[NA]Notebook hd management[NA]

[Let'sgoflying!]

My Toshiba Satellite (80gb) is almost full and is running Very Slowly, it says it is unable to defrag it is so full!

I have copied all my files over to an external hd and made cd backups.

Now what to do.

1. Should I just erase extraneous files and defrag?
2. Should I reformat the hd and install everything fresh?

I am leaning towards 2 although Ive never done it before, I think it would leave less chance of partitioned files and nonsense files, garbage.

 

[bbchien]

My Toshiba Satellite (80gb) is almost full and is running Very Slowly, it says it is unable to defrag it is so full!

I have copied all my files over to an external hd and made cd backups.

Now what to do.

1. Should I just erase extraneous files and defrag?
2. Should I reformat the hd and install everything fresh?

I am leaning towards 2 although Ive never done it before, I think it would leave less chance of partitioned files and nonsense files, garbage.

If you are the only user, you can delete the "Documents and Settings" file associated with you login. ALL the crap but not your programs will be gone, and then reload your email client, it's datafile, your preferences, and "my documents" back in. It's pretty radical. But before doing this, make sure you recycle bin is empty. It can take up a LOT of space.

 

[wbarnhill]

I'd say 2. You never realize how many programs or files you don't use anymore til you format and reinstall Not to mention the junk that may be clogging up the registry.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Is a hd format a really big deal? Not for the faint of heart? How is it done?
After the formatting, just stick the factory cd's in and the OS reloads?

 

[gismo]

I'd say 2. You never realize how many programs or files you don't use anymore til you format and reinstall Not to mention the junk that may be clogging up the registry.

Just make sure you locate the install source and authorization for everthing in your program list that you want to continue using before wiping the drive. Another approach is to buy a replacment (larger?) HD and start with that. Worst case you can swap back if you forgot something and the old drive can become a handy spare.

 

[Greebo]

If you are the only user, you can delete the "Documents and Settings" file associated with you login. ALL the crap but not your programs will be gone, and then reload your email client, it's datafile, your preferences, and "my documents" back in. It's pretty radical. But before doing this, make sure you recycle bin is empty. It can take up a LOT of space.

With respect, DO NOT DO JUST DELETE THIS FOLER. THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS. You can make applications simply stop working if you take this approach.

There is a LOT of application control data that is stored in this folder that various applications depend upon after installation to track individual user preferences, and more applications leverage this location as time goes on.

Any deletion of files under the /documents and settings/<username> folder should be done with a scalpel, not a broadsword, and only with very careful estmiation and knoweldge of exactly what is being deleted.

If you want to clear up space, clear out your temp file folders, and your internet temp files, and go through Add & Remove Programs and uninstall anything you don't use anymore, then go into c:/Program Files afterwords and clean up anything you uninstalled but which left behind some junk.

Move data files out of 'My documents' and from under your desktop to an external hard drive and delete them from the pc. But again, do so carefully.

 

[Greebo]

Is a hd format a really big deal? Not for the faint of heart? How is it done?
After the formatting, just stick the factory cd's in and the OS reloads?

Its not for the computer timid and you must accept the risk of missing something and losing it forever.

If you choose to go this route, make sure you have ALL your installation CDs for everything including the O/S and make sure you've backed up everything you can't stand to loose.

Then just pop the Windows installer CD in the computer and reboot from that CD (if you have a fairly modern computer and are using XP anyway) and follow the directions to do a new installation. Make sure you put it on your existing hard drvie and tell it to do a quick format before proceeding. (Or a full one but thats slow). The xp installer usually does everything for you from that point on.

DISCLAIMER - If you choose to go this route, I will NOT come to your house and fix your computer for you when you get stuck.

 

[gkainz]

DISCLAIMER - If you choose to go this route, I will NOT come to your house and fix your computer for you when you get stuck.

However, Dave may show up at your house with laptop in hand!

 

[Greebo]

However, Dave may show up at your house with laptop in hand!

IF he shows up with beer and pizza (and I mean REAL beer, not this american fluff), he's got a technician.

 

[gkainz]

IF he shows up with beer and pizza (and I mean REAL beer, not this american fluff), he's got a technician.

If you specify non-American beer, you'll most likely get Molson or Moosehead, eh?
Am I close, Dave?

 

[wbarnhill]

Reformatting is relatively painless with the handy dandy step by step guidance Windows affords you. Just make sure you're sure you've saved everything and that you have all of your application CDs (unless they're all pirated... *cough*).

 

[Greebo]

If you specify non-American beer, you'll most likely get Molson or Moosehead, eh?
Am I close, Dave?

I prefer Ales over lagers, personally. Show up with Beck's Dark and I'll reformat your computer for you, install the OS, and polish the internal components.

 

[fgcason]

If you choose to go this route, make sure you have ALL your installation CDs for everything including the O/S and make sure you've backed up everything you can't stand to loose.

I'm probably just being paranoid here but that can't be said enough.

When you do make the backups on CD or disk, turn your computer off and walk away for 20 minutes. Then come back and verify by looking on the CD's themselves that you didn't miss anything or have a CD/HD/FDD data error. Paranoid? Maybe. But I watched a guy at work make multiple backup CD directories on his HD so he could just load CD's and copy. He was one button push away from the great HD nuking and I walked over and said lets check first. Turns out he got stupid talking while waiting between disk swaps and lost track of where he was and 4 out of the 20something disks were blank. Other times I've seen people actually lose stuff.

Formatting and reinstalling from scratch is a vicious way to fix/maintain things but it's also very effective. I do it occasionally here.

 

[Greebo]

About once a year, myself.

Oh yes - HAVE ALL OF YOUR COMPUTERS CUSTOM DRIVERS ON A CD!!!

I have a motherboard that requires a special driver before its built in LAN connection will operate. If you have only one computer, and think you can format and then download the drivers as you need them, you'll be VERY unhappy if you find out that you can't touch the internet cause your drivers aren't complete.

 

[fgcason]

About once a year, myself.

1-2 years is my interval depending on the machine and a second HD for occasional backups. I've caught slowly failing hard drives that way over the years. Not quite the same disk size as before, hmmmm. Next thing you know

Oh yes - HAVE ALL OF YOUR COMPUTERS CUSTOM DRIVERS ON A CD!!!

Agreed. I have my master windows CD's and the master hardware drivers CD's plus a couple other home made CD's all bundled together. Put them in the drive in order. After that it's the data disks. When the last disk comes out, it's done. My rule is that I could do this on the backside of the moon or at the center of the Earth. If you have to dial out to install something, you're not prepared for a full up install.

I also have a little text file on the first homemade install CD. That has the entire list of install instructions from brainless hardware only to fully operational personal setup with little comments that everyone forgets they did after 3-4 years. It includes screen colors, where the icons are on the screen (though that's actually a screen grab jpg file), icon names and any picky details I personally like. When I'm done, it's as if I hadn't done it except the machine runs better afterward.

A little extra effort today can save you a ton of grief tomorrow.

 

[SCCutler]

Dave, were it me (and this is worth every penny you are paying for it), I'd be tempted to drop a hundred or so for a bigger HD (80gb?), swap that in and let the Toshiba install CD do its thing. It is a soup-to-nuts install, and when it finishes, the 'puter will be just like it was when it first came out of the box, complete with Microsoft's dramatic first-boot-up music.

You filled up 40 pretty easily, why not go for the gusto. The old one is a couple of years old, anyway, it may be nearing its TBO.

Something like, say, this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822149040

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Dang this is stariting to sound like brain surgery, I gotta think about this.
Spike; 40G in >2yrs but now I have that external hd