Question about Hard Drive Space

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FistOfThe North
The current total/max capacity in my Local (C) drive is 37.2 gigs, but I have 1 gig of RAM.

Now, I have more RAM than my friend definetely, but she has around 56 gigs of total capacity in her Local (C) drive, give or take a few gigs. I was stumpped.

How can I increase my gig size in my Local (C) Drive. I always run out of space and more gigs would be a life saver.

Anyone know how?

Thanks.

JKozzy
You mean you want to make your total capacity, say, 70 instead of 37.2? If so, you need to buy another hard drive. RAM has absolutley nothing to do with the physical size of your drive.

Or, if you just want to free up space, delete existing programs that you don't use, and clear your temporary files.

Clovie
it reminds me that I need new disc.........

JKozzy
How big is yours, Clovie? Or is it just old?

Clovie
no...it is just getting full... it's only 120 GB embarrasment

Lana
Only 120 GB? I've got a 40 GB harddrive embarrasment I desperately need a new one.

Clovie
I have less than 10 free..and it needs some space to work properly..sad

and you do need a new one yes

Lana
I have less than 5 gb free right now.

My PSD files and music take up most of my space erm

Clovie
yeah.. I have similar..
tell parents to get you a new one for *thinks about closest occasion.* Santa's Day yes

JKozzy
I have a 250 GB, and with all the video work I do, I still need a spare.

FistOfThe North
Originally posted by JKozzy
You mean you want to make your total capacity, say, 70 instead of 37.2? If so, you need to buy another hard drive. RAM has absolutley nothing to do with the physical size of your drive.

Or, if you just want to free up space, delete existing programs that you don't use, and clear your temporary files.

I see...

And how can an increase in gigs help PC performance besides storage, like say with, Pc games and Pc performance? What, things move faster?

And I now know that a greater/higher capacity drive allows for faster transmissions of data to a from the PC to Hard Drive and vice versa, right?

And thanks for the info..

Clovie
what do you mean by transform data from PC to hard drive?



I thoguht Hard Drive is a part of PC dunce

JKozzy
Clov, a Hard Drive is a part of the PC. What he meant by that, is when the Hard Drive communicates with the CPU, (Pentium 4, whathaveyou) some hard drives communicate faster and more efficently.

Fist: Larger hard drive/more HD space gives applications more temporary room, and easier time storing those files. It also allows for less fragmentation, and when a drive is defragmented properly, it should be easier for Windows and other programs to search for data on the hard drive, as whole files, and not pieces. If you have a teeny hard drive, then sometimes fragmenting is more common.

Clovie
oh..got it now.

and when you don't have free space, it is saying that defragmentation can't happen blink

JKozzy
Yup. When it defragments, it basically rearranges everything on your hard drive to be more organized. Just like cleaning your room; if there isn't an empty spot on your floor, you can't move anything around if you have no room to move other stuff. In that case, you'd throw out (delete) stuff for it to be able to defragment.

FistOfThe North
Originally posted by JKozzy
Clov, a Hard Drive is a part of the PC. What he meant by that, is when the Hard Drive communicates with the CPU, (Pentium 4, whathaveyou) some hard drives communicate faster and more efficently.

Fist: Larger hard drive/more HD space gives applications more temporary room, and easier time storing those files. It also allows for less fragmentation, and when a drive is defragmented properly, it should be easier for Windows and other programs to search for data on the hard drive, as whole files, and not pieces. If you have a teeny hard drive, then sometimes fragmenting is more common.

So it has no effects with PC gameplay performance since games are not really files per se. or are they? If so what effects would a higher capacity have on a game. I'm asking cause I'm a hardcore gamer that loves playing my games smoothly without lag..

Thanks..

JKozzy
Definately helps out for games, especially when/if they update themselves. Rule of thumb: bigger is usually better. PC games are most definately files. Open up any game folder, and you'll see the files that run the game.

http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/6816/maps8pu.jpg

Notice for the game Republic Commando, all the files needed for the maps of the game, the sounds, the videos, character models, menus, etc. Games are much more complex applications than you think.

