Hard drive space help

[e.m.]

I'm running windows xp.

I have recently sent about 60 gigs of images to the recycle bin.

I emptied the recycle bin.

My problem is that I haven't gained any more space on my hard

drive. I'm still showing what it was before I got rid of the

files.

 

I'm really not quite sure where to look for them because I deleted

out of their image folders.

 

Any help would be great.

Thanks- Ed McCulloch

[WJT]

By any chance, are you using Norton Sytemworks or similar software? It has a protection function that preserves files until they are purged. The idea being to prevent accidental deletion. Regards.

[lex_jenkins]

If you don't already have a CD/DVD burner, get one. It doesn't need to be an internally mounted burner if you're not comfotable working inside a computer.

 

There are several external models that hook up via a USB port. I got a LiteOn external burner that came with Nero software for a little over $100. You might be able to do even better - I was in a hurry and bought the first thing with a name I recognized and which seemed capable of doing the job.

 

Also, an external burner allows you to carry the burner with you in case you visit friends and family who own computers but not CD/DVD burners. Burn 'em as you go as your media cards fill up rather than filling up their hard drives.

 

I like to make two DVDs for each important set of photos (usually organized by theme, session, event, etc.). One is used to burn CD copies, the other is used just for storage. Same with CDs if I don't have enough image files from a particular session, event or theme to overrun a CD.

 

And get some sort of file management software that helps minimize the risk of keeping multiple identical copies of the same images scattered throughout your computer.

 

As for the files sent to your recycle bin, not all of them are unrecoverable yet. There are many programs, some cheap or free, that can easily recover these files. Do it as soon as possible - the sooner you do this the less risk there is of the wanted files being overwritten.

 

*After* you're certain you've saved and archived to CD/DVD all of the images that are important to you, then you can delete them, wipe delete them using a security program that overwrites the files for greater (if not perfect) security, and, finally, try defragmenting the hard drive.

[mendel_leisk]

Get to a dos prompt. This can be done by:

 

<start> <run> <cmd>

 

or, on a typically setup start menu, by:

 

<start> <programs> <accessories> <command prompt>

 

At DOS prompt:

 

Get to the root of c: (your hard drive) by typing:

 

c:\

 

Then to search the drive for any file, type:

 

dir/s/a <file name>

 

(The /s switch searches all sub-directories)

 

(the /a switch includes all hidden, system, etcetera)

 

Lex, I don't think he's wanting to recover those files. Still, lots of good tips.

[cbender]

One other tidbit for 'recovering' more HD space from Windows (although it doesn't address your current problem) is to alter your Recycle Bin settings.

 

Right click the recycle bin and go into its properties. The default settings is to 'set-aside' 10% of your HD's total space for the recycle bin. With today's very large drives, you can probably reduce this to 1-2%, with no noticable loss in functionality.

[e.m.]

Thanks for the advice you guys. I still don't know how to get my hard drive space back. Evidently when I dragged the files and folders into the recycle bin they were not permenantly deleted off of my computer.

 

I have looked through the hard drive but can't seem to find where they might be.

 

If anyone knows where abouts to look that would be great. I need to find them so I can free up the space.

 

I am running Norton Antivirus so perhaps that has something to do with it.

 

Thanks for your help, Ed McCulloch

[._kaa]

Do a file search for all files in all directories and sort the results by size.

 

This will give you a pretty good idea of what's eating your hard drive space.

[walter_degroot]

a few things: first space: windows is clunky about letting you see what is there. I carefully use ztree to clean up the drive.

 

 

if xp permits a "disk cleanup" like 98se try that.

 

internet explorer saves a lot of useless information a lot of files that you will never use gifs of web pages and other useless stuff.

 

install a copy of mozilla ( free at www.mozilla.org)

mozilla is 99% compatible with IE.

 

get a copy of the free "sypybot search and destroy" and get rid of bots.

also "adaware se" is another free bot tool

they will get rid of bots.

 

some love nero but if you do cumulative backups

and now use another cd burning software, nero will see your existing disks as empty.

cd creator is backwards & forward compatible

I know some do not like it.

the built-in cd burning sw must often be disabled when using

another cd burning program.

[marymac]

I haven't used Norton Systemworks in a long time but I recall having to right click on the Recycle Bin and select "Purge Protected Files" (or something like that) to get the bin to empty.

[scottm]

In Win XP, click "Start" button, click "My Computer", then right-click on your hard drive. Choose "Properties" from the drop-down menu. In the dialog window that appears, click the "Disk Cleanup" button (right next to the pie chart showing available disk space). After a while ( windows takes some time to compute various options for freeing up space) you'll get some choices, including cleaning out your recycle bin.

 

This may not be the fastest way, but it's nice to run disk cleanup every once and a while to see what you can do to free up space.

[mendel_leisk]

"If anyone knows where abouts to look that would be great. I need to find them so I can free up the space."

 

Edward, the instruction I posted, up the page, WILL find the files.

 

If you suffix the command with "> filename.txt", it will redirect the result to a text file.

[lex_jenkins]

Sandisk Rescuepro software is excellent for finding and recovering image files, whether on digital camera media or other media. It comes on a mini-CD with the purchase of Sandisk Extreme III media. I don't know whether it's included with other Sandisk media. But it's worth buying s Sandisk media card just to have the Rescuepro software. Much simpler to use if you're not comfortable with DOS.

 

Once you've recovered your desired files, you can use various utilities to unload crap from the hard drive (such as adware and spyware), defragment it and *wipe* (not just erase or delete) the slack space. MXC Software iSafeguard "Clean Disk Free Space" is a freebie that is simple to set up to perform one or multiple writeovers to wipe slack space. I'm not concerned about the efficancy of this utility for security purposes, but it may help free up hard drive space to make it accessible more efficiently for other purposes. And since the utility is free it's worth a try. I run it at night just before going to bed since multiple wipes can take a while.

[bjmarkowitz]

I dont think Norton's antivirus allowa you to delete with the recycle bin. It has a rotection so you don't loose files. Right click on the recycle bin and there should be an option like empty the bin or purge the bin, something to that effect.

 

Also, if you are deleting THAT much information, you should defragment your hard drive.