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Service Hints & Tips |
Document ID: DSET-3FBQTD |
Aptiva - Deleting files to free up hard drive space
Applicable to: World-Wide
When the amount of free hard drive space drops to a level of less than 10% of the full capacity of the hard drive or 20 megabytes (whichever is less), it is a good time to start removing files that are no longer useful.
The most likely candidates for removal are files that you may have downloaded from an on-line service to try out or to use with other applications. Often, these files or programs are examined once or twice and then forgotten.
Normally, the downloaded .ZIP or .EXE file can be deleted as soon as it has been unpacked. It is no longer needed, since the files that it contained are complete after unpacking. If you have tried the program that was unpacked and do not need it any longer, you can often reclaim several megabytes of free space by deleting all files that were downloaded or unpacked for that program. With several such packages deleted, it is not unreasonable to free up 10 to 20 MB or more of hard drive space.
Other candidates for deletion include .CHK, .GIF, .PCX, .BMP, and .JPG files that are not being actively used. These are graphic files that you may have downloaded at one time to see what they were or to determine if they would be useful on your system.
Some of the preloaded software on your system may also be deleted if you do not find that software useful. Usually, you can delete all the files in that particular directory and then delete the directory. If an icon appears in a Windows group for that application, you can also delete the icon (single-click on the icon to highlight it, then press the Delete key).
When deleting pre-loaded software or any other software, it is a good idea to delete one application at a time, then shut down and restart Windows to see that the deletion of some file in that application or directory does not cause a problem in restarting Windows. If a problem does occur, the most recent deletion is then most likely to be at fault, which will reduce the amount of time needed to correct the condition. Post a note in the DOS or Windows topics of the Technical Support Forums for help on determining how to correct these situations.
In some cases, you may have downloaded software or graphics files that you think might be useful in the future. In these cases, you can copy the downloaded ZIP or EXE file to a diskette and then delete the hard disk copy. A suggestion here: Put a date on the diskette label to indicate when you copied the file. If you then come across the diskette several months later, you'll know when you created the file on the diskette, which may help you in deciding if it is worth pursuing. In many cases, there may be a more recent version of that application that might be downloaded and used instead.
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Hint Category |
Hard Drives | |
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Date Created |
19-03-97 | |
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Last Updated |
09-03-99 | |
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Revision Date |
09-03-2000 | |
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Brand |
IBM Aptiva | |
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Product Family |
Aptiva, PS/1 | |
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Machine Type |
2134, 2136, 2137, 2138, 2140, 2142, 2144, 2159, 2161, 2162, 2168, 2176, 2011, 2121, 2123, 2133, 2155 | |
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all | |
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