FistOfThe North
Originally posted by JKozzy
Definately helps out for games, especially when/if they update themselves. Rule of thumb: bigger is usually better. PC games are most definately files. Games are much more complex applications than you think.

So how will high gig capacity affect gameplay. Will games move faster or will load times be affected or what?

Lana
Helps with working in Photoshop, too (which is what I primarily use my computer for) -- when what you're doing requires more memory than you have RAM, then it creates a temporary 'scratch' disc on the harddrive where it saves what you're doing, but will be deleted when you're finished.

eggmayo
Originally posted by FistOfThe North
So how will high gig capacity affect gameplay. Will games move faster or will load times be affected or what?
The emptier your hard disk, the faster games will run.
Basically the less crap you have on your hard disk the better.

Hit_and_Miss
theres alot of factors on your hand drive that effect your performance...

the best way is to regularly wipe your pc with the restart disks... everything can be backed up...

Baring that... You need to do the following on a 2 week/1 week basis...

Clear out all files you don't want
burn as much off as you can
Run windows(or norton and the likes) Drive cleaner
Get a windows Reg cleaner
Run windows(or norton and the like) Defragger
Get some form of windows error checker
Get some form of windows optimiser

Anyone know of any good software I'm open to recomendations... I'm currently trying to find the best in all catagories...

Last but not least.. Open up your PC and hover out all the dust... Try to get around the heat sinks and fans.... I recomend you remove all the wires and gently hover over it... then use a duster to get the rest... BE CAREFUL THOUGH! its fragile!
Dust can cause the PC to over heat and grow noisy... plus dust reaks!!!!

With a 40gb hard drive though.... how are you a hardcore gamer??? that pc must be old or a laptop... I would of though A serious gamer would keep upto date! wink

FistOfThe North
Originally posted by Hit_and_Miss
With a 40gb hard drive though.... how are you a hardcore gamer??? that pc must be old or a laptop... I would of though A serious gamer would keep upto date! wink

On a budget, college student here. I keep up well given the circumstances, i wager. I have a GeForce 6600 256mb vid card, 1 gig of ram and a cable connection, a laser mouse, surround sound and a 19inch flat monitor. Works fine for me, for now.

And trust me, I am a serious gamer. when i get outta school, i'm gonna get/make the uber ultimate PC gaming system and update everytime a better performing piece of hardware comes out thats worthy, what, like every 6 months.

Until then, bills 1st..

big grin

Hit_and_Miss
I use to think like that... then I realised.... I might as well get a games system... they got most of the games... and you don't have to piss around with all the faults that can happen.... And I use to think there would be alot less cheating...

At the risk of "off topic-ness" what games do you play???

FistOfThe North
Originally posted by Hit_and_Miss
I use to think like that... then I realised.... I might as well get a games system... they got most of the games... and you don't have to piss around with all the faults that can happen.... And I use to think there would be alot less cheating...

At the risk of "off topic-ness" what games do you play???

I gave up on consoles in like 2001, i think, went into PC gaming and never looked back. But I must say that the next Gen systems are looking hot. But there's nothing like PC gaming.

I use to fiercely play: MOH:AA, Warcraft 3, Call of Duty and the expansion pack, Battlefield '42, Nam sucked, Medieval: Total War, Command and Conquer: Generals, i liked Max Payne 1&2, Battlefront 1, Half Life 2, Doom 3, KOTOR, the Jedi Knight/Academy games, some counter strike, Beat all these games within a month except KOTOR, it took me more than a few weeks to beat it, not into RPG but since i love SW, i figure I'd try it and i loved the story too.

I play:

Battlefield 2, Act of War, Battlefront 2, thats about it.

Waiting for Battlefield 2-Special Forces (expansion pak) due Nov. 22 and Star Wars: Empire @ War due Feb '06

Why, what do you play..?

bobcrickett
Hurray Call of Duty! big grin

Get CoD2, I demand it.

