thinking of reformating, but scared

TrumandrummerTrumandrummer Taylor Michigan Icrontian
edited August 2006 in Hardware
ok, my computer is full............

completely

last week i only had 358 mb left on it, before i deleted some stuff


So i think im gonna reformat it.......... i dont want to lose all this stuff though, the computer is a year 2000, and has a lot of programs on it. im gonna burn all my music and some of the programs, but im just a little worried for some reason, and i dont know if i should do it. (ive never reformated before)

Comments

  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    well, unless you have the install files/discs for the programs, you will loose them

    and I know how you feel about the space, I have a 250gig hard rive, with 1.8 gigs left:eek:
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited August 2006
    What Operating System are you running? You definitely need to clear up some space, but a format may be overkill. How big is the HD you have now?

    Before you proceed, I would strongly recommend that you backup your data and make sure that you verify it. You don't want to get back up and running, only to find that you have a spindle full of dud DVD's.

    You also want to make sure that your Windows disc is in good shape and that you have all the drivers you'll need to get yourself back in business. Running the Belarc Advisor and saving a printout should be helpful in tracking everything down.
  • TrumandrummerTrumandrummer Taylor Michigan Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    um the hardrive came with the computer which we got like year 2000............

    its an 80gb hard-drive................

    i want to delete stuff but its so full i dont even know where half the stuff is now, so i thought it would be easier to reformat...........

    im not sure im gonna do it yet, i really want to, and right now im making a bunch of backup data dvds, and then testing them to see if they work
  • TrumandrummerTrumandrummer Taylor Michigan Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    I just used belarc advisor and printed it out, that is a very usefull program! wow that cool, lol
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited August 2006
    Why not add a bigger HDD? then you can back up what you need to that and have loads of space.
  • Bad_KarmaBad_Karma The Great White North
    edited August 2006
    Just to let you know a reformat of your hard drive will erase all of your programs that you have installed. Everything you have downloaded will be gone as well.
    The reformat will give you a windows install right from square one. It is a better idea in your case to go through your installed apps and get rid of ones you don't use/want anymore.
    You can do frequent deletions of the files in your windows temp folder as sometimes thats full of crap you don't need (MAKE SURE YOU DON'T NEED IT). Also if you use Internet Explorer dumping the temp folder for it is also good once in a while.

    Go through your email client and clean it up. Sometimes I will have over 100mb in my sent folder or deleted folder.

    Finally if you have large downloaded files back them up onto CD or DVD and delete them off your hard drive.
  • TrumandrummerTrumandrummer Taylor Michigan Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    Well thanks a lot guys, i guess i wont reformat then because i talked to my sister and she wants to buy a hardrive for it anyways, but she wants an external, or should i get an internal instead.......... any suggestions towards a hardrive like size brand, internal/external would be helpfull. but im gonna be deleting a lot of stuff.......


    i know that reformating starts your off from scratch but there is so much stuff and folders my computer is like a maze, but ill try deleting stuff first :smiles: :cool:
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    extenral hd's are nice...id totally get an internal though (either a seagate or a wd) 320gig, it osts liek 100 on newegg and then buy an external enclosure (i used the AMS venus and it works great) ....but u can totally back everything up and then format and have a nice new install i love formats they are fuuunnnn... (also, do you have usb 2 or 1...if you have 1 its painfully slow to use an external unless u guy usb 2.0 PCI card
  • TrumandrummerTrumandrummer Taylor Michigan Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    i have usb 2.0 ......

    I dont know why i didnt think of that, ive heard of them b4, the incloser

    its just like something you slide the internal hard-drive into and then it can be used like an external (usb) right?:rockon:

    i only have 7.5 gb left even after i went through and deleted stuff.......:banghead:
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited August 2006
    My advice would be to get the bigger hard drive (internal), then clone your old drive over to the new one. :)
  • TrumandrummerTrumandrummer Taylor Michigan Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    i want to do that, and i think i will.

    but my sister is the one buying the hard-drive mainly because my dad told her she can put her digital camera pics on this computer anymore since it was almost full.........

    so she wants an external so she can take her pics and put them on the external and unplug it so my dad cant go through them

    so i might get an interal with one of those external casings so i can possibly do both
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    Or you could buy a 320gb internal, get your sister 5 1GB flash drives and still spend less than you would have with a real external.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    Thrax wrote:
    Or you could buy a 320gb internal, get your sister 5 1GB flash drives and still spend less than you would have with a real external.

    why not buy the drive, a $15 enclosure, and be done with it?:scratch:
  • Private_SnoballPrivate_Snoball Dover AFB, DE, USA
    edited August 2006
    airbornflght wrote:
    why not buy the drive, a $15 enclosure, and be done with it?:scratch:

    Because he can save 15 bucks and retain the speed of the interior HDD. Its safer that way.
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