March 13, 2009
Windows Vista Low Disk Space Warning
Windows Vista Low Disk Space
Many Windows Vista users will at one time or another encounter a pop-up from Windows stating that you are running low on disk space. This message is referring to your hard drive unless otherwise stated. Windows Vista notices the low disk space for different reasons. Some systems are set up to have Windows automatically run a check on how much space is available while other times Windows notices the small amount of space left because it is trying to save or retrieve something from the hard drive. A common example of this is if Windows Vista is running a Backup. The Backup may not save or complete due to low disk space. A pop up will then appear stating the issue and a possible solution.
The easiest, and most obvious way to increase your disk space is to go into your Recycle Bin and fully delete anything you no longer need. When you move a program or file into the Recycle Bin it is still on your computer. The program or file is no longer useable while it remains in the Recycle Bin. Things in the Recycle Bin take up room on your hard drive until they are fully deleted. To do this, simply double-click the Recycle Bin to view all the programs or files in it. If you do not wish to keep anything in the bin click Empty the Recycle Bin button along the top of the window. If you only want to remove a few of the items just right-click the selected item and select Delete.
Furthermore, you can increase disk space by going to your Backup Folder and removing some of the restore points. It is best to keep at least 2 different restore points.
Lastly, go to My Computer and open the hard drive disk. Remove anything unwanted or un-needed there to fully insure that you have plenty of disk space left on your computer to expand its longevity!
Filed under Blog, Diagnostics, Hard Drive, Maintenance, Registry, Speed Up Vista, Vista, computer help, microsoft, system requirements by krystal
Comments on Windows Vista Low Disk Space Warning »
Good tips! Yes, one should keep the hard-drive clean of any old required junk files no longer required. A couple of other ways to save or recover hard-drive space if to un-install any programs you don't use. Also here's another tip regarding the Recycle Bin (as by default it can eat up a lot of "reserve" space). This procedure explained for Windows XP, but would probably be done in a similar way on Vista as well:
By default, Windows reserves about 10 percent of each hard drive to store deleted files in the recycling bin. This is a bit excessive. Actually it's a lot excessive, unless you want to delete files a gigabyte in size or more that you send to the recycle bin that you want to later restore. Fortunately, there is an easy way to reduce the amount of hard disk space that is reserved for the recycling bins on each drive.
Right click on the recycling bin and select 'Properties.'
Choose the Global tab.
The slider shows the percentage of each drive that is reserved by the recycling bin. Reduce this to a more appropriate amount, like from 1 to 3%, or more if you like depending on the size of your drives. The larger the drives, the smaller the number you should use. If you wish to configure each drive independently, check the 'configure drives independently' button and adjust the slider to the desired amount in each of your hard disk's tabs. The advantage to doing things this way instead of using the 'global' setting is that you can see the actual amount of space on each drive that is being reserved.
When you are finished adjusting the settings, click 'Apply' and then 'Ok' to close the properties box.
Note that files larger than the recycling bin's capacity on a given drive are deleted for good. Windows will warn you when this condition occurs.