I'm down to 18 GB of free space.  The computer's only 2 years old and I really need to put off gettting a new one until the end of the year if possible.

I have an external and all of my client's images are on that.  The only photos left on my HD are personal ones I don't want to go searching for.  I bought a new external for 2008, and again, client images and my personal stuff will go on that.

I went through yesterday and removed programs I wasn't using and defragmented the disk (whatever tha means).  Is there anything else I can do to keep this thing running at a decent speed until I can get a new computer?

 How much RAM do you have installed?

Doesn't it stink.  I went to load pics from our trip to the Outerbanks on my computer right after the first and it wouldn't allow me too. Said my hard drive was completely full.  Now I'm down to loading them onto my external hd, and backing up on another external hd.

 Install another internal HD, 500GB are fairly cheap now, about $120.

Why not burn your files to a DVD, then delete the images on your computer, defragment the hard drive and begin filling it up again ?

a DVD is about a  20 cent  external hard drive in my opinion :-)

 

 

I have no idea how to install another HD into a notebook computer!

I have 1GB of RAM.

Gary, I could do that, but at this point it doesn't look like it's going to free up much space?  Maybe I'm wrong.

What about music?  If I put that on the external can itunes still find it or does it need to be on the C drive?

 

Impressions:

I have no idea how to install another HD into a notebook computer!

I have 1GB of RAM.

Gary, I could do that, but at this point it doesn't look like it's going to free up much space?  Maybe I'm wrong.

What about music?  If I put that on the external can itunes still find it or does it need to be on the C drive?

 

A haah, you didn't mention notebook.  Which Make and Model?    

It's an HP Pavillion zd8000

ProImages:

 

Impressions:

I have no idea how to install another HD into a notebook computer!

I have 1GB of RAM.

Gary, I could do that, but at this point it doesn't look like it's going to free up much space?  Maybe I'm wrong.

What about music?  If I put that on the external can itunes still find it or does it need to be on the C drive?

 

A haah, you didn't mention notebook.  Which Make and Model?    

you transfer music to another drive internal/external go into preferences and change to where you have the music, i have six hard drives in one mac and several external firewire/usb 2.

 You can buy an xb2000 Expansion Base with a 250GB hard drive.  This is a docking station with an external keyboard.

 

A 500GB External HD is the easiest and least expensive.  Use USB 2.0 or Firewire.

Do you have another computer you can network? 

 I wish there were more options but I read the manual and searched HP's site.
 

Hmmmm...I'm going to have to do some research.  I HAVE that expansion base, but I don't remember anything about it having a hard drive.

The only other computer we have is my husband's work laptop.  We can't put any personal stuff on it. 

My plan is to purchase an external HD every year for client images.  At the end of the year it gets unplugged and stored and I move on to a new one.  It will be easier to keep track of which HD has which images if I do it by year, and I'd have them backed up on an external anyway...I just don't want to fill one up in the middle of a wedding season and have to try to remember which HD someone's photos are on.

I just can't figure out why the stuff I cleared off yesterday didn't free up more space. 

ProImages:

 You can buy an xb2000 Expansion Base with a 250GB hard drive.  This is a docking station with an external keyboard.

 

A 500GB External HD is the easiest and least expensive.  Use USB 2.0 or Firewire.

Do you have another computer you can network? 

 I wish there were more options but I read the manual and searched HP's site.
 

Yowzers... Sounds like quite a bind there... do you have any movies on there? I'd definately look into moving music off to CD's or Ipod or something... It won't be gone, just "stored" somewher else. Those files are less to damaged in a move like that though.

The only other thing to do would be to replace your current notebook harddrive with a larger one (yes, this can be done... but it's not as easy as a desktop) or another external harddrive.

I was just looking at my laptop and wondering if I'd ever fill it up myself. Guess it's possible....

I would think that if you got rid of all the images you have stored on it, it would give you back all that space--no?  When you deleted the stuff, did you also delete it in the Recycle Bin?  If you didn't, it's basically still using space on your computer.

No movies, and yeah, I emptied the recycle bin.  Sheesh, I don't know why it didn't give me my space back!

you MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST buy another external HD to make an additional copy of all of your files...or at least have an additional copy burned to a DVD.

you should NOT assume that your files are safe on your external drive.  hard drives fail FREQUENTLY.  they are disposable.  they are also fragile.  one of mine is right this minute making funny noises (sure sign of impending death) and i accidently kicked another one onto the floor completely obliterating all of the files that were on it.  (the read/write heads broke and scraped the data off the platters).   if you don't have at least two copies of your files you are asking for a disaster.  and it WILL happen to you sooner or later.  get TWO external drives and it wouldn't hurt to also burn DVD's of your individual jobs.  last week i bought 2 500G drives at cosco and i think they were about $120 each.

if you don't have enough slots for USB cables then buy a hub.  i don't think they are that expensive. 

also, i would not buy an external hard drive that is larger than 500G because at that size, there is only one drive inside.  besides the fact that sooner or later it WILL FAIL.   if something goes wrong, and you do need to attempt to have it repaired, there's only one drive to fix.  the larger external drives have multiple drives inside of them. 

Impressions:

Hmmmm...I'm going to have to do some research.  I HAVE that expansion base, but I don't remember anything about it having a hard drive.