Ushgarak
Ok, folks, let's not make this a video games forum thread...

FistOfThe North
So can I buy a Hard Drive, install it in my PC and have my PC automatically add the gigs onto my computer? Like i'd have 2 hard drives. Or will I have to completely replace my current Hard Drive and just get a higher capacity gig Hard Drive?

eggmayo
You can get an external HDD, which I think plug in to a USB (not sure though) but if you get an internal, you will have to replace your current hard disk, and reinstall Windows and everything.

JKozzy
Not necessarily. You can have two or more physical hard drives. I have two on my VAIO, and I plan on adding a second to this machine as well. External HD's are usually much slower than an internal, and unless you were transporting large amounts of data on it, I wouldn't recommend external.

eggmayo
Originally posted by JKozzy
Not necessarily. You can have two or more physical hard drives. I have two on my VAIO, and I plan on adding a second to this machine as well. External HD's are usually much slower than an internal, and unless you were transporting large amounts of data on it, I wouldn't recommend external.
That's cool, I'm pretty sure my PC won't allow two internal sad
I do need a bigger disk.

FistOfThe North
not only does getting a higher gig capacity Hard Drive work well but one also has to look at the rpm's, i dunno if thats the correct terminology.

It's basically how fast the drives spins, which can mean a lot.

It's possible to have 2 of the same capacity hard drives, like say two 40 gig hard drives but the one with the higher "revolutions per minute" will be better and faster for your PC. It'll cost a bit more though. I'd cough up the extra loot cause Im a heavy gamer with a need for PC speed.

RedAlertv2
Im gonna revive this thread instead of starting an entirely new one.

Im starting to run a bit low on space (not too low, but enough for concern) and I noticed that I have the option to "compress drive to save disk space". I was wondering if this is a good thing to do, and what the pros and cons are to compressing the hard drive.

FistOfThe North
Originally posted by RedAlertv2
Im gonna revive this thread instead of starting an entirely new one.

Im starting to run a bit low on space (not too low, but enough for concern) and I noticed that I have the option to "compress drive to save disk space". I was wondering if this is a good thing to do, and what the pros and cons are to compressing the hard drive.

To compress data is to make files and any other type of stored info smaller for the purpose of having more space (a higher capacity) in your Hard Drive.

It is a good thing to do moreso if you need space badly. The con in retrieving any compressed file is that it would take longer than usual to retrieve it due to the PC having a hard time finding the compressed file cause it's so small now among anything extra you have added on your Hard Drive on top of other forms of data that are in your Hard Drive that are not compressed.

If you have the option available, you can always get a higher Gig capacity Drive; it'll solve all your problems. If not, compress.

Fire
that reminds me I need a new HD, but I don't feel like it, so I'll write my bro's crap on CDs and delete it from my HD

FistOfThe North
What's the best site to go to to buy a high capacity gig hard drive?

Can anyone recommend a place?

FistOfThe North
I found Newegg too have the best stuff, so far.

eggmayo
I'm on a new pc now.. dual RAID arrays, so I can get a second internal when this one runs out big grin

El_NINO
Originally posted by eggmayo
I'm on a new pc now.. dual RAID arrays, so I can get a second internal when this one runs out big grin

laughing out loud

Congrats that you have RAID but you dont need it.

I installed a 80GB hard drive after my 120GB HDD started to fill up, you dont need RAID to install a second Hard Drive.

Also you can go out and purchase a mobile hard drive for very cheap price, it goes connected via usb cable and there wouldnt be a need to install a hard drive.

I also wouldnt recommend to compress your hard drive because it takes longer to load your your stored files because it has to go thru the process of uncompressing then compressing when your done.

FistOfThe North
^ 80 gigs. Nice. I plan on upgrading my gig space as well but to a bit more than 80 gigs.

Lana
If you've got the internal space for it, you can easily stick more than one harddrive in your computer. You don't necessarily need to replace your old one. I had to put my mom's harddrive into my computer to recover some files after it got corrupted by a power surge and it accessed them fine.

