Laptop disk space woes

Infinite Chaos said:

Just had a look as Red Dave is posting from the UK. There are computers being sold with 32GB hard discs but they are sold as internet machines. Worst case scenario - some of these machines might even have the hard disc soldered on as they are pretty cheap at around £150 so possibly not even user serviceable in the slightest.

Could he hook up and run his laptop from a large external hard disk?

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I got the computer in Peru where I´m living at present. When it was sold they were very clear that it was just for the internet and a couple of other things. That´s fine as I don´t use it for anything besides the internet and open office (and the latter has been removed as i can do most of what I need to in google docs). The only think that bothers me is the updates, though this would raise the question of whether I really need them, or whether I could just stop getting them as Third Term suggested.

Red_Dave said:

I got the computer in Peru where I´m living at present. When it was sold they were very clear that it was just for the internet and a couple of other things. That´s fine as I don´t use it for anything besides the internet and open office (and the latter has been removed as i can do most of what I need to in google docs). The only think that bothers me is the updates, though this would raise the question of whether I really need them, or whether I could just stop getting them as Third Term suggested.

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Unless you have some way to upgrade the hard drive, I would say you have little choice besides ignoring the updates (unless you want to install a Linux distro to replace Windows, which I do no think would be advisable for you).

Do you need them? Well, the updates are there to patch security holes which could leave your system vulnerable. So, it's a good idea to have them. But, ultimately, you don't NEED them in order for your system to work.

If it is what I think it is .. machine wise, then you should be able to add an SD card to it. Then you move your personal files to that drive and that should free up quite a bit.

This link has a lot of good hints of what to do.

Nr 9 can do quite a bit, but will take time on your machine.

As I stated above, nr 6 is a good one, especially the saving of future files on an SD card.

I have maintained a few of these low space devices, and doing the above saves quite a bit, so you will have at least a few GB if not 10 GB free on the main drive. But it is critical you get an SD card install if it is possible, else you will run into the same problem again eventually.

And dont stop updates, it is dangerous and stupid. Saying that, what you can do to avoid feature updates, is to download the latest windows onto an USB and then update the machine.. saves space. But not even sure Microsoft pushes feature updates to low space machines anymore... seem to remember reading about that some where.

Red_Dave said:

The only think that bothers me is the updates, though this would raise the question of whether I really need them, or whether I could just stop getting them as Third Term suggested.

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PeteEU said:

~ And dont stop updates ~ download the latest windows onto an USB and then update the machine..

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that’s the way to go. Don’t stop updates. Windows otherwise keeps both copies on the HD and takes all space up.

Infinite Chaos said:

that’s the way to go. Don’t stop updates. Windows otherwise keeps both copies on the HD and takes all space up.

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Correct. Updates (critical and feature) often get downloaded regardless and fill up space. Also when you feature upgrade Windows, it keeps the "old version" in Windows.old. That can be removed via the disc clean up utility.