System Overload

[Ariadne]

Today, I noticed that my C drive is seriously overloaded. I store data on the D drive and recently installed some additional Adobe products on the D drive - although they are completely accessible via the C drive. What can I do to transfer software to the D drive after it's been installed, or what can I do to fix this situation before the C drive no longer functions properly. Between AutoDesk and Adobe products, I am out of room and need to correct the situation.

Suggestions?

 

[petros]

When installing new software it'll ask which drive you wish to install into. To move them now you'd have to uninstall then reintsall into the D. I had the same iussues from windows updates gobbling up the C drive partition.

 

[Ariadne]

Can I change the settings on windows updates to stop the updates? If so ... can you walk me through it?

After installing the Adobe products on the D drive (some are on C, some on D), it wasn't redlining and I haven't saved anything on the C drive that would account for it redlining.

 

[DaSleeper]

It depends if C and D are separate hard drives or just different partitions,
If separate hard drives I'd wait for Durka to come on or one of the other geeks here to answer you but if they are two partitions on the same hard drive there is a neat little program called "partition magic" that will "take" some space from drive D and give it to C.
They recomend that you defragment both partitions first and back up the drive that you're gonna shrink...just in case you loose some data...(I forgot to do that but was lucky):smile:
A month after I did that, I got a deal on a new notebook....:lol:

 

[Ariadne]

It depends if C and D are separate hard drives or just different partitions,
If separate hard drives I'd wait for Durka to come on or one of the other geeks here to answer you but if they are two partitions on the same hard drive there is a neat little program called "partition magic" that will "take" some space from drive D and give it to C.
They recomend that you defragment both partitions first and back up the drive that you're gonna shrink...just in case you loose some data...(I forgot to do that but was lucky):smile:
A month after I did that, I got a deal on a new notebook....:lol:

Thanks ... I'm thinking that it is one drive with a partition. My last machine was configured with two distinct drives ... one 32 bit and one 64 bit ... but this machine seems to see software on other drives so I'm assuming it's one partitioned drive. A few years ago, I recall that repartitioning a drive after it was loaded was a bad thing ... if it's safe, I'll do it ... but if it means I'll have to reload gobs of software, I'd rather leave it for a month - although at the same time I don't want to freeze up my C drive.

I did a defrag and gained a little space, but I'm still red-lining.

Can I back up an entire drive onto an external drive - software, operating system and all ... I guess I'm asking if there's an easy way to make an image of a drive. I've never done that before, but I'm guessing it's fairly straight forward with the right tools. I should really get a desktop because of the work I'm doing in the next year, and would really like to take an image of my current machine and load it onto a new machine ... especially since this laptop is crapping out when all it really has on it is a load of software.

In fact, I have to upload two AutoDesk 2012 versions of software in the next four weeks and if loading some Adobe products to D drive overloaded C drive (which may be the root of the problem), then updating to the latest in Autodesk will make my machine dysfunctional.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

1. you cannot move installed software from one drive to another, all you can do is uninstall it from where it is and reinstall it somewhere else.
2. I'd bet you've got a whole lot of useless stuff in temporary files on your C: drive. Most Windows apps are terrible at cleaning up after themselves. Go to Piriform - Download CCleaner, Defraggler, Recuva, Speccy - Millions of users worldwide! and download, install (on D:!! ) and run CCleaner, it'll fix up a lot of that.
3. look carefully at what's actually ON your C: drive with Windows Explorer, and in particular look at the size of your user profile directories and the installed program files directories. It seems unlikely to me that just the OS and a couple of AutoDesk and Adobe apps would take up almost 116 Gb. A lot of applications default to storing files under your user profile, which will always be on C:, and that's not where you want them. First rule is, keep the OS, the applications, and the data files, separate from each other. Windows doesn't really allow you to do that, everything you install will insist on putting at least a little something onto the C: drive no matter where you tell it to install itself, but you can minimize it. I never install anything into Windows' program file directories, everything goes into D:\Apps, nor do I store any data files in the default My Documents directory or whatever cutesy thing Win7 has called it, they're all in directories named by subject matter on other drives.
4. don't even think about turning off Windows' update function. It's crucial to keep it up to date to help protect it from security leaks and all the malicious thugs out there.

And just as a point of interest, my C: drive is a 30 Gb partition and it's 35% free space, on an XP system I've been running from that drive for 3 years. You have to be ruthless, and know what you're doing, know where the OS and your applications are putting things, and be sure it's where YOU want them, not where the software designers think is convenient. The do have to pick a default, and they'll always pick C: because every system will have at least that, but you don't have to accept it.

 

[DaSleeper]

I just thought of something that would clear a couple hundred megs if running xp is to get rid of all the windows updates uninstallers if the latest update is more than a week old and you've had no problems with it.
Also deleting all the fonts you never use...(some of those foreign fonts use up a lot of rspace)
Also get CCleaner once you have installed it to clean up your prefetch data once in a while...(windows will rebuild it as you use programs)
I was also surprised at the size of your c drive and it beeing full.

