Please help! My C Drive is BEYOND FULL what can I delete?

[ChippingInNeedsSleepAndCoffee]

Just that really.

I keep getting a warning that it's FULL.

I can only have one internet page open at a time and even then I'm still getting the warning.

What can I delete to make space?

Thank you Chippin for allowing me to piggyback and for starting this thread which is truly enlightening (tho not sure if I feel confident enough to delete anything ).

Thanks for all the contributions - I do feel prehistoric!

I realise that we do have an H drive (passport) which I presume is the external drive referred to and it has lots of space (used mainly for pics). Am I to consider transferring applications etc over?

Also, if I want to update itunes is it ok to unistall the current one and then download latest version?

NetworkGuy - no offence taken at all, I totally appreciate that I come across as a total idiot - and as far as technology goes these days, I am. Hard to believe I used to teach the stuff isn't it However, I assure you that there aren't any actual 'duplicates' There are quite a few 'sets' taken on auto, so 20 in a row of a child on a swing for example, but no actual duplicates.

TotallyBSYou know how kids these days are attached at the hip to their phones - well, I have my camera So, 10,000 does not surprise me in the slightest, otoh, they are high resolution, so might be a few less

I don't think I realised how 'small' my HD was actually, so really, I shouldn't be surprised at the 'fullness of it'.

I think, for now, I will try to delete everything off of the TB, re-save it, re-do the backup etc and buy another smaller HD for the second back up of photos and possibly another to keep at home

Then be very brave and delete them off of the c-drive.

Maggie - you are more than welcome, carry on! :)

TotallyBS & others - I tried to run the ccleaner this afternoon, but it got 'stuck' at 2% and didn't get past it for several hours?! I'll try again tomorrow.

That makes sense - if you're snap happy it's very easy to build up a large number. I have around 1000 photos on my camera currently and I barely ever use it because for ages I didn't have a card reader.

Wow, just ran ccleaner and freed up 5gb (coming from an amount measured in megabytes). I just went for the 'run' button - think I crave liberation!

Hopefully no dire consequences.

How do I try to keep on top of things?

OTOH I only have 3GB of photos on my entire computer but most of them are phone pictures so the resolution isn't high, and I could do with a new camera as that's 8MP which is nothing these days.

Tree Size Free? What the hell's that?

Bertie - 'Happy Snapper' - who are you calling a Happy Snapper?? Sit yourself in the naughty corner!! When I'm a rich and famous photograher you will rue the day you called me a Happy Snapper!! I think you can rest safe You need another camera for sure :)

Maggie - well done you!

Am I to consider transferring applications etc over?

Please don't attempt moving applications onto another drive. Odds are you'll get the computer very confused, and it will all end in tears.

Windows has a complex database (the Registry) which records info about installed software, including licence keys, locations (folders) where important files are stored, and while you can 'move' data from one computer to another (eg when buying a replacement) the software nearly always needs to be reinstalled.

[There are a few exceptions, eg a set of 'portable' applications, which can be stored on (and run from) a USB stick, for example.]

*For anyone feeling 'short' of disk space, I suggest you search HotUKdeals.com and look for 'external drives' or 'portable drives'... someone found (on Dabs.com) a drive for about 40 quid (and delivery was cheap too) find '500GB Touro Mobile USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive' on Dabs.com (it's compatible with USB v2 and v3 - v3 is much faster than v2, so ideal for future computers too).

Rats ! Wish there was an edit facility for typos !

For anyone feeling 'short' of disk space, I suggest you search HotUKdeals.com and look for 'external drives' or 'portable drives'.

I've just seen this thread and was going to suggest Treesize Free too.

Basically this application scans all your folders on the disk and tells you how big each folder and you can expand them to see how big each sub folder is too.

So very quickly you can see what the issue is and whats taking up the size.

In OP's case it's already pretty clear what the issue is and that is that she has 96GB of photos out of a disk which can only hold 160GB. So 60% of her disk are photos leaving everything else including the operating system using the remainder.

If I were in this situation then I'd upgrade the hard disk in your laptop. A local computer shop can do this for you cheaply if you are not confident. Then I'd get a second removable disk to back up the photos. It's a LOT of photos to have on one disk without any backups.

Lastly which camera are you using? Unless you are a serious photographer you may want to lower your settings. Usually the camera will let you choose what quality. For example mine is Extra Fine, Fine & standard. You can't tell the difference in photo quality but the size difference is massive.

Ccleaner is a good option you can clear the old files also you can remove the installed applications from there easily. So if you any unused apps which are installed on C drive then remove them so that you will have free space.

Well you can move programs, it just means uninstalling them properly and reinstalling in the new location. It's not a case of just moving the folder over.

If you're going to lower the setting on your camera you may first wish to check how large you can print out the photos without losing quality.