My new system is out of disk space

[StupidUser]

Hi all. I bought a new Laptop with Vista on it. It is only 1 month old. I have not installed any programs, and it is out of disk space.

I wanted a fast drive, so I bought a solid state drive. But I'm a poor college student and so got the 64GB one, which only has 58GB of space (because Lenovo put something on a separate partition which they say I cannot get rid of).

The only thing installed is WinVist and MS Office 2007 (and McAfee and other progrms that came with the PC which weren't taking up much space).

Those two programs took up 30GB of space. Yesterday, some Windows backup thing started to run and said "There isn't enough room on this drive to do the backup, do you want to do it anyway? (I'm paraphrasing)". Since I like having things backed up, I said Yes anyway (and to see what happened).

Now I have 1 GB free on my drive. Lenovo won't help me with Windows because that's "a configuration issue" and they don't do that. How do I get rid of this backup and get at least 20GB back? Then, how can I configure Windows and Office to take up less disk space?

It seems like Lenovo sold me a PC with a disk drive that doesn't have enough space to operate correctly. And they won't help me resolve the problem.

Also, it seems that it is not as easy to separate your data in WinVista as magazine articles would have you believe. I tried configuring it so my "Documents" was on another external drive, but that proved too difficult.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

I forgot to mention that I already tried to run Disk Cleanup and it cleared almost no space. Also, the backup that Windows created somehow was made into a directory called C:\RRsomething (I don't remember), but which does not appear on the list of files on the C:\ directory (I do have "Show system and hidden files" turn on).

I also just ran a restore point. But that had no effect because it ran out of disk space during the operation.

I'm really desperate for help on cleaning my disk drive. Please help. Thanks.

 

[Frostmourne]

Can you open up disk cleanup and in the advanced section, clear out all restore points. That should free up some space. Next, turn off hibernation as it takes a chunk out of your hard drive space quivalent to your ram:

1. Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
2. In the search results list, right-click Cmd, and then click Run as Administrator on the pop up contextual menu.
3. If you are prompted by User Account Control for permission, click Continue.
4. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: powercfg.exe -h off
5. Type exit, and then press ENTER.

Then install glary utilities and let it scrub your hard drive on the on-click maintanence tab:

www.glaryutilities.com/gu.html

 

[kword88]

i can offer a few suggestions. if you need instructions on any of them, just ask.

resize your recycle bin to 1024mb.
reduce the size of your page file.
uninstall any unused programs and windows features.
run windows cleanup.
delete all but the latest restore point (if your system has no problems).
run a cleanup utility (ccleaner is free). i also recommend purera. it finds a ton of junk files.
as a last resort, you can compress the entire drive.

and i forgot to mention running a disk defrag after all that.

 

[StupidUser]

Is there a way to just reformat the whole drive?

I tried many of the suggestions here, but to little (or no) effect.

The system is new enough - that is, there's not much installed and my data is backed up on an external drive - that I can just re-install Windows. But when I tried to do that, it would not let me create the user account named Administrator, because it said that account already existed. It is retaining a memory of my last install!

I want a completely new install. I am really frustrated with how difficult it is to configure Vista that I want a new install which does not retain any of the old settings. In order to do that, apparently I need to completely reformat the disk drive (since it remembers my old user names). How can I just reformat the whole drive and then do a re-install of Windows?

Thanks,

 

[kword88]

you should call lenovo. you should still receive free tech support for a machine that is only a month old.
i'm pretty sure that your separate partition contains all the programs and operating system that came with the computer.

 

[StupidUser]

Well, I've called them in the past to ask Windows questions and they just don't do Windows. They say Windows is a configuration issue and they sold me the hardware (I guess that it the hardware came with Windows doesn't quite register with them). I may have to try calling them again. I may have to try calling my state's consumer protection, too, if I can't get an answer.

