Hi,

Well you got a lot of good answers, but there is one more place not
mentioned that can and will grow quite large and that is "C:\Windows\winsxs"
folder. However, do NOT delete anything from this. Do a Google search to
find out more, to much info to post here about it.

--
All the best,
SG

ALEX NICHOL
(1935-2005)
http://www.aumha.org/alex.htm
You will never be forgotten my friend

"ND Dad" wrote in message
...
My Vista is working fine but…I am on my mission to find out what is on my
hard drive. Be gentle with me I am retired and not an expert, just and
old
EE who thinks this should work better.
A few months ago I purchased a new IBM T61 Laptop (Vista Home Premium) to
replace my IBM R32 Laptop (XP). I got a 100 GB drive since my old laptop
had
80GB with only 35 GB used I thought I would be okay. However, after
migrating
programs over my new T61 shows 58 GB is used (I can only account for ~ 40
of
it), 28 GB free and some 14 GB is used for some system stuff. Vista is ~10
GB
vs. ~4 GB for XP so that is not the only issue.
Some software like my Garmin Map Quest did not work after I migrated it
over. Garmin set me an update. This could be one of my problems. I know
all
my Garmin stuff is ~ 4 GB but I can only see ~ 1.8 GB on the file
structure
list. When I look in the install/uninstall program function I see it all
but
not when I look at it from a file perspective. There may have been a few
other programs like this too. I have tried some of the suggested disk
clean
stuff, stopped the recovery function, defragmented and some space has been
freed up. Some suggestions from this site have been helpful so I thought I
would try this site again.
The seemingly excessive disk space use prompted me to go on a mission to
find out why and where all the stuff is. I am not a computer expert but I
tried to unhide every file I could find, checked properties and size. I
have
even tried using some old stuff like Command Prompts to get directly to my
hard drive. Did bring back some memories of the good old days when you
could
actually see what is on your computer but…did not work or I least I could
not
get at what I wanted. Last time I used any of that stuff was in the
eighties!
Ideally I would like a tree with all major branches and all memory used.
Even
using directory (DIR) functions I could not see everything. Again I am not
expert at this. I have unhidden all the files I can but I think some of
my
migrated software is invisible still, Garmin for sure. There may be other
software not completely compatible with Vista too. It was an adventure
migrating stuff over. I did make a clean copy of recovery disks before I
started so I guess I could go back. I am very frustrated I can’t see
everything on my hard drive. Cutting the data several ways I only get to ~
40
GB of the 58 used.

I would like to find out what and where all this disk space is being used.
One of you really smart and helpful folks on this site may know about a
really great program to show me what is on my drive and where. (If try to
clean this one any more I am afraid I will break it).

If I really need 58 GB I will upgrade my hard drive. Don’t really want to
go
back to XP if I can figure this disk space use out. I just don’t see how I
got to 58 GB in Vista when my old machine still shows only 35 GB for
essentially the same stuff. Old XP machine is still running great…better
that
me…but I like my new one better and want to fix it if I can.


--
ND Dad

Thanks for all the good ideas and links. It will take me some time to sort
through them to see what works and what does not work. In the mean time I
ordered a 250 GB hard drive to replace my 100 GB. (I am an old hardware guy
and like tinkering anyway) If any of these ideas make a dramatic improvement
I will let you know.
--
ND Dad


"SG" wrote:

Hi,

Well you got a lot of good answers, but there is one more place not
mentioned that can and will grow quite large and that is "C:\Windows\winsxs"
folder. However, do NOT delete anything from this. Do a Google search to
find out more, to much info to post here about it.

--
All the best,
SG

ALEX NICHOL
(1935-2005)
http://www.aumha.org/alex.htm
You will never be forgotten my friend

"ND Dad" wrote in message
...
My Vista is working fine but…I am on my mission to find out what is on my
hard drive. Be gentle with me I am retired and not an expert, just and
old
EE who thinks this should work better.
A few months ago I purchased a new IBM T61 Laptop (Vista Home Premium) to
replace my IBM R32 Laptop (XP). I got a 100 GB drive since my old laptop
had
80GB with only 35 GB used I thought I would be okay. However, after
migrating
programs over my new T61 shows 58 GB is used (I can only account for ~ 40
of
it), 28 GB free and some 14 GB is used for some system stuff. Vista is ~10
GB
vs. ~4 GB for XP so that is not the only issue.
Some software like my Garmin Map Quest did not work after I migrated it
over. Garmin set me an update. This could be one of my problems. I know
all
my Garmin stuff is ~ 4 GB but I can only see ~ 1.8 GB on the file
structure
list. When I look in the install/uninstall program function I see it all
but
not when I look at it from a file perspective. There may have been a few
other programs like this too. I have tried some of the suggested disk
clean
stuff, stopped the recovery function, defragmented and some space has been
freed up. Some suggestions from this site have been helpful so I thought I
would try this site again.
The seemingly excessive disk space use prompted me to go on a mission to
find out why and where all the stuff is. I am not a computer expert but I
tried to unhide every file I could find, checked properties and size. I
have
even tried using some old stuff like Command Prompts to get directly to my
hard drive. Did bring back some memories of the good old days when you
could
actually see what is on your computer but…did not work or I least I could
not
get at what I wanted. Last time I used any of that stuff was in the
eighties!
Ideally I would like a tree with all major branches and all memory used.
Even
using directory (DIR) functions I could not see everything. Again I am not
expert at this. I have unhidden all the files I can but I think some of
my
migrated software is invisible still, Garmin for sure. There may be other
software not completely compatible with Vista too. It was an adventure
migrating stuff over. I did make a clean copy of recovery disks before I
started so I guess I could go back. I am very frustrated I can’t see
everything on my hard drive. Cutting the data several ways I only get to ~
40
GB of the 58 used.

