[nanaj56]

I just bought a new Dell Dimension 2400 computer that is suppose to have a 60GB hard drive, running XP. However after installing my programs I have tried to defragment my hard drive and get the following message:

Volume (C:) has 4% free space, but only 3% is available for use by Disk Defragmenter (due to reserved system space). To run effectively, Disk Defragmenter requires at least 15% usable free space - There is not enough disk space to properly complete the operation. Delete some unneeded files on your hard disk, and then try again.

Could someone please tell me step by step how to do this?

My old computer using Win98 with a 10GB hard drive and the same sort of programs had plenty of disk space at least 8+ GB.

I don't understand how can this hard drive with 60GB have less space than a 10GB.

Also I hate XP.

Thank you anyone

[JohnWill]

Look at the properties of the boot drive in My Computer by right clicking on it and selecting properties. How much space is indicated? Is the disk partitioned into multiple logical drives?

[SexyTech]

Hi There!

Boot into Safe Mode

Run "Disk Cleanup" from system tools, delete everything it finds,
then run Defrag while in Safe Mode.

If you still have problems running Defrag, turn off "System Restore, run "Disk Cleanup" again, and then try defragging again.

By running these in Safe Mode, there's not as much overhead with swap file and such running.


Good Luck!

ST

[RKramden]

Nana,

Right Click on My Computer and then choose Properties. Goto the System Restore tab and click settings. Win XP sets aside 14% (or in your case 8.4 GB) of your hard drive space for system restore...far more than needed. Reset the slider to about 4-5% and then click apply (or OK) then restart your system. You should then be able to run Defrag.

[Elvandil]

Be sure to run chkdsk by typing: chkdsk /f in the Run box.

If the excellent suggestions above don't work, run a defrag from the command line.

Go to Start > Run and type: cmd
At the prompt, type: defrag.exe C: -f
(if C: is your system drive).
There won't be any picture to watch, but it will do the job.

[nanaj56]

Thank you to all that are trying to help me.

TO:

johnwill
The properties of the boot drive indicated that (C:) Capacity is 55.84GB that 52.57GB were used and 3.27GB are free. I don't know if the disk is partitioned into multiple logical drives or how this is done.


SexyTech
I ran "Disk Cleanup" and ran Defrag while in Safe Mode. This did not help. I then turned off "System Restore" and ran "Disk Cleanup" again and tried defragging it still tells me that I still do not have enough to run Defrag.


RKramden
I changed the settings in System Restore to 4% and restarted my system. I still got the error message that I didn't have at least 15% to run Defrag


Elvandil
I tried running defrag from the command line. In the black box there was a line telling the defrag information and under that line the cursor was blinking on a blank line. It did not show that it was running. Will it just show the blank line until it is through defragging and then state that it is through?

I appreciate all of your help and I hope I am making sense.

Nana

[Elvandil]

Will it just show the blank line until it is through defragging and then state that it is through?

Yes. You will see your drive light on and maybe hear disk activity, but the cursor will just blink until finished.

Hopefully, after completing this, your normal defrag will work.

[JohnWill]

I didn't notice where you ran CHKDSK /F in this post. That is the FIRST thing you should do, and it'll most likely ask you to run on reboot, since this is your system drive. Do that, reboot, and then check how much disk space is available.

BTW, you can make XP look very similar to W2K/W98 by turning off all the gingerbread crap on the menus and desktop.

[nanaj56]

Sorry for the delay in posting, had my granddaughers for the last two days.


Elvandil
After running defrag from the command line my screen showed that the Analysis report was exactly the same as the Defragmentation report. Is this correct?



johnwill
After running chkdsk /f and running Defrag again it still gives the same error report that I only have 5% free space.

How do you turn off all the gingerbread things on the menus and desktop?

Also is there a way that I can save some of my programs that came with my new computer on CD's and only install a minimum amount. Please instruct me as a very dense person

Nanaj56

[Elvandil]

There is something very strange going on here. You should have a lot of free space.

Try this app to see if you can find what is using all that space:

http://www.hushpage.com/FoSi/FOSI_setup.zip

There really should be no necessity for you to resort to moving things to CD. The space is huge (or should be).

Do a complete virus scan, too, in case something is replicating and filling your drive. The program above should help you investigate which folder is taking up the majority of your space. (I like the bar-graph option the best for seeing the relative sizes of folders.)

If you would like to have the classic look to your XP, just right-click a blank spot on the desktop, click Properties, and choose "Windows Classic" in the dropdown menu under Themes. Apply.

[nanaj56]

Update -

I got in touch with Dell about my disk space problem. After they had me run a full virus scan and saw that was not the problem, they replace my hard drive.

Thanks for all of you help. I probably would not have contacted them and lost out on a new hard drive if it hadn't been for all of your help.

Thanks again.

Nanaj

[madrid21402]

need to clear up some space on computer; make sure that no other programs are running and that you have enough RAM