I Need Computer People

Arg. So I did a system restore...which is suppose to bring it back to "factory settings", correct?

Wellllll, apparently my computer came with Photoshop Elements and Premiere. It took most of the stuff I had put on away, but not all.

And I still have only 1.78GB of Hard Drive. How is this possible?

Thank you.

It's 18.6 GB..I have 7.29 GB free space.

I agree it's partly the music...but iTunes has to stay on the hard disk. I am recording and culling.

My Norton backs up files all the time.

Is this gonna take up space after the first time?

My free space went down quite suddenly, and the music doesn't seem to be the whole answer.

The new internal hard drive may be the thing, since it seems I am still a long way from a new computer. I'll check out prices.

That's frustrating!

You're problem sounds like mine. Like, one day all of a sudden, you lost a bunch of space.

A month ago, I had cleaned up my computer so that I had 17GB free. Now, a month later, I have 1.78GB. What the hell happened???

Not necessarily, System Restore just restores to your chosen point in the past, and it could just be before the last program was installed.



System Restore isn't a way to clean up disc space, in fact it uses an awful lot of it.

A 20 GB hard drive is pretty much good for little other than running the operating system. 4 GB to Windows, another 3 GB for your page file and hibernate file and you are pretty much using half of it up.



Did you run the disc cleanup tool I mentioned earlier?



You should also check to see if you have space for another hard drive in your computer.

Oh, and you probably don't need your music on your internal drive for your iPhone, you can probably work around it. If you post a new question with detailed information (what iPhone software version, what iTunes version, etc) I'll try to help you work around that if you want.

Thanks.

But kind of sad.

I always have my disk as clean as it can be, so cleaning it is not the problem.


Sure re new question re iTunes/iphone....but it is an access problem. I only have one place where the iphone or the external hard drive can connect to the computer, so it's either/or.

But I'll happily ask a question!

You need a USB hub.

Yeah, DrewDad has your first step, but you may still need to fiddle with iTunes to get it to sync the external disc, but I have some workarounds for you to try. Either way, you can get extra usb ports for a couple dollars using his recommendation.

Install a bigger hard drive. Both of you.

What kind of computer? laptop, desktop?
What operating system? Windows? Mac?
For about $70 (US) you can put a 160g hard drive in your laptop and have a lot of space. 400g for $90. For a desktop it costs less.

For a desktop you can bet a 1tb (1000gig) drive for about $100

The only things you need are
1. what kind of drive interface? PATA or SATA.
2. A way to transfer everything to the new drive from the old drive. (Software and a connection like the cable below.)
3. A screw driver and the willingness to take the old drive out and put a new one in.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189169
A product like the one above which will run about $10 lets you hook up a hard drive to a USB port. Just make sure it hooks up to the type of drive you have.

I agree with you on the cost/benefit of just putting in a decent-sized drive. But you should mention if they are replacing the existing drive the windows installation is the hard part (especially without install media).

No, it's easy if you are just replacing the drive and want to save the files that are on it. A lot of software out there including stuff that comes with a drive that do the transfer for you. Simply start the computer, designate the drive being copied and the one you are copying it to and go have a cup of coffee. When done, remove the old drive put in the new drive and fire up the computer. It won't know you changed drives and won't care.

It's only one of the checks for windows validation so if it is all you change you won't have to revalidate.

If you have a restore CD or DVD and want to do a clean install, again it isn't that hard. Most major manufactures have set up their install disks to do all the work.

"drive clone" is what you need to look for.
Maxtor drives used to come with a version of a cloner. I think Western Digital did too.


There are free ones available online. I have used gparted with success. Download the iso, burn the cd and use that to start the computer with the 2 drives attached.

Cool.

You know...I went and asked for something of that ilk, and they looked at me as though I was mad.

I'll have a good look at that when I get home.

I know this, but I don't think what you or I may consider simple is something they would and if they brick their computers they are likely going to be spending money on techs that might make the project less cost-effective than buying a new computer.

Ha! Computer died when I moved it.

Now have new internal hard drive!!!!!!!!

One hopes it is speaking to the computer.


I have a computer again.

Yay!!!!!!

And a multi port!!!!

I have one.

But it looks different.

Yay!!!

Thank you Robert and DD!!!!

do a disk deefrag

do a disk defrag