I would like to find out what and where all this disk space is being used.
One of you really smart and helpful folks on this site may know about a
really great program to show me what is on my drive and where. (If try to
clean this one any more I am afraid I will break it).

If I really need 58 GB I will upgrade my hard drive. Don’t really want to
go
back to XP if I can figure this disk space use out. I just don’t see how I
got to 58 GB in Vista when my old machine still shows only 35 GB for
essentially the same stuff. Old XP machine is still running great…better
that
me…but I like my new one better and want to fix it if I can.


--
ND Dad

Same problem here.
Go to http://windirstat.info/
and download this tool (free) to see what program is hogging space on your
drive.
Mine showed windows update added 95 gigs since March 17! My drive is only a
160 gig. Why the files are so big I don't know yet. Hope MS can answer this.
--
Hiriseguy


"ND Dad" wrote:

Thanks for all the good ideas and links. It will take me some time to sort
through them to see what works and what does not work. In the mean time I
ordered a 250 GB hard drive to replace my 100 GB. (I am an old hardware guy
and like tinkering anyway) If any of these ideas make a dramatic improvement
I will let you know.
--
ND Dad


"SG" wrote:

Hi,

Well you got a lot of good answers, but there is one more place not
mentioned that can and will grow quite large and that is "C:\Windows\winsxs"
folder. However, do NOT delete anything from this. Do a Google search to
find out more, to much info to post here about it.

--
All the best,
SG

ALEX NICHOL
(1935-2005)
http://www.aumha.org/alex.htm
You will never be forgotten my friend

"ND Dad" wrote in message
...
My Vista is working fine but…I am on my mission to find out what is on my
hard drive. Be gentle with me I am retired and not an expert, just and
old
EE who thinks this should work better.
A few months ago I purchased a new IBM T61 Laptop (Vista Home Premium) to
replace my IBM R32 Laptop (XP). I got a 100 GB drive since my old laptop
had
80GB with only 35 GB used I thought I would be okay. However, after
migrating
programs over my new T61 shows 58 GB is used (I can only account for ~ 40
of
it), 28 GB free and some 14 GB is used for some system stuff. Vista is ~10
GB
vs. ~4 GB for XP so that is not the only issue.
Some software like my Garmin Map Quest did not work after I migrated it
over. Garmin set me an update. This could be one of my problems. I know
all
my Garmin stuff is ~ 4 GB but I can only see ~ 1.8 GB on the file
structure
list. When I look in the install/uninstall program function I see it all
but
not when I look at it from a file perspective. There may have been a few
other programs like this too. I have tried some of the suggested disk
clean
stuff, stopped the recovery function, defragmented and some space has been
freed up. Some suggestions from this site have been helpful so I thought I
would try this site again.
The seemingly excessive disk space use prompted me to go on a mission to
find out why and where all the stuff is. I am not a computer expert but I
tried to unhide every file I could find, checked properties and size. I
have
even tried using some old stuff like Command Prompts to get directly to my
hard drive. Did bring back some memories of the good old days when you
could
actually see what is on your computer but…did not work or I least I could
not
get at what I wanted. Last time I used any of that stuff was in the
eighties!
Ideally I would like a tree with all major branches and all memory used.
Even
using directory (DIR) functions I could not see everything. Again I am not
expert at this. I have unhidden all the files I can but I think some of
my
migrated software is invisible still, Garmin for sure. There may be other
software not completely compatible with Vista too. It was an adventure
migrating stuff over. I did make a clean copy of recovery disks before I
started so I guess I could go back. I am very frustrated I can’t see
everything on my hard drive. Cutting the data several ways I only get to ~
40
GB of the 58 used.

I would like to find out what and where all this disk space is being used.
One of you really smart and helpful folks on this site may know about a
really great program to show me what is on my drive and where. (If try to
clean this one any more I am afraid I will break it).

If I really need 58 GB I will upgrade my hard drive. Don’t really want to
go
back to XP if I can figure this disk space use out. I just don’t see how I
got to 58 GB in Vista when my old machine still shows only 35 GB for
essentially the same stuff. Old XP machine is still running great…better
that
me…but I like my new one better and want to fix it if I can.


--
ND Dad

There are several different tools that will give you a breakdown of what's using the space on your hard drive. Take a look at the following guide for some examples. http://www.lucidica.com/help/?q=wind...dows-computers