The only other computer we have is my husband's work laptop.  We can't put any personal stuff on it. 

My plan is to purchase an external HD every year for client images.  At the end of the year it gets unplugged and stored and I move on to a new one.  It will be easier to keep track of which HD has which images if I do it by year, and I'd have them backed up on an external anyway...I just don't want to fill one up in the middle of a wedding season and have to try to remember which HD someone's photos are on.

I just can't figure out why the stuff I cleared off yesterday didn't free up more space. 

ProImages:

 You can buy an xb2000 Expansion Base with a 250GB hard drive.  This is a docking station with an external keyboard.

 

A 500GB External HD is the easiest and least expensive.  Use USB 2.0 or Firewire.

Do you have another computer you can network? 

 I wish there were more options but I read the manual and searched HP's site.
 

 

 

If you have the Expansion base just buy a 250gb HD for it.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/notebook/notebook_hp/storage/1/accessories/PD892A%2523ABA 

or search by Part # (PD892A#ABA)

Yes, I'm aware of the fact that HD's are fragile and crash.  I'm not relying only on  them and do have backups.  The issue here is whether I can free up space on my notebook's HD or if I need to upgrade my computer sooner rather than later.

I was just editing and PS is still running slow.  Even if I transfer the rest of my pictures and my music I don't think it's going to help.  I was really hoping to put off buying a new computer until next year! 

PS is an extreme memory hog, and Adobe can clutter your registry faster than a porn pop up. More memory will help the first problem, if your pc can handle it. If it is only two years old I would say it can. You will have to open the back to see if you have a slot.

As far as the registry is concerned, the only way to clean it up is a fresh OS install. This option is a pain because you have to back everything up. This is why I haven't done mine recently. It is getting slow also. There is an easy way if you want to go this route, however.

• 1. Buy a new notebook drive, about $130 for 250gig.
• 2. Install it and reinstall OS and other important software, to this new drive. Be selective. Software like itunes can slow even the best system down.
• 3. Buy a notebook drive holder, about $30, (it works like an external hd).
• 4. Copy important files at your leasure.

Becareful about your software licenses (tranfer varies from software to software). You don't want to have to go through that trouble.

Consumer level pc technology advances have slowed considerably over the past four years. So, there is no significant reason to buy new unless this laptop has NEVER performed to your liking.

I haven't seen if you've cleared your internet files.  If not go to start, control panel, internet options, then click delete cookies, delete browsing history.  Also go to start, programs, system tools, disk clean up.    This gets rid of some internet stuff that is

sorry, it posted before I was finished.  This should get rid of a lot of your hidden internet stuff.  One more thing, have you considered lowering the size of your files if they're just candid pictures.

Hope this helps

Ah, good stuff.  Gutchess, I had a trial of Lightroom on here too, plus PS 7 (I just upgraded).  I deleated both of those yesterday and it didn't seem to free up any space, but I know what you mean about them being memory hogs.

I've been really happy with this notebook until a few months ago.  Buying a new computer would free up this one for use as a family computer, which we were planning to do next year.  Our oldest is in Jr. High and we really need to have a computer available for assignments.  We've just been putting it off.

I'm going to go through and delete cookies (forgot about that one).  I'm going to think about the personal stuff and see if I can take up less space there somehow. 

Well if you are in the market for another external hard drive.  Office Depot had a Maxtor 750GB for $189.99.  $100 instant savings, no rebate. 

If you want your computer to run faster, you probably need to clean up your startup files via msconfig.  Check out this site, and the link within, to know what you can get rid of and what you shouldn't.  Extremely helpful, and definitely speeds things up, regardless of how much space is on your HD.  It helps free up RAM, which is the speed of your 'puter.

http://www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig/msconfig_xp.html

 

I fill up my laptop's hard drive almost weekly.  I currently have 9gb available.  I only had 3.5gb a couple days ago.  Make sure you empty the recycle bin anytime you delete.  Check the file size of what you are deleting, too, sometimes things don't take up nearly as much space as you may think.  It isn't until I start deleting RAW files that mine starts to empty up.  When removing programs, make sure to do it through the Windows tool, otherwise it will leave fragments behind.  Do you use Outlook or another HD-based email program?  Those folders takes up quite a bit of space if you save a lot of stuff.  Music files don't take up a lot of space, typically.

Check the sizes of your files by right-clicking on the folder and selecting properties.  This will tell you if what you are deleting is going to give you more space or not.

I've never found that the disk defrag and cleanup really do much to free up space.

Really, 18gb should be plenty of space for your laptop.  RAM is what controls the speed, so run the msconfig and clear out the things running in the background that you don't need.

I agree with the others, use external HDs.  Maybe have one strictly for your personal stuff (pics, files, music) so that you always know where those are.  I currently have two externals hooked up to my laptop, and a third in the box, waiting.  Keep an eye on Staples, they have them on sale once a month or so.

  I replaced my laptop's internal hard drive with a new one.  It wasn't that big of a deal.  If you can't do it, you could consider taking your laptop to best buy and having them do it for you.  It sure has helped!  I was always worried about how much stuff was on my hard drive and it drove me nuts.  I only kept my programs on it and still was always running out of room.  I now have plenty of room.