hard disk getting full.... potential problems?

hi, my HDD is getting full...

it is 160gb (formatted 149gb) i have about 10GB left of free space... i was wondering... would having a very filled harddisk create the potential of having data lost/corruption? what is the minimum safe free hard disk space?

thanks

 

Well having less than 20% hdd space would mean that it will perform slower than before... data lost of the other hand I have no idea.

 

Well someone her once said
"Free Hard Drive Space is Wasted Space"

 

Don't know what Windows OS your running but if you have system restore set to on and current your happy with your current OS settings, you can turn off system restore to free up even more space once done you can turn it back on again and then make a new restore point.

 

You can't defrag under 15%

 

is it possible to have your data corrupted or lost, from using a filled hdd? say... if i got 10 gb left? less than 10%? like file structure problem or the like... i know format system is not reliable at times...

 

I dont think so, as far as i know I have had 300mb left in my hdd once lol.

 

There is nothing wrong with being low on disk space, as in you will not lose any data or files. If you run out of space while saving a file (for example), the file save will fail and that data will be lost, but nothing that's already on your disk will be deleted.

It is a good idea to try to clean up if you can. One thing I did recently was to compress the Program Files folder, which saved me 1.5GB of space and also speeds up loading programs from disk.

 

No. You will end up with highly fragmented files, since Windows will have to spread the files out across whatever open space it finds. This will also lead to either the inability to defragment the drive (due to no disk space) or defragmentation taking many hours to complete.

I recommend archiving files you don't use to another medium, like DVDs or external hard drives, removing unnecessary files (CCleaner is a great application), and removing unnecessary applications.

 

Also try the program WinDirStat and you can see where all of your space is being used.

 

yeah, i was worried, because some website's trying to tell me that.. from having very filled disk drives, you will create file fragmentation; which will ultimately leads to lost of data O_O

yeah i will transfer my data to my other computer... when i had the time... i'm very busy lately.. and when i get home i just want to relax... the computer that is currently getting filled is my old...est computer. which only has 160gb hdd..

 

A full disk can and does cause fragmentation, but that is not a problem that causes data loss. Fragmentation will cause the system to read the disk more slowly. Windows will stop automatic defragmentation at 15% free, as stated above, but you can use other defraggers (like jkdefragGUI) which should still work.

 

No, you can't lose or corrupt data just by having a full HD. Also, you need to leave at least enough space for the page file along with 15% of the drive free for defragmenting for effective system performance and maintenance.

 

I really doubt it speeds up loading of programs, instead maybe even caused them to load slower. It takes more resources to read and write compressed files and sectors and stresses the harddrive, therefore compressing your program files should have a negative effect (though less noticeable on powerful notebooks).

If you're running vista, you probably have lost 10+ gigs to shadow copy/restore. Go into your disk cleanup utility and under more options, you can remove all but the most recent restore point.

 

what are all the hidded and temp ffolders in vista that store stuff ?

there was a hidden folder somwhere on xp,that i checked once and had a huge amount in it but i cant remember what it was, my c drive at the moment only has 3 gig free !!

 

Take a look at my post over here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2971483#post2971483
which will provide some information and then you can draw your own conclusions (reading the disk is faster, writing is slower).

 

Go to the start menu and type "disk cleanup". You can clean things from there.

Warning: don't clean up the hibernation file or any of the "Per user" error reports.

 

Having a full HardDrive will not cause data loss, in and of itself. However, it can cause all sorts of system instabilities, and system istability can cause data loss. My advise, clean-up the drive to get some more free space or upgrade to a larger HardDrive. If you don't, you could have some troubles.



Edit - orev, your avatar is insulting. The last thing i'll do is rep somebody who begs for it. If you want to be repped, make good posts.

 

great! thanks i appreciate more input as to further confirm this facts... perhaps i should also says that i'm running windows xp... btw, does this full hard drive refer to the percentage of free space available, or the amount of free space in gb/mb left on the disk?

 

Why wouldn't you clean up the user error reports? I just check off everything except the Hibernation file.

 

Because there have been many reports that cleaning the user error reports can actually clean all user data... you know, like all your documents, pictures, etc... It's a bug in the routine (obviously), and I'm not sure how much attention it has gotten to be fixed.