist tools & skills will never clean up completely.
minor7flat5: Yes, and if I had that kind of IT knowledge I doubt I would have started this thread in the first place.
I think the support call to Netflix reset my temp folder for everything to the one located on D:. But I have no idea. I basically had to let the guy remote into my computer to do whatever the hell he did.
And I don’t think, in general, having extra space in C: for crap like this is a bad thing. Because for the most part, I have no idea WTH you just said.
I just checked and all of the “Application Data” for Adobe CS2 (all of the programs) is on C:. When all of the software is installed on D:. I have no idea why. Short of spending a full 40 hour week completely uninstalling/reinstalling everything (alongside an IT guy who can tell me how to stop it from doing this), I have no idea how I can re-do everything so the files are where I’d want them. Doing a backup, and then resizing the partitions, seems like a faster and easier solution at this point. If I knew enough to keep it from happening in the first place, I would have done so, but I don’t, and well, too late now.
You can also tell WinXP to use a different drive for virtual memory (ie swapping). Right-click on Workstation, Properties, Advanced, Performance -> Parameters, Advanced, Virtual Memory -> Modify, then set up some space on the D:\ drive. There goes as much Gigs as you’ve got RAM.
Or is that what you meant by scratch disks ?
Another thing that gobbles up mondo space is the rollback data from Windows Updates. If you haven’t already, set you c:\windows to display hidden files. All those directories named NtUninstallKB11111111, you can safely erase - it’s not like you’re going to uninstall a service pack or windows update when it’s actually faster to just reinstall the whole thing from scratch than to debug it. You can free up to half a gig that way.
Other than that, if you really keep having space problems (and I just checked mine, C:\ drive is 30 Gigs with 10 used, so yes, 10 Go is probably on the small side), I suggest Norton’s PartitionMagic. It’s pretty much foolproof even for casual users, and I’ve never had it fail on me mid-move (but I still always make a pair of backups of my personnal files on different drives first, just in case. When it comes to computers, I’m a paranoid belt & suspenders kinda guy :)).
Which is the main reason why I think doing a full-image backup is a better solution to the whole deal – I can restore everything. If I’d known this before I probably would have told him not to do partitions at all, but at this point I just feel it would take waaayyyy too much time to completely re-do the whole damn thing.
Anyway, any input on the questions I asked re: the backup?
One of the first things I did (thanks to working at the time with a very generous IT guy, who I am no longer working with, unfortunately.) Scratch disks are temp caches used for PhotoShop to handle large image files.
On the other stuff – yes, I could, but all this feels rather a lot like sandbagging against a rising flood. I’d rather change the partitions. I don’t want to mess with the partitions without a full back up. And I’ve looked at PartitionMagic, and it’s fooking expensive. I’ve found freeware which theoretically will do the same thing. But again… I’m not doing this without a back up.
About the partition software, be careful : I’ve been told old partition management software required a partition format after moving/merging/editing partitions, those are the ones you DON’T want. Make sure the one you’ve got is not that kind - play around with it using your temp drive before backuping your data on it if you need to make sure and get used to the software’s interface.
Backuping is not alltogether complicated, you just have to be methodical about it.
You’ll want to either plug in a temporary hard drive borrowed off a friend to store the data, a big enough thumbdrive, or you can also burn CDs/DVDs (but that’s a pain in the ass if you ask me). You can also do a combination of the three, but merely copying stuff from C:\ to D:\ won’t cut it, because should the worst happen during the partition operation, any of the two partitions could get messed up.
Once you’ve got your temp space all set up, make a list of everything you never ever want to lose. A physical list, pen & paper. Think it over long and hard till you’re sure you’ve got it all down. My list usually goes :
emails and adress book (if you use outlook, do a fresh export to .pst file, and backup that)
messenger/gmail/IRC logs
internet bookmarks
MyDocuments
mp3s, divx, images etc… that don’t happen to be in MyDocs
All documents, databases etc… that for some reason didn’t end up in MyDocs
saved games that happen to be on C:.
Program Files. Like you said, even when you install them to a different drive, some apps insist on having a bout of diahrroea there
internet config data, login/password, as well as the connection software installer if your ISP requires one
Hidden porn files
It is not necessary to backup the applications or games themselves, because should push come to shove, you can always reinstall them.
Copy all of those files (with an arborescence you’ll be able to reconstruct, jot down what came from where if you need to) into a single directory on D:. Then copy that directory again on your temporary drive. Then do the same for the rest of D:, full copy in another directory on the temp drive. Turn off computer, disconnect temp drive and put it somewhere safe.
Somewhere Coca-cola or coffee can’t splash on. Somewhere inquisitive brats can’t reach. Somewhere clumsy people won’t bump into. SAFE.
If your company allows storage space on a shared server or something like that, you can also put a copy of the backup dir there, but that’s bordering on overkill.
Now, fire up your partition management freeware/shareware/stolenware/wareware.
Cut down 20 Gigs off D:, move D:\ 20 Gigs “down” the drive, extend C:\ 20 Gigs, reboot and voilaaa ! If all went smoothly, and it should, you can delete your backup dirs, and get on with your life.
The only two problems that can arise are 1) your disk was physically damaged before the operation started, that’s bad trouble. But the huge moving/copying file earlier would probably have hit a snag it that were the case 2) power outage in the middle of the operation. That one’s the real bastard.
If that happens and C:\ got messed up, format it anew, install XP from scratch, then copy/paste your stuff from the D:\ backup or the temp drive backup. No problemo.
Similarly, if D:\ gets messed up, same deal : format, then copy everything from your CDs or safe drive.
But I’ll say it again : this kind of thing has never happened to me. I’ve ever lost a partition once, when out of the blue one of my older HDs physically screeched to a halt. Very unpleasant sound.
That’s about all I can think of right now. The most important thing of all that is to be meticulous and methodical, really.
I’m annoyed that Google, when they upgraded Picasa to version 3.x, didn’t add an option to place the Picasa database on a drive other than C:.
If you have a thousands of images on your computer, the Picasa thumbnail database can quickly grow in size to a few gigabytes, which can be a pain if the ass for people who try to keep their C: drive relatively uncluttered.
Quite a few other database-type programs (like ACDSee picture organizer and Copernic Desktop Search) allow you to put the database wherever you want, which is much better.
Well, the software isn’t old; in fact they just released an update right after Thanksgiving. It’s also got excellent reviews.
The idea with the backup isn’t to cherry-pick a list of essentials to copy. I could copy those things manually, which I’ve done in the past, and is a pain in the ass. It’s time-consuming, plus what happens if I forgot something essential, or not being an IT kind of brain, wasn’t aware of something essential, or don’t know where something essential was saved (like the Application Data folders being dumped on C: instead of D: where the software was installed – were it not for this thread it would never have occurred to me to even check that)? I’m getting the backup/imaging software exactly because I want to backup everything. I want the stuff on my external hard drive to be identical to the stuff on my internal one. Including things like registry settings, which I have no idea if it’s even possible to copy by hand. Plus, given that I have a ton of business-related stuff on the drive, setting the software to automatically incrementally backup on a frequent basis is a key point here. I usually don’t have time to do daily manual backups, even aside from the fact that I never know if I’m really copying everything I need.
I just have no idea how to verify that the image is good, and that I can restore from it. Does anyone have any experience with Shadow Protect and can give me feedback on how easy it is to use, and how I go about verifying the image, and restoring if necessary?
The plan for the moment is to create the image on the external hard drive, resize the partitions, then create another image of the new configuration. And then continue with very frequent incremental backups. I’m not interested in partial or manual backups. I have too much business-critical data to do it that way.