In the meantime, I would settle for a way to reformat the disk from scratch. I know about the 'format' command, but am too scared to use it and I think it will not work when I'm running the OS booted from the same partition (right?).

Thanks

 

[kword88]

do you have an installation disc that came with the computer? if so, insert the disc and restart the computer.

this might help you too: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-4UFUYK

or this: Lenovo Support & downloads - Operating system installation

 

[whs]

You could reduce the shadowstorage to 300MBs (that is the minimum) You now have up to about 8GBs. Here are the instructions: How to reduce disk space used by Windows Vista system restore

In addition, you can move all your user files to a USB stick (Documents, pictures, music, etc). You will have to operate them with shortcuts - but that should not be a problem. Make an extra toolbar (if you need guidance, let me know). I bought a 16GB Kingston USB stick the other day for $15. Here are some reasonably priced ones too:
http://www.deals2buy.com/more/c203.htm

 

[StupidUser]

do you have an installation disc that came with the computer? if so, insert the disc and restart the computer.

this might help you too: Lenovo Support & downloads - How to use the pre-boot service partition to recover your software

or this: Lenovo Support & downloads - Operating system installation

I do have installation discs. I already tried re-installing, but it remembered my old usernames and will not let me recreate users with the names I had. In other words, it remembers my old configuration. I do not want the old configuration because it consumed my entire disk drive. I want a completely fresh start.

I will investigate those links tonight. I have to go to a meeting now. Thanks for the help.

 

[StupidUser]

You could reduce the shadowstorage to 300MBs (that is the minimum) You now have up to about 8GBs. Here are the instructions: How to reduce disk space used by Windows Vista system restore

In addition, you can move all your user files to a USB stick (Documents, pictures, music, etc). You will have to operate them with shortcuts - but that should not be a problem. Make an extra toolbar (if you need guidance, let me know). I bought a 16GB Kingston USB stick the other day for $15. Here are some reasonably priced ones too:
Deals2buy: USB Drives deals

This sounds like it might be just what I need. I will investigate what shadowstorage is and investigate your links.

I intend to put all my user data on external drives. However, it is the OS which has taken up my entire C: space. I already have an external USB and flash drive.

Thanks for the help. I have to go to a meeting now so I will not be able to investigate this and reply until tonight.

Do you know anything about a Vista backup utility that uses a directory named RRBackup (or something like that)? It is what used up the rest of my limited disk space.

 

[lemur]

Vista 64-bit requires 40GB hard drive with a minimum of 15GB available space.
One possible solution for you (although it sort of defeats the purpose of a notebook) it to purchase an external portable usb drive for storage. They are pretty cheap and may offer an alternative. I suppose you could also see if Lenova has a larger hd you could swap for your current one - but odds of this are lower on notebooks.

 

[whs]

Regarding the RRbackup folder: Go into Safe Mode (tapping F8 when you power up the system) and remove the content of the RRbackup folder, but not the folder itself.

 

[StupidUser]

Vista 64-bit requires 40GB hard drive with a minimum of 15GB available space.
One possible solution for you (although it sort of defeats the purpose of a notebook) it to purchase an external portable usb drive for storage. They are pretty cheap and may offer an alternative. I suppose you could also see if Lenova has a larger hd you could swap for your current one - but odds of this are lower on notebooks.

I already have an external drive and a portable flashdisk drive. But it seems the 64GB isn't enough for simply running the OS. And putting programs on external drives is not as straightforward as all the articles written in computer magazines woul have you believe.

Lenovo does offer a larger SSD (and even larger HDDs), but I am a poor college student and since WinXP and all of my programs and all of my data for 8 years on my last PC never took up 30GB, I figured the $200 cheaper 64GB SSD would be like the baby bear's porridge - just right. It is past the time I can return it and I would have to purchase the entire bigger SSD (oh why can't I have a rich uncle?). I am thinking of calling them and saying they sold me drive that doesn't support the software and they should give me a break on the new drive.

Thanks for the help.