Those programs that Dexter mentioned...I get them fromFileHippo.com - Download Free Software also the updates....my personal preference only...because I becuse piriform keeps prompting me to the paid version:lol:

 

[Ariadne]

1. you cannot move installed software from one drive to another, all you can do is uninstall it from where it is and reinstall it somewhere else.
2. I'd bet you've got a whole lot of useless stuff in temporary files on your C: drive. Most Windows apps are terrible at cleaning up after themselves. Go to Piriform - Download CCleaner, Defraggler, Recuva, Speccy - Millions of users worldwide! and download, install (on D:!! ) and run CCleaner, it'll fix up a lot of that.
3. look carefully at what's actually ON your C: drive with Windows Explorer, and in particular look at the size of your user profile directories and the installed program files directories. It seems unlikely to me that just the OS and a couple of AutoDesk and Adobe apps would take up almost 116 Gb. A lot of applications default to storing files under your user profile, which will always be on C:, and that's not where you want them. First rule is, keep the OS, the applications, and the data files, separate from each other. Windows doesn't really allow you to do that, everything you install will insist on putting at least a little something onto the C: drive no matter where you tell it to install itself, but you can minimize it. I never install anything into Windows' program file directories, everything goes into D:\Apps, nor do I store any data files in the default My Documents directory or whatever cutesy thing Win7 has called it, they're all in directories named by subject matter on other drives.
4. don't even think about turning off Windows' update function. It's crucial to keep it up to date to help protect it from security leaks and all the malicious thugs out there.

And just as a point of interest, my C: drive is a 30 Gb partition and it's 35% free space, on an XP system I've been running from that drive for 3 years. You have to be ruthless, and know what you're doing, know where the OS and your applications are putting things, and be sure it's where YOU want them, not where the software designers think is convenient. The do have to pick a default, and they'll always pick C: because every system will have at least that, but you don't have to accept it.

Lots to digest. Thank you. So, it sounds like I need to go to Windows Explorer and clean up the files. I tried doing that today ... I'm used to my old system, and haven't been able to really figure out the new interface. Is there a way I can backdate the interface to an earlier interface where I can just find Windows Explorer through the Start menu. I don't know how to do that anymore. I think I'm running 2007 with 2010-11 other stuff.

Also, I would rather have the option that I decide whether to install updates rather than have it automatic, but I can't find that setting change. Do you know where I should go to change the setting?

I will go through the software and reset the preferences to backup to the other drive. Thanks. That's a start ... but I still need to clean up the red-lining or things will begin to malfunction ... pretty sure about that.

I'm a little unsure about downloading quick fixes from the internet ... would rather do it manually.

What is CCleaner and is that the link download above? What does it do that would help the system ... how does it work?

 

[shadowshiv]

Lots to digest. Thank you. So, it sounds like I need to go to Windows Explorer and clean up the files. I tried doing that today ... I'm used to my old system, and haven't been able to really figure out the new interface. Is there a way I can backdate the interface to an earlier interface where I can just find Windows Explorer through the Start menu. I don't know how to do that anymore. I think I'm running 2007 with 2010-11 other stuff.

Also, I would rather have the option that I decide whether to install updates rather than have it automatic, but I can't find that setting change. Do you know where I should go to change the setting?

I will go through the software and reset the preferences to backup to the other drive. Thanks. That's a start ... but I still need to clean up the red-lining or things will begin to malfunction ... pretty sure about that.

I'm a little unsure about downloading quick fixes from the internet ... would rather do it manually.

What is CCleaner and is that the link download above? What does it do that would help the system ... how does it work?

If you are using Windows XP, go to 'Control Panel' and then 'Security Center'. The option to turn off Automatic Updates is there. I wouldn't recommend doing that, as the Security updates are given out for a reason and getting hacked or a virus would be even worse for you than the issues you are having right now.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Sounds like you're using Windows 7, which I haven't installed and have never used, so I don't know exactly where things are in it, but assuming it at least resembles previous versions, there should be a Windows Update in the list that appears when you click on the Start button. You can set it to auto update, manual update, or some combination, e.g. it'll go out and look for updates but won't install them unless and until you tell it to. You're probably better off, as shadowshiv observes above, to leave it at auto, it doesn't sound like you're familiar enough with Windows to make good choices about what updates to install or not install.

Starting with XP, Windows has Windows Explorer listed under under the Start button in Programs - Accessories. Just click on it, hold the mouse button down, and drag it out onto your desktop. Also, if you right click on the Task Bar at the bottom of the screen and pick the Properties option on the little menu that pops up, you should be able to set the interface to look like previous versions. I always use the Windows Classic look myself, I can't stand all that cutesy stuff Windows usually defaults to.

CCleaner, originally called Crap Cleaner, cleans up a lot of... well, crap, that Windows leaves lying around, like temporary Internet files, browsing history, cookies, other temp files, empties the recycle bin, stuff like that. You can trust it, it's a good piece of software, I've been using it for years, and as a former IT professional I'm paranoid about security. That's the link to the download site I gave you.