As for where to get a new harddrive, online I would check newegg.com, they've got tons of stuff and are decently priced, as well as free shipping on a lot of items. If you have a Microcenter or Fry's store near you (if you live in the US), check those as well. I plan on building myself a new PC this winter and I'll probably be using all three for the parts. You can get a 250gb harddrive for under $100 if you know where to look.

El_NINO
Thats exactly what I did, I took out my floppy drive seeing how now a days nobody will every use it again and placed the 80GB HDD in that space.

Mišt
I just bought a new 320gb last week w00t 440gb total droolio

But anyway, if I install Windows on the new one, and remove it from the old one, will that delete all my older files or screw up the registry, or just Windows?

Also...if you partition a harddrive, does that slow it down? Not sure if I should set aside 10gb or so for a new partition and install Windows on that instead, so if theres an error and I have to reformat I wont lose everything else...

Fire
the new one won't copy your old ones registry so that will create some problems. I'd advise you to leave your windows on your old drive, unless you really want it on your new one.

As for partitioning I do it with all my drives I install windows on. I don't know if it slows them down, but in case of a format it's a great help.

FistOfThe North

FistOfThe North
I'm waiting to buy a higher gig hd. I'll just use my 30gb ipod for now.

That'll do until i buy a higher capacity drive with like 10,000 rpm's.

chillmeistergen

Callan
Originally posted by FistOfThe North
I'm waiting to buy a higher gig hd. I'll just use my 30gb ipod for now.

That'll do until i buy a higher capacity drive with like 10,000 rpm's.
You'll be able to get a Western Digital Raptor at 75GB or 150GB if you're looking for a 10,000 rpm drive, but beyond that, there aren't very many higher capacity drives running at that speed. And even then, the ones that I've found use the older SCSI interface, so you'd have to be sure your motherboard supports it before buying one of those drives.

FistOfThe North

FistOfThe North
and now i have windows 7 ultimate ed.

Robtard
The Dell XPS is a beast and a bargain with what it comes with.

FistOfThe North
it is a beast. but not really cheap. i paid 2 grand for my system..

What are you running anyway.

Robtard
I thought they maxed-out around the $1,600.00 mark, still cheaper for a comparable Alienware, I think.

I don't game (anymore) on the computer, so I have a POS HP I just use for internet, email, downloading, burning and porn. Serves its purpose.

FistOfThe North
lol.

you meant porn so casually. thing is i know you're not joking, too.

but there're different version of xps's, like i have the 650, i think. then there's like the 550, 450. the 750, etc..

but if you don't need it for high performace gaming then what you have is just fine for what you need it for.

FistOfThe North
my windows 7 crashed my hd. so i rolled back to vista. at least i still have dircetx11 which is all i wanted out of w7 anyway.

Robtard
Originally posted by FistOfThe North
my windows 7 crashed my hd. so i rolled back to vista. at least i still have dircetx11 which is all i wanted out of w7 anyway.

I'd look into setting it up with Win7 and being stable, personally, I love 7, best OS Windows has made.

FistOfThe North
i had it for a few months, i liked it, but it's only just a bunch of trivial features. i only wanted it for dx11 for gaming purposes but i found out vista can operate dx11 so i switch back to it. and i've never had a problem with vista anyway. i even have windows aero, which w7 took out for some unknown reason. that's like the best feature on the ms os i've seen to date.

Robtard
Originally posted by FistOfThe North
i had it for a few months, i liked it, but it's only just a bunch of trivial features. i only wanted it for dx11 for gaming purposes but i found out vista can operate dx11 so i switch back to it. and i've never had a problem with vista anyway. i even have windows aero, which w7 took out for some unknown reason. that's like the best feature on the ms os i've seen to date.

I used Vista for a couple of months, I generally had a good experience, I still prefer Win7 though.

Pretty sure Win7 has aero, I googled; got this:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/13/how-to-turn-on-and-enable-aero-in-windows-7-enable-aero-peek/

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