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Save Space on Your Hard Disk Drive

Edited by Rubilyn Valdez, Rebecca M., mahalia jovita b. bugasto, karishma and 3 others

4 Parts:

Computer performance is based on three major factors: Hard peripherals, internal memory, and processes. It is a well known fact that the computer industry is updating at a fast pace and hence, technology gets outdated quite easily. Thus, previous versions of hard drive peripherals are unable to perform the demands of current software updates. It is also important to have enough internal memory to handle all computing processes. At the same time, the number of processes and the memory it requires to be completed affects the performance of your device. By saving disk spaces, you are helping your computer to index faster; thus, aiding in better computing functions. The following article shall help you with numerous ways through which you can save space on your hard drive and make the most of it. There are numerous ways through which you can do this. We'll help you through it.

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Contents

1 Steps
2 Tips
3 Warnings
4 Comments

Steps

1
Use the Cloud
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One of the best ways of saving pictures and documents is to use the cloud. When one says, "use the cloud," it means to save pictures and documents in online space and not on the hard disk drive. This will give you immense amount of space in the hard drive. You can use applications such as Flickr, Facebook, etc., to store your pictures. For documents, you can use Google docs, SkyDrive, etc. In fact, if you use SkyDrive, you will also be able to store pictures. Hence, you don't have to unnecessarily waste a lot of space on your hard drive. One of the best things about storing pictures and documents on the cloud is that they will never get lost. You will always be able to find these pictures and documents online.

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2
Delete Cookies
.
Use the internet a lot? In this case, you must have collected a lot of internet cookies and these cookies take up a lot of space. Hence, in order to free your hard disk drive, make it a point to clear these cookies, once every month. You can do these for all the browsers. All you have to do is go to Tools and click on Internet options. You will find the Delete cookies tab there. In some cases, the tab will only say Delete. Click on this tab and wait for the cookies to be deleted. Not only will this free up a considerable amount of hard disk space, but this will also improve the performance of your computer by twofold.

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3
Keep your desktop clean
.
Cluttering your desktop will also lead to a lot of space waste and hence, it is a good idea to use the desktop space to minimal. Put all your files in appropriate folders so as to avoid using up a lot of space on the hard disk drive. Don't create a desktop shortcut and a program file for everything. Do this only for programs and software that you use frequently. For the rest of them, keep just one copy. This shall be of immense help in saving space. Plus, you will be surprised at the number of shortcuts that had been aimlessly lying on the desktop. You should definitely get rid of all of those.
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4
Do it the traditional way
.
Yes there are numerous ways in which you can get your desktop cleaned automatically. However, there are always risks involved when using these methods. Hence, the best way to do it would be to get into your personal folder and delete all the unnecessary files that have been lying about. Get rid of all of these files and save a whole lot of space on your hard disk. Yes, this is quite a tedious task but if you have important documents on your computer (which is the case with nearly everyone), this is the best way out. Hence, schedule a day when you can sit down and clean your hard disk.

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5
Empty your Recycle Bin
.
A lot of times, while deleting the files, we forget to get them out of the recycle bin. Well, it is time you emptied your recycle bin. For, those of you, who follow the practice of shift + delete, a thumbs-up. For those of you, who don't, shift + delete, deletes the file entirely for your system and you don't need to delete it separately from the recycle bin. However, at times, shift + delete can lead to horrible losses. Hence, watch what you are deleting. Even when you are out to empty the recycle bin, scan through it first, as you might want to restore some of those files. Nonetheless, keep your restore to an absolute minimum. Otherwise, you will not end up saving space on your hard disk drive.
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6
The C Drive Clearance
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Go to properties of the C drive folder and click on disk clean-up in the General tab. You will be greeted by a list of files that can be deleted without harming your computer. More often than not, C drive files are programming files and the value of a lot of them is null. Some of these null files are useful, while some others are simply eating up space on your hard disk. So, you can actually save up a whole lot of space on your hard disk drive by clearing these files.

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7

Reorganise your files
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Your computer will defragment your files and rearrange them in such a manner that a lot of disk space will be saved. Doing this is a very easy task. You need to right click on the "C" Drive folder and click on the Defrag button. Your computer will tell you whether your files need to be defragged or not, depending on the space in your hard disk drive. It will automatically fragment all your files after diagnosing that the defragmentation is needed. Organizing your files into appropriate folders does a lot for you.
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Tips

Space can be saved easily if you take care to use it in a proper manner.
We often indulge in a lot of space wastage without realizing it, and it is this wastage that needs to be minimized.