What to expect for the $$$ - May 2014

[karri]

I think I know what my next upgrade is going to be...

... awesome!

[jackfalbey]

Yes Chuck, I'm still in Cleveland just outside of Chattanooga.

[karri]

update ...

New pc is up and running no problems so far and I can recommend cpu solutions. They are friendly and easy to deal with, and although are not specifically video or Adobe oriented like some of the other sellers mentioned here, they put together the computer I asked for and it arrived quickly, well packaged, and started right up.

If I had to order over again I would have gotten a bigger system drive as the 250 SSD filled up too fast. I think if I move the paging file that will give some breathing room but on the Guideline for Disk Usage all the set ups have the pagefile on the C drive but on Jack's it is on the F drive ... so not sure what to do about that now.

Other than that I'm so far happy with it and want to thank you for all your help. I would have been lost
without you

Thanks again

[Steve Grisetti]

Congrats on the new toy, karri!

[Peru]

update ...

I think if I move the paging file that will give some breathing room but on the Guideline for Disk Usage all the set ups have the pagefile on the C drive but on Jack's it is on the F drive ... so not sure what to do about that now.

If you have enough memory, it really doesn't matter. The system will always have a page file on the C drive, even if you create an additional one on another drive.

[jackfalbey]

Congrats, karri!

With 32GB of RAM you probably won't need a page file, but it's good to have one just in case. You can tell Windows NOT to have one on the C: crive, but even if you leave the Windows-managed one there, it should only be around 10-20 GB.

Just curious, how did you fill the C: drive if it's just Windows and programs? Mine is only about ~95GB full with every Adobe program installed and quite a few others as well...

[TreeTopsRanch]

Karri...Why is your "250 SSD" filling up so soon? I assume that's 250 GB? I have hundreds of programs and Win 7 64 OS on my 'C' drive and it only takes up 199 GB.

[karri]

Thanks everyone!

And thanks for your thoughts about the 250 GB SSD drive drive filling up. I'd like to get to the root of this if I can, with your help. Everything I read said 250 GB should be plenty just for programs.

I read that the paging file takes up the same amount as the RAM, so maybe it is taking up 32 GB? Windows Explorer says only 58 GB free.

When I check the Properties of C:\Users, it shows more than 26 GB being used, but if I add up all the files inside of it, is only about 1 GB. I was careful to not put anything on the C drive except programs, or is that where the paging file is?

These are the files listed in C:

PerfLogs = 0 bytes
Program Files 10.7 GB
Program Files (x86) 18.6 GB
Temp = 44 KB
Users = 26.9 GB ?
Windows = 20 GB
Windows.old = 11.3

If I allot for the Paging File = 32 GB ?

and System Restore = 35 GB (15%)

(Acronis failed on my Dell which is why I gave so much space to System Restore.)

That's about 155 GB, from 232 should be around 77 GB free I think, plus maybe the 27 GB from C:\Users that I'm not using, well, I don't think I am using ...

Thanks for your help!

[Bob]

A couple of comments.

You can gain back the 11.3GB taken up by the windows.old folder immediately. You don't need it. See these instructions for how to delete it. While you're going about doing that, you can check the box labeled "service pack backup files" and delete them at the same time.

The page file resides in the root directory of the drive, not in the Users folder. It's marked "hidden" and "system" so you won't ordinarily see it.

The Users folder is used by both you and by Windows. Windows stores a lot of stuff there, some temporary, some not. Your applications will likely end up storing information there also. Some of it by design (like when the application is individually configurable for multiple users) and some of it by redirection (such as when the application wants to save data to the program directory and Windows intercepts that and sends it transparently to a Users directory instead. Don't delete stuff from the users folder unless you know where it came from and know whether it is ok to be deleted.

The best approach is to not store your personal data in the users folder. Your music, documents, photos, and video, can and should be stored on another drive. But, be sure you are backing up that other drive. You can add the other folders to your libraries and easily access them from there. Or, you can redirect those specific personal folders to another drive and that will actually move the files.

I'd recommend using the built-in Disk Cleanup periodically to clean up temporary files etc. and reclaim disk space.

[karri]

Great info, thanks Bob! I'll work on these. How many GB should be free on a 250 GB SSD drive? Or does it matter on an SSD?

Thanks again for all the suggestions!