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maria2day · Feb 19, 2011, 09:43 AM

I have a refurbished laptop that I bought from a friend. Its mainly used for entertainment. As far as I can tell,there aren't any huge files on it. Ive tried disk clean and run all sorts of scans, but I can't find out where all my memory went. The C drive has 59.7GB used/ 10GB free. There is also a D drive.(Used 980 MB/ 68.5GB free) Do I need to move memory from the D drive to C drive? How do I do that. Would the scan log be helpful? Im running Windows 7 Ultimate

cdad · Feb 19, 2011, 10:38 AM

Most laptops don't have 2 physical drives in them. You can partition a drive so it appears that way (2 separate drives). Also many manufacturers have been putting a partition in that is exclusive for backup purposes. It would contain the original software the laptop came with in case something were to happen and you needed to do a complete system restore.

If you have upgraded the OS to win7 and not started fresh. There should be a folder called window.old.

It will contain everything that was there before the upgrade. That folder can take up a huge amount of space. What you might think of doing is seeing how your system is partitioned and think about starting with a fresh single drive install. Be sure to back up everything that is on the machine first. You can invest in an external drive for this (they aren't too much) and that way you do have a choice when it comes to complete recovery.

When talking about memory what your really talking about is physical memory and its not related to the hard drive. Right now as it stands your running into critical shortage on drive c:

So have a look and keep us posted.

maria2day · Feb 19, 2011, 10:47 AM

Can I put window.old on a flash drive and then delete it from my computer?

cdad · Feb 19, 2011, 10:53 AM

Sure you can. Just don't lose the flash drive should you need something from it is all. That is why I suggested a external drive. Dollar for dollar they are a much better deal. For what you pay for a 16 gig flash drive you can buy a 500 gig external.

maria2day · Feb 19, 2011, 03:57 PM

Well shoot. I can't find the window.old file. Would it be helpful if I posted a list of my 10 (or 100) biggest files? Or a scan log? I noticed there are a lot of back up files from system restore. I deleted most of them but I'm still in the red. Stupid question... do I need to empty my recycle bin after I delete the files?

maria2day · Feb 19, 2011, 03:58 PM

... or what about taking a bunch of files from the C drive and moving them to D?

ITstudent2006 · Feb 19, 2011, 05:49 PM

Again, hardware is not my specialty but couldn't the OP just copy all of D: to an external (depending on the content) and then give all that space to C:, getting rid of D entirely? Making C: jump from 10gb free to 70gb+ free

ITstudent2006 · Feb 19, 2011, 05:50 PM

A screenshot of the contents of D would varify whether it's for backup purposes wouldn't it or if this "refurbished" laptop was just partitioned this way to separate personal data?

cdad · Feb 19, 2011, 06:36 PM

My guess is someone partitioned it for 2 drives.

To OP, Yes you can move things around if you like but you may end up with broken links (it looks for them on C: and you have moved it to D:)

So you may need to refind everything as far as a starting point.

What exactly did you do to this machine ?

maria2day · Feb 19, 2011, 07:28 PM

LOL @ "What did you do to this machine". You can probably tell, Im a little techno stupid. I don't know anything about partitions or RAM or ROM. . Actually, it's a friends computer, and he knows even less than I do about computers. As far as I know, he didn't do anything to it except play a lot of poker on it. Haha. Maybe he should just take it to a shop. Thanks for all your help

cdad · Feb 19, 2011, 07:40 PM

Originally Posted by maria2day

LOL @ "What did you do to this machine". You can probably tell, Im a little techno stupid. I dont know anything about partitions or RAM or ROM. . Actually, its a friends computer, and he knows even less than I do about computers. As far as I know, he didnt do anything to it except play a lot of poker on it. Haha. Maybe he should just take it to a shop. Thanks for all your help

Its not that your "techno stupid" its just this isn't your thing. You were smart to start asking questions when you didn't understand. We have no real way of guaging what your knowlage is of computers until you tell us. I think it's a good idea and very smart that you want to take it to a shop. It shows you want to take care of your laptop. That is a good thing.

Your not stupid in any way.

maria2day · Feb 27, 2011, 12:32 AM

Thank you for being so kind.