 

[Ariadne]

Sounds like you're using Windows 7, which I haven't installed and have never used, so I don't know exactly where things are in it, but assuming it at least resembles previous versions, there should be a Windows Update in the list that appears when you click on the Start button. You can set it to auto update, manual update, or some combination, e.g. it'll go out and look for updates but won't install them unless and until you tell it to. You're probably better off, as shadowshiv observes above, to leave it at auto, it doesn't sound like you're familiar enough with Windows to make good choices about what updates to install or not install.

Starting with XP, Windows has Windows Explorer listed under under the Start button in Programs - Accessories. Just click on it, hold the mouse button down, and drag it out onto your desktop. Also, if you right click on the Task Bar at the bottom of the screen and pick the Properties option on the little menu that pops up, you should be able to set the interface to look like previous versions. I always use the Windows Classic look myself, I can't stand all that cutesy stuff Windows usually defaults to.

CCleaner, originally called Crap Cleaner, cleans up a lot of... well, crap, that Windows leaves lying around, like temporary Internet files, browsing history, cookies, other temp files, empties the recycle bin, stuff like that. You can trust it, it's a good piece of software, I've been using it for years, and as a former IT professional I'm paranoid about security.

Thank you. I think I can decide what to install and what not to install. I hadn't heard about CClean so thank you for bringing me up to speed ... will look at it on Monday. I would like to change the setting such that I decide whether to install, rather than for the installs to be automatic. I think I could save some space if I looked after the overall system using other virus detection tools ... and not installing the optional peripherals. I'm keeping the fonts for photoshop.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Thank you. I think I can decide what to install and what not to install.

Your choice of course, but be careful and thorough. If you do it manually, and really, you MUST do it regularly one way or another to keep the OS up to date, Windows Update will show you critical updates, recommended updates, and optional updates. Critical updates you should install, they're fixes for security leaks and bugs. There's usually a new release every Wednesday, so run Windows Update once a week and look. Recommended updates are things Microsoft thinks you'll like, or ought to have for your convenience, like what it calls Silverlight, a browser add on that supposedly enhances your online experience. I'm not inclined to trust things like that from Microsoft, I suspect them of wanting to install things that'll report on what I'm doing online, so I've never installed it and never will, and I don't use Internet Explorer either, it's notoriously insecure. Told you I was paranoid... Optional updates are usually specific to certain Microsoft software like Word or Excel, or driver updates for your hardware components. It's usually a good idea to install the latter, but I'd go to the hardware vendor's web site for that instead of getting it from Microsoft, though if your machine's working fine without the update, you can safely skip it.

 

[Ariadne]

Firefox and Thunderbird seem to me like archaic. In the work environment, one has to be up on IE and Outlook.

Tomorrow ... I'll try to figure it out. I want to decide which updates to install ... like my last machine.

What about the photo directory ... when I plug my camera in, it probably eats up one file for each time I open it ... I remember my daughter thought her computer was a lemon ... when I looked into it, I found layer after layer of photos that she had no idea where clogging the computer.

 

[petros]

Move photos to D

 

[DaSleeper]

For windows updates on windows seven I like the option that tells you you have updates ready for download and you can do it at your convenience.
When I first got this notebook I didn't know my way around windows7, so it was still on auto updates.
I was getting ready to go somewhere and when I went to turn it off I got a warning ....something like "Windows updates in progress, do not shut down"...I ended up being 10 minutes late.

 

[Ariadne]

Thanks for all the advice! I now have windows updates set such that I can decide what to install ... that will help a little. I also decided to update some software to 2012 versions in the D drive, then uninstall the 2011 from the C drive. Hopefully that will solve the problem ... but computer house keeping sure does suck up time.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

I'd strongly recommend doing the uninstalls first, then running CCleaner's registry cleaning routine, before doing new installations. Uninstalling an older version of something when you also have a newer version installed might remove some things the latter needs.

 

[Ariadne]

I did an uninstall for Revit 2011, but when I checked, files for 2011 are still all over the place.

It's a nightmare! Even though I specify D drive, loads of stuff is getting dumped on the C drive. I moved templates, etc, and set preferences for D drive, but it's not cleaning enough off C drive.

I'm downloading CCleaner ... will run it as soon as I uninstall AutoCAD 2011 and finish downloading the install shell for the next 2012 software.

What a mess!

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Yep, that's Windows for you. Uninstalls never clean up after themselves properly, they leave their stinky little footprints all over the place, and installs never entirely go where you tell them to, they'll always put some information on C: in the system directories or your user profile directories, or both. Good luck. I'd say "have fun" too, but I've done this kind of thing a lot, and I know it's not.

 

[Ariadne]

Time for me to apologize for having so little faith ... at first. I now have complete faith in the computer advice I receive here. I ran CCleaner and now have 33 GB free ... so it was indeed files I couldn't see, but it cleaned up the mess. Much appreciated.

Now ... uninstall AutoCAD 2011 ... then install 2012 on D and hope for the best.